Sprinting Through Centuries: NIU Black Studies Professor T. Ajewole Duckett’s Black History and Culture Summer Camp Is an Experience You Cannot Miss

History is often taught in fragments, isolated dates, disconnected events and half-told stories. But what if, instead, history moved? What if it sounded like drums, looked like motion, felt like fabric beneath your hands and invited you to see yourself inside it?

This summer at NIU STEAM, Professor Duckett is doing exactly that.

Her upcoming Sankofa Summer Institute: Learning from the Past, Shaping the Future is a vibe.

It’s a five-day, full immersion sprint through thousands of years of global Black history, culture, creativity, and resistance and it’s unlike anything most students have ever encountered.

From Ancient African Kingdoms to Modern America in One Week

This camp begins where most history books don’t: Africa before colonialism.

Students will explore the great pre-colonial African civilizations, including Ghana, the Asante (Ashanti) Kingdom, Ethiopia and Egypt, learning about governance, philosophy, symbolism and culture long before the transatlantic slave trade reshaped the world. From there, the journey expands outward across the Atlantic to Brazil and the Caribbean, into the rhythms, rituals and resistance formed under enslavement. Finally, it lands in the American South and Chicago, tracing how migration shaped modern Black life just miles from NIU.

This is Black history as a global, interconnected diaspora.

History You Can Feel: Capoeira, Music and Movement

This camp is intentionally hands-on. Students won’t just learn about culture, they’ll experience it.

Professor Duckett brings her own lived expertise in capoeira, music and movement into the classroom. Capoeira is the Afro Brazilian art form created by enslaved Africans to train for liberation while disguised as dance. These aren’t performances. They’re lessons in how culture becomes resistance, communication and continuity.

Create, Don’t Just Consume: Adinkra Symbol Printmaking

One centerpiece project centers on the Adinkra symbols of the Asante Kingdom, symbolic visual languages that represent values, wisdom and identity. Students will learn the meanings behind Adinkra symbols, choose one that resonates personally and create a custom shirt using heat transfer vinyl and printmaking tools.

It’s identity, history and self-expression brought together in something students can wear and carry forward.

A Camp for Everyone

This camp is intentionally inclusive. You don’t need prior knowledge. You don’t need to share a specific cultural background. You just need curiosity.

In a powerful moment on the NIU STEAM Podcast, Professor Duckett captured the heart of the institute with this message:

“World history includes Black history. And everybody has a place in world history.”
— T. Ajewole Duckett, PhD

That philosophy shapes every part of the Sankofa Summer Institute. Whether you love history, music, dance, crafts, documentaries, storytelling, or simply learning something real, this camp creates a brave space where questions are welcomed and perspectives expand.

Beyond the Summer: A Pipeline into the NIU Community

This camp doesn’t end when the week does.

Dr. Duckett plans to stay connected with campers and offer mentorship and check-ins, as well as invite students into future workshops, lunches and events through the Center for Black Studies.

For students who later attend NIU, the camp becomes a bridge into academic advising and community support, as well as a nationally respected Black Studies program approaching its 50th anniversary.

This camp teaches one powerful truth: history is bigger than we think and there’s always more to know.

If you want a summer experience that feels alive, challenges what you thought you knew and celebrates creativity, movement and meaning, Professor Duckett’s Black History and Culture Summer Camp is calling.

Come ready to learn.
Come ready to ask.
Come ready to move and change how you see the world and yourself.