This session will feature short presentations on various aspects of the BSAA program including a site walk-thru, brainstorming activity “Black To The Future” and Q&A. A Co-Founder and Program Director will discuss BSAA’s history, purpose and external partnerships beyond CUNY, followed by student presentations on program management and timeline, faculty and student interaction, graduate fellow experience, technological needs and considerations. Attendees can participate by posing questions during the presentation in the chat and using a jam board during the Black To The Future brainstorming and discussion portion of the panel. We hope to inspire attendees to not only recognize the major lack of OER and attention dedicated to Black lives in the academy, but to identify ways they can shift narratives of anti-Blackness and lack of support for equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives by utilizing the expansive possibilities of digital humanities and open pedagogy to create equitable learning communities that center students, community members from the under-represented and appreciated groups that are being studied and extend beyond the academy. This program, which features diverse students and graduate fellows, faculty members and external collaborators, along with partnerships including campus administrators and digital librarians, encourages everyone to rethink and revision their understanding and research of Black Studies, how we teach about and relate to Black people, whose ideas are worthy of study, publication and sharing, and why our society remains so resistant to truly celebrating and valuing Black lives, culture and contributions.