An academic conference committed to the study of African diasporic art and culture, Black Portraiture[s] initially began as a colloquium on African American art at Harvard University convened by Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research; with Dr. Deborah Willis, Chair and Professor at NYU Tisch Department of Photography and Imaging, Founding Director of the Center for Black Visual Culture; and Dr. Manthia Diawara, Professor at NYU Martin Scorsese Department of Cinema Studies and Director of the Institute of African American Affairs from 1992-2018. In 2013, Black Portraiture[s] became an international conference series when it convened in Paris at the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, co-hosted by Dr. Awam Amkpa, Dean of Arts and Humanities NYU Abu Dhabi and Dr. Cheryl Finley, Inaugural Director of the Atlanta University Center Collective for the Study of Art History and Curatorial Studies. Black Portraiture[s] now attracts hundreds of scholars, artists, and activists from around the world; convenings have since taken place in New York, Florence, Toronto, and Johannesburg among other cities.