March 20, 2024, will mark the fifth anniversary of the tragic death of Osaze Osagie, a former Penn State student killed by local police during a mental health event. In honor of Osagie’s memory, the Africana Research Center and the College of the Liberal Arts are establishing an annual “Global Black Communities and Mental Health” series. The highlight of the series will be an Osaze Osagie Memorial Lecture featuring a leading domestic or international scholar in areas of race and mental health. The inaugural series event will feature a public conversation with Sybrina Fulton, racial justice activist and mother of Trayvon Martin, a child unjustly killed more than a decade ago.

Sybrina Fulton is dedicating her life to transforming family tragedy into social change. Since the death of her seventeen year old son, Trayvon Martin, during the violent confrontation in 2012, Fulton has become an inspiring spokesperson for parents and concerned citizens across the country