Events

Legendary musician, visual artist and Vodou Priestess Carole Demesmin leads a workshop on Vodou and its religious and cultural significance.

Vodou Workshop with Carole Demesmin

Date: October 29th 2025

Time: 12pm - 2pm

Location: St. Mary's Hall - Multipurpose Room

Join legendary musician, artist, and Vodou Priestess Carole Demesmin as she invites us into her spiritual practice through this Vodou Workshop. Learn about Vodou and its religious and cultural significance to Haiti in this hands-on workshop accompanied by delicious, authentic (and did we mention free!) Haitian food! This in-person event will take place in the Multipurpose Room of The Language House (St. Mary's Hall). Don't miss this unique, fun and rare opportunity to discover the true meaning of Vodou and get into the Spooky Season spirit! Make sure to RSVP...if you dare.

Learn more and RSVP here.

Carole "Mawoule"Demesmin discusses her music, artistry, and Vodou practice over authentic Haitian food with Cécile Accilien.
Fanm Dayiti: An Intimate Conversation with Carole Demesmin

Date: October 30th

Time: 5pm - 8pm

Location: St. Mary's Hall - Multipurpose Room

Join us for an intimate conversation over authentic Haitian food with the legendary singer, activist and Vodou priestess Carole "Mawoule" Demesmin. Prepare to be inspired, empowered, and uplifted by Carole's journey and wisdom in this discussion led by Dr. Cécile Accilien. This event offers unique opportunity to connect with a remarkable woman and discover how she has been using her career, voice, artistry, and Vodou practice to preserve Haitian culture and create new narratives surrounding Haiti for over four decades. Delicious authentic (and did we mention free!) Haitian food will be served at this event so MAKE SURE TO RSVP so we can make sure you get a plate. See you there!!

Learn more and RSVP here

Monday, November 3, 2025 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Gildenhorn Recital Hall

Sherrilyn Ifill, professor of law and founding director of the 14th Amendment Center for Law and Democracy at Howard University, will deliver a Douglass Center for Leadership Through the Humanities public lecture on the 14th Amendment and the Crises in American Democracy. Professor Ifill's decades-long leadership in centering humanity in the law, combined with UMD’s selection of the Constitution as our First Year Book and the current and ongoing attacks on due process and birthright citizenship makes this an important moment to hear her analysis on this amendment, considered one of the most consequential.

Passed during Reconstruction, the 14th Amendment not only set out to protect the citizenship and rights of formerly enslaved Black people, but it also issued safeguards disqualifying former insurrectionists from running for state and federal office. Professor Ifill will offer analysis on the 14th Amendment in contemporary life and politics with a central focus on the human condition in law and democracy.

Learn more and register here.