Virtual Summit Submission

Florida State University
English and African American Studies

Biography

Kaysyn Jones is a fourth-year undergraduate student pursuing a B.A. in English and a B.S. in African American Studies with a minor in Museum Studies. She was a 2023–2024 Global Scholar and is the recipient of the 2025 John and Susan Ausley Endowment Fund Award. Jones is also a 2025 IDEA Grant recipient and Tyler Fellow and has presented at the 2025 Florida Undergraduate Research Conference as well as the 2024–2025 International English Society Conferences. Her research focuses on Black diasporic cultural production from the 1920s to 1940s. She is currently completing her Honors in the Major project on the British Black Arts Movement and its literature. Jones plans to pursue a doctorate in history beginning in Fall 2026.

Project

The Black Ink Collective and Crafting Identity
During the British Black Arts Movement of the 1980s and 1990s, Black creatives rose to prominence within the art scene amid violent anti-immigrant sentiment, political unrest, women’s liberation, and police brutality. Here, Black is defined as a political identity shaped by both a shared history of colonization and a personal commitment to anti-colonial sentiment. Black writers’ collectives and publishing groups flourished during this period, each offering a distinct perspective on Black identity. One such group, the Black Ink Collective, emerged from a desire to publish the work of young Black writers, beginning with a student anthology in 1978. From there, the Collective expanded to create the Black Writers Workshop, support the Asian Women Writers Collective Workshops, and publish extensively into the 1990s. Through close readings of the Collective’s published literature, alongside analysis of their letters and advertisements, this project demonstrates how the Black Ink Collective crafted a specific vision of creative Black identity in late 20th-century London.