18th Annual Black New England Conference:
Living Out Loud:
The Intersectionality of Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation
BIOGRAPHIES OF PANELISTS AND MODERATORS
In order of appearance
FILM DISCUSSION
Dr. Lowell ''Chris'' Matthews is an associate professor of Global Business and Leadership at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). During his tenure at SNHU he has developed courses on white privilege, workplace diversity, and gender equity. His area of expertise includes leadership, human resources, and strategic management. Matthews keeps active in the community by volunteering with Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire, City Year, and the Granite YMCA. He has served as chair of the board for DreamCatchers NH.
Prior to relocating to Manchester, NH, Dr. Matthews served as the director of fundraising events for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and as an adjunct professor at Roosevelt University. Matthews completed his Bachelor of Business Administration in Business Management at the University of Delaware, his Master of Business Administration at Roosevelt University, and his Doctorate of Business Administration from Argosy University.
TOUR GUIDES
Lynn Clark has a PhD in anthropology from Binghamton University. She is a former executive director of the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum and retired as director of the Warner Historical Society in 2023. Her research interests include rural New Hampshire Black and Native families. She co-authored a paper about rural Black families with fellow researcher Rebecca Courser, which was published in an issue of Historical New Hampshire devoted to Black history. As a volunteer she contributes to exhibits and tours at the Warner Historical Society and co-authors cemetery walks for the Hopkinton Historical Society. Through her work she aims to make historical narratives inclusive of all New Hampshire’s peoples.
Rebecca Courser is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and took graduate courses in the Heritage Studies Program at Plymouth State University. She was formerly the museum store manager and volunteer coordinator at the New Hampshire Historical Society. Long active in the Warner Historical Society she retired as director in 2019. While employed as assistant town clerk in the 1980s she became intrigued by Warner’s Black history while studying vital records. She has spent the last decades continuing to research the lives of families who lived in Merrimack County. Courser and Clark wrote Rural Free Black Settlement in Post-Revolutionary New Hampshire: A Study of Five Towns for the Historical New Hampshire issue Too Long in the Shadows: The Black Presence in New Hampshire, Vol. 61, No. 1, Spring 2007.
PANEL #1:
BEYOND ERASURE: BLACK QUEER TRAILBLAZERS AND THEIR LEGACIES
Ray Diamond is the James Carville Alumni Professor and Jules F. & Francis L. Landry Distinguished Professor at Louisiana State University Law Center, where he is Director of the George W. and Jean H. Pugh Institute for Justice and teaches criminal law and constitutional law. His scholarship is at the nexus of constitutional law, race, and legal history.
He is the co-author ofBrown v. Board of Education: Caste, Culture, and the Constitution, which was awarded the 2003 David J. Langum, Sr., Prize by the Langum Project for Historical Literature. His scholarship in the area of the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms was awarded the 2000 Carter-Knight Freedom Fund Award, and has been cited three times in Supreme Court jurisprudence, most recently in Rogers v. Grewal, 140 S.Ct. 1873, (2020) (Justice Thomas dissenting).
He was co-counsel on the amicus brief presented by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to the Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller, decided in 2008. His most recent scholarship, "Helpless by Law: Enduring Lessons from a Century-Old Tragedy" (with Robert J. Cottrol), 54 Connecticut Law Review Online; May 2022), examines questions of violence and self-defense in African American history in the contexts of crime in American cities and of historical patterns of racist anti-Black violence prevalent in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, as exemplified by the destruction of the Greenwood community in Tulsa Oklahoma in 1921.
Tanisha Johnson has a Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration. Tanisha is the Child and Family Services Director for the Community Action Partnership of Strafford County. In July 2020, Tanisha co-founded the Black Lives Matter Seacoast Chapter. BLM’s mission is to dismantle anti-Blackness and fight against racial injustices and police brutality. Tanisha serves on various community organization boards along the Seacoast, she is a DEIJ trainer, advocate, and speaker. Tanisha is the Co-Host of the podcast The Conversations We Should Be Having. This podcast is with the Chief of Police of Eliot Maine and discusses new approaches to talk about race and justice.
Matt Garza and The Haus of Glitter The Hause of Glitter lived in the former home of Esek Hopkins, commander of the slavery ship "Sally" as an endurance-based performance + community activation + historic intervention. Learn about their approach to transform this racist national monument through research, local + state + national activism, community wellness, and multidisciplinary art + performance. Participants will have space for questions + discussion to explore the ways we want to intervene in the world and preserve not only our past, but our present and future.
Dr. Dottie Morris (Moderator) is the Associate Vice President for Institutional Equity and Diversity and a member of the College President’s Cabinet at Keene State College. Her main foci are providing support and direction to the Executive, Academic Affairs, Enrollment and Student Engagement, Advancement, and Finance and Administration divisions of the college as the institution works to fulfill its commitment to diversity and multiculturalism.
For years, Dottie has worked with undergraduate and graduate students in the capacity of counselor, teacher, academic advisor, and advisor of student groups. She has demonstrated a consistent and persistent dedication and devotion to diversity, inclusion, multiculturalism and social justice over the past two decades. Prior to her position as Associate Vice President of Institutional Equity and Diversity at KSC, she served as the Associate Dean for Student Learning at World Learning School for International Training Institute (SIT) in Brattleboro, VT, the Director of Student Affairs for the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program at Antioch University New England in Keene and staff counselor at the Colorado State University Counseling Center and the Coordinator of the Employee Assistance Program.
PANEL #2:
UNBOXED: REDEFINING CREATIVE SPACES AT THE INTERSECTION OF RACE, GENDER, AND SEXUALITY
John Berst serves on the faculty of the University of Miami in Florida. He is an active theatre historian/practitioner specializing in musical theatre and actor training. John has presented at several conferences internationally and domestically, including the Black New England Conference, the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, the Mid-America Theatre Conference, the New England Theatre Conference, and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from Purdue University’s Professional Actor Training Program and a Bachelor’s in Music and Theatre from the University at Buffalo (SUNY). John has extensive professional experience as a stage director, music director, and actor, and he is a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association and an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
C. Rose Smith is an American photographer whose practice is a powerful tool for questioning societal norms through semiotics in historicized landscapes. Her self-portrait series, Scenes of Self: Redressing Patriarchy, is a compelling interrogation of the relationship between the white cotton dress shirt and identity and power in the context of antebellum homes owned by former cotton merchants and plantation owners. This series, adopting the aesthetic and posture of historical 19th-century studio portraits and paintings, critically examines an industry that has shaped and sustained the modern US economy. Influenced by how African American photographers have and continue to use photography for representation, Smith engages in the same practices, imaging herself in spaces that connote a present past to construct a visual record of storytelling about history and time. The basis of Smith’s work is to offer new ways of seeing and visualizing oneself beyond the inventions of structure.
Raquel Willis is an award-winning activist, journalist, and media strategist dedicated to collective liberation, especially for Black trans folks. She is the author of The Risk It Takes to Bloom: On Life and Liberation. She is also an executive producer with iHeartMedia’s first-ever LGBTQ+ podcast network, Outspoken, and the host of Afterlives, a podcast centering the lives and legacies of trans folks lost too soon to violence. Raquel has held groundbreaking posts, including director of communications for Ms. Foundation for Women, executive editor of Out magazine, and national organizer for Transgender Law Center. She co-founded Transgender Week of Visibility and Action with civil rights attorney Chase Strangio. She is the president of the Solutions Not Punishments Collaborative’s executive board and serves on the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art board.
She published the GLAAD Media Award-winning “Trans Obituaries Project” in 2022, and she executive-produced and hosted “The Trans Youth Town Hall” with Logo. The work was nominated for the GLAAD Awards and won Gold distinction in the Shorty Awards. She was also honored as a 2023 ADCOLOR Advocate.
Melina Hill Walker, program director at the Endowment for Health, focuses on projects to advance health equity in New Hampshire. She has worked for Dartmouth’s Aging Resource Center, as a grants coordinator for Visiting Nurse and Hospice for Vermont and New Hampshire, as a senior community health planner in New York City, and as a public health volunteer in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Walker holds a master’s in Health Policy and Management from Harvard and a bachelor’s from Brown University. She has also served in volunteer and board roles for several academic and nonprofit organizations, including Dartmouth Hitchcock and the Upper Valley Hostel.
WATCH FOR NEWS ON BHTNH 2024 CITIZEN'S AWARD WINNER
PANEL #3
A BURST OF LIGHT: FUTURE TRENDS AND EMERGING MOVEMENTS IN THE QUEER COMMUNITY
Journee LaFond (they/them) is a social worker, podcast host and writer, drag performer, event organizer and restorative justice advocate. Helping to advocate and create spaces for historically marginalized communities is their passion and purpose, and they have dedicated their life to redefining ideas on mental health, what it is to be Queer, and what it is to be a Person of the Global Majority. Their work in the field has connected them with people from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences, adding to a lifetime of learning.
Journee has a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of New Hampshire and is a certified life coach. They have worked closely with marginalized youth since 2011 and have hosted events to create a sense of community for LGBTQIA+ people and People of Color since 2015, from networking and speed dating events to the Decolonize and Discover Festival, highlighting the need for accessible, inclusive spaces for Disabled, BIPOC and Queer communities. They have had the privilege to work with youth and families with varied behavioral and mental health concerns at the individual level as well as lobby for policy change around mental health issues.
Amanda McGuire is a Clinical Mental Health Counselor & Clinical Therapist with 20+ years of experience in the healthcare industry. She helps children and adults overcome adversities, find their purpose, and build happy lives. She holds a MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Southern New Hampshire University and specializes in trauma, self-empowerment, boundary setting, & social justice.
Amanda aims to empower people, especially from marginalized communities, to regain control and optimize their lives for happiness. She loves to meet new remarkable people, explore their stories, and help them learn their true worth. Amanda is passionate about helping people break societal stigmas and heal from within. She provides a safe and prejudice-free zone to share stories and release burdens limiting happiness and success.
Originally from Ridgecrest, CA, Amanda lives in Manchester, NH, and devotes her free time to crochet, adventurous stories, snow sports, and true crime documentaries.
Harold Steward (they/he) is a cultural strategist from Dallas, TX. They joined The Theater Offensive in Boston as the managing director in June 2017. They currently serve as executive director for the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA). Steward most recently served as manager of the South Dallas Cultural Center, a division of the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs, which provides instruction and enrichment in the arts, emphasizing the African contribution to world culture. Harold served as a cultural equity facilitator with Equity Quotient and an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Theater Studies at Emerson College where his current research interests include The Queer Trap Aesthetic in American Theatre and Identity Reclamation-The process in which oppressed individuals reclaim agency over their identity through cultural production.
Bithiah Carter (moderator) is the President and CEO of Give Black Alliance. Bithiah is passionate about philanthropy and leveraging community assets to improve education, workforce, and economic opportunities for Black and Brown-led organizations. Her experience bridges Wall Street finance and nonprofit leadership, having previously served as Executive Director of Grand Circle Foundation and in senior roles at United Way and the Girls' Coalition of Greater Boston. Carter also contributes her expertise to several local and national nonprofit boards, driving forward the 21st-century mindset in community development.
KEYNOTE CONVERSATION WITH TIQ MILAN AND ANGEL SIMONE
A MODEL OF POSSIBILITIES
Tiq Milan is a sought-after host and strategic media consultant. He has moderated conversations about LGBT representation in media for HBO’s Newfest Film Festival, The Toronto Film Festival, LOGO and MTV. He’s hosted authors in conversation at The Schomburg Center for Research, NYU and Princeton. This spring he will be hosting an evening at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York city. As a media consultant, he guides organizations and companies in creating detailed media. campaigns that engage diverse audiences in ways that are inclusive and authentic. He’s worked with HBO, NBC News and various film and television producers on the rollout of several projects including the documentaries HBO’s Suited and Netflix’s The Death and Life of Marsha P Johnson. Tiq also served as the Senior Media Strategist and National Spokesperson for GLAAD, using data-driven strategies to engage various media in appropriate and honest LGBTQ representation and creative direction.
Angel Simone (they/she) is dedicated to creating spaces where people from diverse backgrounds and experiences can unite to foster meaningful connections. As speakers, trainers, and coaches, they have a passion for empowering others to discover their unique potential and become the next best version of themselves. Angel is a certified DEI consultant and enjoys conversations on identity and belonging, inclusive leadership, and how we can build more inclusive spaces where more of us can feel welcomed, valued, respected, and heard.
Angel has captivated audiences as a TEDx speaker, keynote speaker and podcast guest. Angel has corporate training experience in both non-profit and for-profit sectors. She currently volunteers on the advisory board of Elephant in the Room for New Hampshire Theatre Project.
Originally from Liverpool, England, Angel now lives in Portsmouth, NH, with her children and holds a Master's in Engineering.
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