PRESENTERS’ BIOGRAPHIES
In order of appearance
Sankofa Tour Guide: tba
PANEL #1
Reverend Robert H. Thompson, is the retired Phelps Minister at Phillips Church, Phillips Exeter Academy. He was ordained Itinerant Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1980. Rev Thompson served as pastor of churches in Bellaire and Urbana, Ohio before coming to Phillips Exeter. Much of his life has been spent in support of building or strengthening communities, especially those that reach across racial and ethnic divisions. His work as Board President of the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire provides the latest outlet for this type of work.
Betty Lane is an Episcopal lay woman who worked to legalize the ordination of women in that church. She has deeply researched the life and writings of Anna Pauline “Pauli” Murray, the first African American woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest. Murray (1910-1985) was also a civil rights and women’s rights activist, a scholar, and a poet.
Jennifer Thorn, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of English and Director of the Interdisciplinary minor in Gender Studies at St. Anselm College. Dr. Thorn joined the English Department at Saint Anselm College in 2009, after teaching at Colby College and Duke University. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. at Columbia University and her B.A. at State University of New York at Binghamton. She works in the transatlantic eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, with a special focus on the history of childhood, class and race. Dr. Thorn has several works in publications including “From ‘Blind Susan’ to Incidents in the Life of a Blind Girl: How Mary L. Day Disabled Domesticity,” for the book Disabling Domesticity, “Phillis Wheatley’s Ghosts: The Racial Melancholy of New England Protestants, “Eighteenth-Century Theory and Interpretation,” and “The Work of Writing Race: Galland, Burton, and the Arabian Nights,” in Monstrous Dreams of Reason: Cultural Politics, Enlightenment Ideologies. While at Duke, she was awarded two teaching awards, one from Duke recognizing excellence in the teaching of seniors and one from the American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies for innovative course design. Dr. Thorn is the editor of the collection Writing British Infanticide: Child-Murder, Gender, and Print, 1722-1859. Dr. Thorn is at work on two book projects, parts of which have been published: Phillis Wheatley and Childhood and Blind Girls and Women: Print and Progress, 1795-1902.
Adelaide Solomon-Jordan of Portland, Maine, is a biographer and historian who has a deep interest in tracing families of African descent in New England. “My research as a biographer has focused on the ordinary man and (woman) of (early 18th century). My goal has been to raise up the name and lives, document history and introduce, to educators, the inclusion of African-descent people and the contribution their lives made in the founding and early years of our country.”
Ross Stanton Jordan is curatorial manager at Jane Addams Hull-House Museum in Chicago. His exhibits focus on the confluence of American politics, visual culture, and artistic production, connecting social justice issues of the past to the present via collaboration with artists and community-based organizations. He holds dual master’s degrees in art history and in arts administration and policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where, later as a staff member, he expanded curricular exhibitions on the campus and transformed student exhibitions into research-driven, collaborative experiences. Before coming to Chicago, Ross was an intern at the Museum of Modern Art Department of Painting and Sculpture, providing research support for a range of exhibits. He is the recipient of the Studio Art Fellowship, Trinity College; the Graduate Curatorial Fellowship, SAIC; a 2015 ACRE Curatorial Fellowship; and was a 2014/15 inaugural curator-in-residence at the Chicago Cultural Center.
Jerrad P. Pacatte, (moderator) is a doctoral candidate at Rutgers, State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick. A student of Erica Armstrong Dunbar, his research and teaching interests include: the histories of urban slavery and emancipation in the colonial, early Republic, and antebellum north; female slavery and resistance to bondage; and questions pertaining to the enslaved’s mobility and utilization of space. His work has appeared in the New York Quarterly history journal and in the second volume of Scarlet and Black, a history of African American life in New Brunswick, NJ. Pacatte also is working on a digital humanities project focused on the lives of African American women in eighteenth and nineteenth century New England. Another project underway is an historical examination of slavery, sexual violence, and the historical archive. He lives Providence, RI, with his partner Daniel and their cats.
PANEL #2
Delia Konzett Ph.D., is professor of English and cinema/American/women’s studies at the University of New Hampshire. She is the author of Ethnic Modernisms and Hollywood’s Hawaii (Rutgers UP, 2017), the first full-length study of the film industry’s intense engagement with the Pacific region from 1898 to the present. Her new book highlights films that mirror the cultural and political climate of the country over more than a century — from the era of U.S. imperialism on through Jim Crow racial segregation, the attack on Pearl Harbor and WWII, the civil rights movement, the contemporary articulation of consumer and leisure culture, as well as the buildup of the modern military industrial complex. Focusing on important cultural questions pertaining to race, nationhood and war, the book offers a unique view of Hollywood film history produced about the national periphery for mainland U.S. audiences. Hollywood’s Hawaii presents a history of cinema that examines Hawaii and the Pacific and its representations in film in the context of colonialism, war, Orientalism, occupation, military buildup, and entertainment.
Safiya Songhai is an American film director, Emmy Award-winning television producer and broadcast journalist. The Philadelphia native, trained with highly acclaimed playwright Ntozake Shange, Sankofa director Haile Gerima, and Oscar award winning director Spike Lee. Songhai’s first films, LadyLike, and In Silent Spaces both follow Black female protagonists and explore themes of sisterhood, mother/child relationships, religion, spirituality, and the male gaze. Both films earned top honors at film festivals nationwide, and later premiered on PBS. LadyLike was incorporated into lesson plans as middle school curriculum to teach about religious tolerance and the various interpretations of the feminine ideal. In addition to film-making, Songhai has worked as a television commentator for CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront, discussing topics concerning racial profiling, the George Zimmerman trial, police brutality, and the impact of the murder of Trayvon Martin. Since 2014, Songhai has covered international news as a TV anchor/reporter for Arise News, and Peace News Network. Songhai is a summa cum laude graduate of Howard University, and completed her MFA.
PANEL #3
Dr. Daniel McClure is an independent scholar and educator with a doctorate in African American Studies and a Master’s degree in Journalism. He currently teaches History at Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge, MA.
Born in Boston, Bijan C. Bayne is an award-winning Washington-based freelance columnist and critic, and author of Sky Kings: Black Pioneers of Professional Basketball, which was named to the Suggested Reading List of the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004. The book is also cited in “Booktalks Plus: Motivating Teens to Read” by Lucy Schall, and was named a Suggested Book of Interest by the organization Teachers Network, in 2010. Bayne wrote two chapters for the upcoming 2017 book Race in American Film. He is also the author of a best selling biography of basketball hero Elgin Baylor. Elgin Baylor: The Man Who Changed Basketball, was named a “Book That Inspires,” by the Christian Science Monitor, and one of the Most 25 Inspiring Books of 2015, by Conversations Book Club. His book Martha’s Vineyard Basketball: How a Resort League Defied Notions of Race & Class, was named a Must Read, by BET. He is a contributor to Paste magazine.
Bob Greene. The eighth generation of his family to be born in Cumberland County, Maine, Bob has been busy as a genealogist, historian and government contract employee since he retired from The Associated Press. Following stays at two black newspapers – the Hoosier Herald in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the Kansas City Call – he became sports editor of a daily newspaper in Leavenworth, Kansas. That led to his joining The Associated Press in Kansas City. He also worked for The AP in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Washington, DC; Portland, Maine, and New York Sports. In 1980, he was named The AP’s Tennis Writer, a post that enabled him to travel to Europe, Africa and Asia. After a 36-year career with The AP, Bob retired in 2001 and moved back to his beloved Maine.
Lowell “Chris” Matthews, PhD (moderator), assistant professor of organizational leadership at Southern New Hampshire University, served as the director of fundraising events for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and as an adjunct professor at Roosevelt University in Chicago. His research interests include organizational culture, international merges and acquisitions, and global leadership practices. Matthews is president of the International Academy of Student Development, and a member of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Association of Fundraising Professionals, Blacks in Development, and Latinos in Development. He volunteers in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Greater Manchester program.
PANEL #4
Kabria Baumgartner, Ph.D., is assistant professor of American studies at the University of New Hampshire. She is a scholar of nineteenth century African American history, literature, and culture. She has earned awards to support her research, including fellowships from the Library Company of Philadelphia, Massachusetts Historical Society, and the National Academy of Education. Her work has appeared in scholarly journals such as the Ethnic Studies Review, New England Quarterly, Journal of the Early Republic, and the Journal of Social History. Her book, A Right To Learn: African American Women and Educational Activism in Antebellum America (under contract with New York University Press) tells a history of school desegregation in the early nineteenth century Northeast from the perspective of African American girls and women. Her next project is an edited volume on the experiences of people of color in Essex County, Massachusetts.
Dorothy Clark is the editor of Historic New England magazine, a member publication of Historic New England, the oldest and largest regional cultural heritage organization in the United States. She is a fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society and a member of the board of directors of the Loring Greenough House in Jamaica Plain, MA. Ms. Clark holds a master’s degree in historic preservation and American history, and a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Her mission is to advance the relevance of history among the public and to advocate critical and enlightening engagement with the past.
Aria S. Halliday, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Africana Feminisms at the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Halliday’s research explores U.S. and Caribbean representations of Black women and girls in the 20th and 21st centuries. She specializes in Black women’s and girls’ cultural production that engage ideas of race, gender, sexuality, and consumerism in popular culture. She is editor of The Black Girlhood Studies Collection (2020), while her work is featured in Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, Girlhood Studies, SOULS, and Against a Sharp White Background: Infrastructures of African American Print (2019, U Wisconsin Press).
Keisha Venson Sheedy, has lived in New Hampshire for over a decade. She is currently a project manager with SNHU’s Innovation Center, supporting strategic initiatives that amplify the university’s dedication to equity in education. Including her time with SNHU, she’s worked in higher education almost fifteen years having held diverse positions at Plymouth State University, Granite State College, DePaul University, and Columbia College Chicago. She is excited to be pursuing the Certificate in Creative Placemaking at the Institute of Art and Design at New England College, which is a niche field that focuses on making art and culture the cornerstones of community development to promote inclusion and drive economic development. She Lives in Canterbury with her husband Peter and daughter Tabitha.
LUNCHTIME ADDRESS
Rajnii Eddins, originally from Seattle, is a spoken-word poet, emcee, and teaching artist. He was the youngest member of the Afrikan American Writers Alliance at age 11 and has been actively sharing with youth and community for 27 years, including in Vermont since 2010. His latest work, Their Names Are Mine, aims to confront White supremacy while emphasizing the need to affirm our mutual humanity.
PANEL #5
Van Dora Williams is currently an associate professor and program director of filmmaking, broadcast media production, and sonic arts at Champlain College in Burlington, VT. She also taught 10 years at the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications at Hampton University. Before moving to academia, Williams was a journalist for two decades. She started in print journalism with The City Sun in Brooklyn, and then moved into broadcast journalism with PBS in Virginia. Her documentary films have earned several local, regional, and national awards. She holds a doctorate in communications.
Wayne Dawkins’ daily journalism career began in 1980 at Gannett Newspapers in Westchester, NY, and continued at the Courier-Post, Cherry Hill, NJ, Post-Tribune, Gary, IN, and The Daily Press, Newport News, VA. He served as managing editor/news for BlackAmericaWeb.com. Dawkins taught at the Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications for 12 years before moving to the School of Global Journalism and Communication at Morgan State University in Baltimore. He was named 2016 Educator of the Year by the American Journalism Historians Association, the same year he received the Dean’s Medal for Public Service from Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. He is the author of three books, City Son, Andrew W. Cooper’s Impact on Modern-Day Brooklyn (2012), Black Journalists: The NABJ Story (1997), and Rugged Waters: Black Journalists Swim the Mainstream (2003).
Kyle Fraser is beginning his second year of doctoral research in the linguistic anthropology department of the City University of New York Graduate Center. His research focus is on the language of hyper-enslavement, with his organizational work centered around Abolitionism.
John Berst is director of musical theatre at the University of New Hampshire where he teaches performance, literature and repertoire; musical theatre history, and musicianship. Berst also regularly directs and music the UNH main stage. He has presented at several conferences internationally and domestically, including the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), the Mid-America Theatre Conference (MATC), the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF), and the New England Theatre Conference (NETC). Berst holds a master of fine arts in acting from Purdue University’s Professional Actor Training Program and bachelor’s degree in music and theatre from the University of New York-Buffalo. He has extensive professional experience as a director, music director, and actor, and he is a member of Actor’s Equity Association and associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
Charlotte Broaden, PhD (moderator) is a professor of International business and organizational leadership at Southern New Hampshire University, with a research focus on entrepreneurship; international finance; and trade and foreign direct investment (FDI), especially in African nations. In 2015-2016, she spent a year teaching and researching at the University of Botswana on a Fullbright scholarship. Before her academic career, Broaden worked as an executive in human resources and strategic management for several international firms, including three years in Toronto managing operations in Canada and France. She is certified global business professional, a designation of the National Association of Small Business International Trade Educators (NASBITE International).
PANEL #6
Moises “Mosart” Nuñez is an educator, activist, with a master’s degree in education. Mo’s professional focus is on issues of teen violence, at-risk-youth intervention, the social-emotional education of teens, creating inclusive school environments for students with special needs, school redesign, community engagement, and dismantling racist practices in public education. Mo currently designs and leads community engagement based anti-racism and implicit bias workshops for district and school leadership across the country. Mo has taught English, social studies, and special education across the Northeast in public schools, alternative-education programs, private independent schools, and several universities. Mo has also designed and served as director for several successful at-risk-youth programs, most notably at New Beginnings in Rochester, N.Y.—an alternative education school that focuses on educating and reintegrating recently incarcerated youth. Mo has served as administrator, program director, and program manager for several alternative education, day treatment programs, and public schools in New England and the tri-state area. Mo recently won The Phoenix magazine’s Hip Hop DJ of the Year 2018, and released an album of original music under the name “mosart212.”
Ramsey Harris is an artist, interpretive illustrator, and writer whose work focuses on the Black Power Movement, African American history during the California Gold Rush, and California Railroad history. Her work has appeared in professional publications and on interpretive panels around the world. She has presented numerous interpretive sessions at regional, national, and international conferences. She is also a community activist for Black Lives Matter 5280, Denver Chapter, and a proud mom of a United States Marine.
Martha J. Cutter is a professor of English and Africana Studies at the University of Connecticut. She is the author of three books: Unruly Tongue: Language and Identity in American Women’s Writing (University Press of Mississippi, 1998), Lost and Found in Translation: Contemporary Ethnic American Writing and the Politics of Language Diversity (University of North Carolina Press, 2005) and The Illustrated Slave: Empathy, Graphic Narrative, and the Visual Culture of the Transatlantic Abolition Movement, 1800-1852 (University of Georgia Press, 2017). She is also the coeditor (with Cathy J. Schlund-Vials) of a collection of essays on multi-ethnic graphic narrative titled Redrawing the Historical Past: History, Memory, and Multiethnic Graphic Novels (2018, the University of Georgia Press). She has published over thirty-five articles or book chapters on women writers, American multi-ethnic literature, African American literature, abolition, and racial passing. She was awarded an NEH academic year fellowship from 2019-2020 for work on her next book project, Slavery as Spectacle: The Lives and Afterlives of Henry Box Brown. She also has won numerous awards for her research and editorship of scholarly journals, including the College English Association’s award for the best book in Literary
Mwalim (Morgan Peters), joined the UMass Dartmouth faculty in 2003 after a lengthy career in the theater, film, television and as a performing artist, writer, filmmaker and master teacher of genres spanning theater, spoken-word, music, journalism, film, television, and video, as well as the academic disciplines of musicology and folklore/ oral traditions.
Dottie Morris (moderator), is associate vice president for institutional diversity and equity at Keene State College. She serves on the president’s cabinet, providing support and direction to the executive, academic, student affairs, advancement, and finance and planning divisions of the college.
“HOT OFF THE PRESS”
Terry Robinson is the Founder and Creative Director of HOUSE OF TESTAMENT, a luxury streetwear brand and creative agency focused on designing stories that resonate with his demographic. He has worked on numerous creative projects, most notably “3018” a fashion show in collaboration with the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire while also serving as their Creative Projects Collaborator. As an community organizer and activist, he has used his platform to further the progress of people of color working with the NAACP and the MLK Commission of Florida and has won numerous awards for his efforts including the 2012 Rosa Parks Legacy Awards, MLK Oratorical Award and the Pleasant Street Historical Society Legacy Award. As a public speaker, he was awarded the 2017 FBLA National Public Speaking Award. Taking a year off to explore his artistic visions, Robinson hopes to attend LaSalle College in Montreal, Canada, to pursue his degree in Fashion Design and Visual Art. Instagram: @terryjohnr
Jordan Carey is a Bermuda born artist and designer of Loquat and the assistant designer at Jill Mcgowan, now based in Portland, Maine. He is currently studying at Maine College of Art to get his BFA in Textiles and Fashion. Carey’s work focuses on hybrid cultures in the African diaspora. He takes influence from predominantly black performance-based cultures like Dancehall and Gombeys to create ready to wear clothing for everyday settings.
Kettia Fenestor is an award-winning hair stylist to the stars and a seasoned lead stylist at New York Fashion Week. She is a beauty mogul on the rise who pushes creative boundaries to stay ahead of the hair and makeup trends. Fenestor is the owner of Robesteurs Unisex Salon in Manchester NH.
Bernadette Uwimana is the founder and owner of Uwimana Design, a unique elegant customized garment boutique located in Manchester, NH. Her African heritage and a variety of fashion styles influence her work. Involved in every stage of creation, from sketching the original design to producing the final product, Bernadette blends her skills of contextual fashion design with skillful dressmaking. Her work reflects the inner power of a woman’s beauty, love, independence, creativity, adventurous spirit, and perseverance.
