Participant Biographies

Biographies of Keynote Speakers

Christy Coleman L.H.D. '20

With a career spanning over 30 years, Christy S. Coleman has served as the Chief Executive Officer of some of the nation’s most prominent museums. She’s a tireless advocate for the power of museums, narrative correction, diversity and inclusiveness. Ms. Coleman is an innovator and leader in the museum field having held leadership roles at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the American Civil War Museum and now the Executive Director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.

She’s written numerous articles, is an accomplished screenwriter, public speaker and has appeared on several national news and history programs. Most recently, she served as Historical Consultant for the film Harriet and Showtime’s Good Lord Bird miniseries. She’s also been a featured public historian for several documentaries, most recently the acclaimed miniseries Grant.

Ms. Coleman is the recipient of numerous awards including Honorary Doctorates from The College of William and Mary, Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of the South for her decades of impact. In 2018, Time Magazine named her one of the 31 People Changing the South and in 2019, Worth Magazine named her one of 29 Women Changing the World.

Catherine Meeks, Ph.D.

Catherine Meeks is the Founding Executive Director of the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing as well as the retired Clara Carter Acree Distinguished Professor of Socio-cultural Studies and Sociology from Wesleyan College.

Catherine is an author who has published seven books including her recently co-authored book, Passionate for Justice, Ida B. Wells- A Prophet for Our Times which was released in September 2019 and her edited book Living Into God's Dream: Dismantling Racism in America which focuses on racial healing and reconciliation published in 2016. She is a regular contributor to Hospitality which is published monthly by the Open Door Community. She is involved with prison work and faithfully visits a person who was formally on death row. She is committed to working for the abolition of the death penalty, writing and helping to create spaces where transformation and rebirth can occur.

Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead, Ph.D.

Karsonya "Kaye" Wise Whitehead is Associate Professor of Communication and African and African American Studies at Loyola University Maryland and the Founding Director of The Karson Institute for Race, Peace, and Social Justice. Best known as the #blackmommyactivist, she is also the host of the award-winning radio show, “Today with Dr. Kaye” on radio station WEAA. In 2020, Whitehead was selected by The Daily Record as one of Maryland's Top 100 Women; and, by the Baltimore Sun as the Best Radio Host. In 2019, Whitehead received the Collegium Visionary Award from the College of Holy Cross; the Exceptional Merit in Media Award (EMMA) from the National Women's Political Caucus; the Baltimore Sun named her as one of Baltimore's 25 "Women to Watch in 2019”; and, Essence magazine included her on the 2019 “Woke 100 List,” of “black women advocating for change.” Dr. Whitehead is the author of four books including RaceBrave: new and selected works; Notes from a Colored Girl: The Civil War Pocket Diaries of Emilie Frances Davis, which received both the 2015 Darlene Clark Hine Book Award from the Organization of American Historians and the 2014 Letitia Woods Brown Book Award from the Association of Black Women Historians; and, Letters to My Black Sons: Raising Boys in a Post-Racial America.

Biographies of Panelists

Women and Slavery

Elsa Mendoza
Elsa B. Mendoza is a Ph.D. candidate in History at Georgetown University and the assistant curator of the Georgetown Slavery Archive, an online repository of documents related to Jesuit slaveholding in Maryland. She is currently working on a dissertation titled “Catholic slaveholding and the origins of Jesuit higher education, 1789-1865.” Her research has been supported by a three-year Fulbright-Garcia Robles fellowship and grants from the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism and the Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture. Her work on Jesuit slaveholding at Georgetown University has recently been accepted for publication in a special number of The Journal of Jesuit Studies, to be published in 2020. Currently, she is co-editing with Adam Rothman “Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation at Georgetown,” a publication of Georgetown University Press that is forthcoming in April 2021.

Candace Gray
Candace Gray is an ABD at Morgan State University in African American History. Her dissertation entitled “Slavery, Race, and Women’s Rights in the Supreme Court of Texas, 1823-1923” reflects her graduate work in cultural and legal history studies. Currently, she is a teaching assistant in a world history course that has expanded her understanding of slavery from the ancient world to the longue durée of the 19th century. After completion of her Ph.D. she will continue to emphasize her work in legal and social histories from 19th century American history while writing for future long- and short-term publication projects.

Caroline Watson

Watson is originally from Atlanta, Georgia. She completed her undergraduate degree at Wake Forest University and is currently working on her M.A. in Historical Archaeology at William & Mary. Her past course and archaeological fieldwork focused on settlement ecology and lithic exchange networks within Late Woodland periphery groups in North Carolina. In her graduate studies, Caroline works in the Society Islands, French Polynesia, where she studies the impact of religion and ideology on monumental architecture and settlement patterns. She has also served as the Anthropology Graduate Research Fellow to the Lemon Project since Fall 2019.

Not Everybody Knows My Name: Negotiating Identities

Michelle Harris
Dr. Harris is a compassionate motivator who has coached hundreds of women into life-altering breakthroughs and deep introspection that propels them into “anew” way of existence. She is the founder and CEO of Anew Health Solutions PLLC, a community-driven, self-care safe space for Christian women who need a spiritual refill after pouring everything they have into other people. She has authored two books, of Healing From Invisible Wounds and The Stress Factor and stands as not only an expert on stress management but she also provides holistic counseling and life coaching to ensure her clients achieve mental, physical and spiritual wellness! As a wellness coach, doctor of behavioral science licensed clinical social worker and minister with more than 15 years of experience, she supports Christian individuals and families in their quest to unlock themselves from the mental chains and invisible wounds of anxiety, suicide, depression and stress

Anjail M. Haqq
Anjail Haqq MSW, is a Mental Health Therapist specializing in treatment for individuals, families and groups in crisis. Anjail’s focus is working with various target populations including adults suffering from substance abuse, adults with significant disabilities and foster care families. Anjail graduated from South Carolina State University with a Bachelors in Social Work, and continued to study clinical social work and organizational community planning at the University of New England, earning her Masters in Social Work. Anjail currently facilitates substance abuse groups at a psychiatric facility in South Atlanta. Anjail Haqq is originally from Chesapeake, VA.

Organizing on The Front Lines: Examining Power through Networks

Phyllis Slade Martin
Phyllis Slade Martin holds a Ph.D. in History from George Mason University. She owns Slade&Associates, LLC a research, education, and organizational consulting business. Prior to becoming a small business owner, she served as the director of the African American Studies Research and Resource Center and the associate director of the program at George Mason University (GMU). Slade Martin is passionate about preserving African and African American history and has consulted on numerous projects to that end. Her research interests include race, gender, the church, and resistance in the U.S. and around the world.

Alexandria Russell
Dr. Alexandria Russell is the 2019-2020 Scarlet & Black Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at Rutgers University. She received her Ph.D. in History from the University of South Carolina in 2018 and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from the College of Charleston in 2009. Her book project, Sites Seen and Unseen: Mapping African American Women’s Public Memorialization, is a national study that examines the evolution of African American women’s public commemorations in the United States from the late nineteenth century to the present. She is the recipient of a W.E.B. Du Bois Center postdoctoral fellowship, a Digital Humanities Summer Institute scholarship, and a Rose Library Research Fellowship to support her research.

The Fight for Civil Rights: Mary Rice Hayes Allen, Mattie L. Humphrey, Theresa A. Walker, Helen Palmer Howard, Elizabeth Johnson (Rice)

Dale F. Harter
Dale F. Harter is the lead librarian at Matoaca High School, in Chesterfield County, Va., and a professional public historian. His research on Mary Rice Hayes Allen and her Confederate general father, John R. Jones, played a prominent part in the 1998 biography Freedom’s Child: The Life of a Confederate General’s Black Daughter, written by Allen’s daughter, Carrie Allen McCray. He holds a B.A. in Journalism and History from James Madison University and an M.A. in History and an M.L.I.S. in Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina

Steven Gayle
Steven D. Gayle is a PhD student at Kennesaw State University’s School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding and Development studying International Conflict Management. Steven earned his Bachelor’s in History Education from The University of North Carolina at Pembroke and a Master of Arts in Media and Communications from Norfolk State University. Steven’s area of focus consists of evaluating the historical and contemporary interactions of African and Native American populations in the United States from an international perspective. He is also the founder and Executive Director of the Afro-Amerindian Research and Cultural Center, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization based in the metro-Atlanta, GA area.

LaTika Lee
LaTika Lee is a proud graduate of Norfolk State University with professional experience in public affairs and communications. A Gullah/Geechee descendant, she was raised in the bosom of southern hospitality in Savannah, Georgia, but has been immersed in local and Virginia history, cultural heritage preservation and promotes all that the Commonwealth of Virginia has to offer. She considers herself to be a “Cultural Concierge” fusing interests in genealogy and African American heritage & culture. Among others, she has served on the boards of the African American Repertory Theatre, Richmond Boys Choir and the Greater Richmond Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society

Revolutionary and Cultural Impacts

Lee Ann Timreck
Ms. Timreck is an independent folklorist and historical researcher. In 2016, Ms.Timreck completed George Mason University’s Graduate Certificate in Folklore Studies and has continued her professional development through graduate courses in history at Virginia Commonwealth University, participation in professional conferences and personal development. In both 2017 and 2018, Ms. Timreck presented papers at the American Folklore Society Annual Conference on the topic of nineteenth-century African American sculpture. Ms.Timreck is currently researching a book on the emancipation-themed sculpture of the African American artists Mary Edmonia Lewis and Meta Vaux Fuller, reflecting her interest in the history, culture and narratives of nineteenth-century African Americans after Emancipation.

Lindsay Gary
Lindsay Gary graduated from the University of Houston with a BA in history and minors in dance and business administration, and with an MA in history and MPA in public policy from Texas Southern University. In 2018 she was selected as a Mellon Scholar in African American History and in 2019 obtained her Graduate Certificate in African American Studies. She works as an adjunct professor of history at Houston Community College, and is currently a teaching assistant and pursuing a PhD in Africology and African American Studies from Temple University.

Monet Timmons
Monet Timmons is currently a third-year English PhD student and an African American Public Humanities Initiative (AAPHI) Fellow at the University of Delaware. Her research focuses on Black women in the archive from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. Through public humanities work, her research uncovers the fragments of these archives to reveal the larger complexities of these women lives to make a larger intervention about Black women’s lived experiences across space and time. Monet Timmons recently submitted a draft for publication regarding rhetoric surrounding campuses’ histories with enslavement with a focus on Catherine “Miss Kitty” Boyd and Emory University’s past. She is currently on the advisory committee for an exhibition on Alice Dunbar-Nelson expected to release Fall 2020 at the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia, PA

Remembering Those Who Came Before Us: Enslaved Families of Fontainebleau and Civil Rights Activist Nellie Jane Hinderman McLeod

Jackson Cantrell
A high school senior from Mandeville, Louisiana, Jackson Cantrell is a National Merit Finalist, state Eagle Scout of the Year, and congressional representative for Louisiana’s Legislative Youth Advisory Council. As a preservation advocate, he has submitted formal testimony regarding the protection of public lands. Jack researched the lives of local enslaved and indigenous groups as content for historical markers, the aim of his Eagle Scout service project. He continued his investigations, later compiling reports which the State published online. His works, “The Enslaved Families of Fontainebleau” and “The Native Peoples of Fontainebleau,” are on permanent file with the Amistad Research Center, the United Houma Nation, and the Universities Studying Slavery Consortium. Jack has spoken at Tulane’s Environmental Law & Policy Summit and before regional and city government. As president of Mandeville’s Youth and Government Club, he facilitates Model UN conferences and respectful debate. Servant leadership and advocacy are his callings.

Charles McLeod
Dr. Charles McLeod is an educational consultant and motivational speaker. Among his many accomplishments, he was the first African American to play on the basketball team for Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) where he earned a BS in Sociology and a MA in Counselor Education. He would go on to earn his doctorate in Higher Education Administration at the University of Virginia. Dr. McLeod’s professional experiences include faculty and administrative positions spanning elementary, middle, high school and university levels. He has served as Assistant Supervisor at the State Department of Education. Retired after nearly 35 years, he conducts parenting workshops and staff development activities for school personnel on important topics such as improving interpersonal relations, motivating at-risk students, communicating with parents, and parent engagement. Dr. McLeod and his wife live in the Richmond, Virginia area where they raised two Harvard-educated sons.

Finding Sources, Telling Stories

Rachael Finch
Finch is the Senior Director of Preservation and Education Heritage, Foundation of Williamson County, TN. Finch previously served as the Executive Director and Historian for the Historic Franklin Masonic Hall Foundation, in Franklin, Tennessee. Finch holds an MA in Public History with emphases in Historic Preservation, Cultural Resource Management and Administration of Historical Organizations from MTSU and a BA in History and Political Science from Metropolitan State University in Denver, Colorado. Finch serves on the board of the Franklin Civil War Round Table and the Tennessee Preservation Trust. She is Vice Chair of the City of Franklin’s Civil War Historical Commission and the Commission’s subcommittee on Interpretation and Education.

Greg Crawford
Greg Crawford of the Library of Virginia will share narratives of courage, Perseverance, and sacrifice displayed by pre-1865 black women in the face of great adversity that are found in LVA’s Virginia Untold: the African American Narrative Digital Collection. The Library of Virginia houses local court records, state records, personal papers, business records, newspapers, special collections, books, journals, etc., that date back to the 1600's. Collectively, these records contain the names of millions of African Americans both enslaved and free. The names are access points to the individual stories of African Americans who lived in Virginia from the establishment of slavery in the 1600's until its demise in 1865. They include stories of black women such as Rachel Viney who, despite having won her freedom in court in 1791, remained enslaved and forcibly taken to western Virginia. There is also the story of the Cullins sisters of Powhatan County. They were emancipated in the late 1830’s; however, their niece was not. This presentation will share the courageous efforts of Rachel Viney and the Cullins sisters to gain freedom for themselves and their family members no matter the cost.

Zelophehad's Modern Black Daughters: Black Female Suffragettes Who Enhanced the Power of the Black Vote

Margaret B.S. Bristow
Born and raised in downtown southeast Newport News, the poorest section on the city's census tract, this semi-retired college English professor has lived there all her 70 years. Having earned the BS and MA degrees in English from Hampton University, she went on to earn the Doctorate in English from the University of Virginia in 1990. For 48 years, she has been married to Marshall Bristow. She is founder of a community education business entitled BERNICE which stands for Better Educational Resources Needed in Community Education. It offers you help if you need a writing coach and also proofreading, editing, and grant writing services. A former English Dual Enrollment, Creative Writing, and Honors English teacher at I.C. Norcom and Wilson High Schools, and retired associate professor of English at Hampton University, she presently teaches part-time at Hampton University and at Hidenwood Retirement Village in Newport News.

Gail Singleton Taylor
Dr. Gail Taylor is a "teacher's teacher" with over 30 years of experience in education. She graduated from Vassar College, Fordham University, and Texas A&M University where she received a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with concentrations in multicultural/bilingual education and reading. While a doctoral student, she participated in the US DOE’s Office Of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs Fellowship Program. As a tenured professor at Old Dominion University, she published two books along with numerous articles and chapters on the academic achievement of diverse learners and multicultural children's literature. Additionally, she taught a Study Abroad course in Barbados, initiated the African American Read-In Chain, and received a Fulbright-Hays Summer Fellowship in India where she had an audience with Mother Teresa. Lastly, Dr. Taylor was recognized for her effective and innovative approach to distance education when she was given the TELETECHNET Faculty Member of the Year award. A longtime born-again Christian, she is currently reading the entire Bible in a year.

Lucy Bocock, Daughter of Men Who Played Key Roles in Establishing and Implementing Slavery in America, and the Manifestation of When and Where I Enter

Clarence M. Dunnaville, Jr.,
Clarence M. Dunnaville, Jr., is one of the most prominent attorneys in Virginia. He was appointed as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York by Robert F. Kennedy, and served as Senior Attorney for AT&T. He has worked for many years as a Civil Rights Attorney, and for equal justice under law. Dunnaville is a Fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation and has been named as a Virginia Leader in the Law. He is the author of many articles on Civil Rights and Social Justice and is the recipient of numerous awards for his public service, including the Diversity Award of the Virginia State Bar, which is named in his honor. In 2018, he received the commendation of the Virginia General Assembly, “for his exceptional achievements as an attorney, and as a Civil Rights advocate.”

Peter Gunter Dunnaville
Peter Gunter Dunnaville is a Legal Consultant and Historian. He is a history graduate of the University of Virginia, and a graduate of William and Mary’s School of Law. He also holds a Master of Laws degree, in Environmental Law, from Golden Gate University. He has worked as a legal associate of his father, Clarence M. Dunnaville, Jr., for many years, and as a Magistrate for the Virginia State Courts. Recently he has worked with his father in preparation of a history of their family over 400 years, and their roles in establishing and implementing slavery, Jim Crow, the “One Drop Rule” and Massive Resistance.