The following below panel discussions are apart of the African Americans and Children's Literature: A Symposium and Exhibition which is scheduled to take place on March 2, 2024 at Trinity Washington University. Among them include REMOVING THE MASK, AMPLIFYING OUR VOICES: The Struggle of Black Authors To Publish Authentic Stories About African American People--Their Lives and Their Culture PRESENTERS: Brian Gilmore, Carolivia Herron, Wynn Yarbrough, Bernard Demczuk and jonetta rose barras; SEEING OURSELVES IN THE RIVER, IN THE MIRROR, IN THE WORLD: Illustrators Talk About The Challenge of Creating Images That Bring Children’s Books Alive PRESENTERS: Jennifer Lawson, Justin Johnson, Keesha Ceran and Sheila Crider ; TRUNKS, SATCHELS AND THE US POSTAL SERVICE: Book Distributors and Store Owners Tell Their Story About Getting Black Books into the World By All and Any Means Necessary PRESENTERS Courtland Cox, Paul Coates, Vanessa Williams, and Kojo Nnamdi ; and UNFINISHED BUSINESS, UNTOLD STORIES: The Future of Black Children’s Literature PRESENTERS: Kwame Alexander, Tricia Elam Walker, David Miller, Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, Leroy Nesbitt and Joy Jones.
For more information write to aachildrenslit2023@gmail.com.
REMOVING THE MASK, AMPLIFYING OUR VOICES
9:30 am- REMOVING THE MASK, AMPLIFYING OUR VOICES: The Struggle of Black Authors to Get Their Stories For Children Depicting Authentic African American Life, History and Culture Published By Mainstream Companies PRESENTERS: Brian Gilmore, Carolivia Herron, Wynn Yarbrough, Bernard Demczuk and jonetta rose barras
"Brian G Gilmore was born and raised in Washington D.C. Professor Gilmore spent 15 years in law practice most exclusively in public interest legal work, working for the Neighborhood Legal Services Program and the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. From 2005 through 2010, Gilmore developed and initiated the Fair Housing Teaching Program for the Clinical Law Center, organized programs to educate local constituents and community advocates on ever-relevant legal topics, taught Introduction to Lawyering Process for Education Administrators, and served as a guest lecturer in Professional Responsibility and Pre-Trial Litigation courses. He also designed and taught the Housing Law and the Public Interest course at Howard University. He has taught at Michigan State University from 2010-2021, as Associate Professor and Director of the Housing Law Clinic at the law college. Gilmore has approximately 50 published works to his credit, including law review articles, legal articles, commentary, reviews, and contributions to books, essays, anthologies, and encyclopedias. His works have appeared in the Washington Post, Book Forum, ABA Journal of Affordable Housing and Community Development Law, The Progressive, and the South Carollina Law Review. A respected legal expert in the area of landlord-tenant advocacy and policy and inequality, Gilmore has delivered more than 30 panels, workshops, lectures, and presentations before a wide range of audiences. He is the author of four collections of poetry, including We Didn’t Know Any Gangsters, a 2014 NAACP Image Award Nominee. He is both a Cave Canem Fellow and Kimbilio Fellow, and recipient of a 2020 Michigan Notable Book Award for his book, come see about me marvin (Wayne State University Press 2019)."
"Carolivia Herron is a retired professor of comparative literature who directs the EpicCentering the National Mall creative writing program for at risk youth. She is best known as the author of the children’s book Nappy Hair. She is a speaker with the Pen Faulkner Writers in Schools program, an African American Jew, and an active member of Tifereth Israel of Washington, DC."
"Wynn Yarbrough teaches Creative Writing and Children's Literature at the University of the District of Columbia. He is the author of two books: a volume of poetry, A Boy's Dream (Pessoa Press, 2011) and a nonfiction book, Masculinity in Children's Animal Stories, 1888-1928: A Critical Study of Anthropomorphic Tales by Wilde, Kipling, Potter, Grahame, and Milne (McFraland Press, 2011). He lives in Mt. Rainer, MD."
"Bernard Demczuk, Ph.D. is a 40-year+ DC resident living in the Shaw community where he has been active in community, corporate, academic, labor and government relations. He is currently the Assistant VP for DC government relations at the George Washington University where he has represented the university for 18 years. He is the university’s chief government liaison on all things DC.
Bernard holds a doctorate in American Studies and African American history and culture from GWU (BS, U. of Md.; MS, AU). He lectures widely on Black history and culture, labor history and governmental policy. In 2013, the Washington Urban League honored him with the Whitey M. Young Award at its 75th Annual Awards Gala.
Bernard started his career as the Recreational Director at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Anacostia in 1971. After four years as a Corrections Officer at the DC Jail, where he also taught Black Studies to the inmates, he was promoted to National Political Director for the American Federation of Government Employees Union in 1981 where he directed the union’s labor relations with the city until 1989. While at AFGE, he sat on the Metropolitan Labor Council, AFL-CIO’s Board of Directors for eight years. In 1989, the local DC AFL-CIO selected him as the “Outstanding Trade Unionist of the Year.” Bernard has traveled abroad widely teaching and lecturing in international relations, civil and human rights in Russia, Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, Palestine, Israel, South and Central America and throughout the USA.
In 1989, Bernard joined Jesse Jackson’s National Rainbow Coalition as its Labor Director. Before joining the Rainbow, he led Jesse Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 labor strategy in those two Presidential campaigns.
From 1992-1998, Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly and Mayor Marion Barry selected Bernard as the Director of Intergovernmental Relations for the Executive Office of the Mayor (today’s Office of Policy and Legislative Affairs) where he was the chief lobbyist for the Mayor to the City Council, US Congress and White House.
Bernard retired from city government in 1998. Now at GW, he sits on the board of directors of the DC Chamber of Commerce, the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Board of Trade, the Ben’s Chili Bowl Foundation and numerous other boards. He is Ben’s Chili Bowl’s historian and the resident historian of the Howard Theatre.
Bernard has taught African American history and culture at the DCPS School Without Walls for 13 years and is the faculty advisor of the GW Williams House (The Black House) at GW. He lectures frequently on DC Black history and culture in the DCgovernment and for community and corporate groups. He is the Black Broadway on U film project’s historian directed by Shellee Haynesworth."
Jonetta Barras is a bestselling author and award-winning journalist, she says she found her voice, experiencing life as a poet, fiction writer, performing artist, and community organizer. Along the way she became a magazine feature writer, investigative reporter, columnist and essayist. A member of the Society of Professional Journalists DC Pro Chapter Hall of Fame, her work has appeared in numerous publications including The Washington Post, Essence Magazine, The New Republic, USA Today, and Crisis Magazine. She currently writes a weekly column for The DC Line.
She is the president and CEO of Esther Productions, Inc (dedicated to using a variety of vehicles—traditional and nontraditional—to develop communities throughout the United States and Europe.)
SEEING OURSELVES IN THE RIVER, IN THE MIRROR, IN THE WORLD
12:45 pm SEEING OURSELVES IN THE RIVER, IN THE MIRROR, IN THE WORLD: Illustrators and Authors Talk About The Challenge of Creating Images That Bring Books Written by Black Authors Alive. PRESENTERS: Jennifer Lawson, Justin Johnson, Keesha Ceran and Sheila Crider
"Jennifer Lawson first marched for civil rights in 1963 as a 16-year-old in what became known as the Children’s Crusade, in support of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who had been jailed in Birmingham, AL. She attended Tuskegee University and eventually left to work full-time with SNCC in Lowndes County, Alabama where she drew billboards, comics, booklets, and leaflets in support of the Lowndes County Freedom Organization, publicizing the work of the people of Lowndes County and their political party's symbol, the black panther. She is featured in an award-winning 2022 film about this subject, Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power. In 1968, she helped establish Drum and Spear Bookstore and Drum and Spear Press. She illustrated and co-authored the book Children of Africa and oversaw the translation and publication of a Kiswahili version, Watoto wa Afrikain Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Jennifer later became the first chief programming executive at PBS. In the 1990s she was named one of the “101 Most Influential People in Entertainment Today,” by Entertainment Weekly. In 2016, she was honored with the Ralph Lowell Award, public television’s highest award. Currently, she is a board member of the SNCC Legacy Project and has been actively working in its partnership at Duke University to create the SNCC Digital Gateway."
"Justin Johnson is a budding children’s book illustrator, gif animator, and aspiring art teacher. A recent graduate of Rhode Island School of Design with a major in illustration, he studied children’s book illustration as well as animation. Justin is a native Washingtonian (DC) who is interested in historical and nonfiction stories. He is a scratchboard artist, but also loves to draw and paint. He credits his mother and grandmother, both teachers, with inspiring his love of picture books and storytelling."
"Keesha Ceran is the Associate Director of Teaching for Change, a nonprofit that strives to build social justice starting in the classroom by providing professional development, publications, and family engagement programs to help support teachers, other school staff, and parents. The Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership spoke with Keesha about her experience in the world of education, her time within the Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program, and her recent acceptance of the 2023 American University MLK Jr. Visionary Award."
"Sheila Crider is a self taught artist currently based in Baltimore after practicing in Washington, D. C. for most of her career. She has always made her living as an artist, starting with The Original Response Handmade Envelopes and Books in art fairs and craft markets. Encouraged by the public response to this work, she began submitting to open calls to exhibit collages and wall hangings made from the same hand dyed papers. In 2009, she was awarded the first of many public art projects. Commissions have included a lobby project for The Community of Hope (DC), original art for a children’s room for The DC Public Library and for Art-In-Public-Places DC. In 2022 and 2017 she was awarded $10,000 Artist Fellowships by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Her work is included in many public and private collections including Art-in-Public-Places (WDC), James E Lewis Museum (Baltimore, MD), Yale University Book Collection (New Haven, CT), State Department Print Collection (WDC), African American Museum (Dallas, TX), Ranger Italy (Serengo, Italy), Mino Washi Paper Museum (Mino, Japan), Hyatt Regency Hotel (Crystal City, VA) and the Library of Congress Print Collection (WDC). "
TRUNKS, SATCHELS AND THE US POSTAL SERVICE
2:00 pm – TRUNKS, SATCHELS AND THE US POSTAL SERVICE: Book Distributors and Store Owners Tell Their Stories About Getting Black Books into the World By Any and All Means Necessary. PRESENTERS Courtland Cox, Paul Coates, Vanessa Williams, and Kojo Nnamdi
"Courtland Cox is President of CCAP Consulting, LLC, which was incorporated in the District of Columbia in July 2011.
Presently, Mr. Cox is part of the DCPEP team that works with the Department of General Services (DGS) of the District of Columbia Government. As part of the DCPEP team, Mr. Cox is responsible for making sure that there is compliance with federal and District law pertaining to CBE and workforce participation on all DGS projects. In 2009, Courtland Cox served as a Consultant to the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization (OPEFM) and was responsible for the participation of businesses and workforce participation in over $1 billion in the construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of schools in the District of Columbia. Mr. Cox has also served as a consultanct with the Hensel Phelps Construction Company to ensure that District residents and District businesses participate in the approximately $400 million Marriott Marquis Convention Center Hotel construction project.
From 2004 until 2008, Courtland Cox served as the Director of Small, Local, Businesses Development for the DC Sports & Entertainment Commission (DCSEC) to ensure small business and District workforce participation in the construction of the approximately $900 million Nationals Baseball Stadium. During the construction of the ballpark project, he was responsible for the compliance of a Project Labor Agreement (PLA), and all Federal and District laws. During this period, he also was also a consultant to the Anacostia Waterfront Commission an agency charged with the development of the District’s Southwest Waterfront. From August 2001 until September 2003 he worked as a consultant to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and from 2003 until February 2004 he served as a senior advisor to the ASABA Group."
"W. Paul Coates is the founder and director of Black Classic Press, which specializes in republishing obscure and significant works by and about people of African descent. A leader in the field of small publishers, Coates founded BCP Digital Printing in 1995 to produce books and documents using digital print technology.
Coates formerly served as an African American Studies reference and acquisition librarian at Howard University’s Moorland-Spingarn Research Center. He is a graduate of Clark Atlanta University (M.S.L.S.), and Sojourner-Douglass College. A former member and Maryland State coordinator of The Black Panther Party, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Black Panther Party Archives at Howard University.
Coates is co-editor of Black Bibliophiles and Collectors: Preservers of Black History (Howard University Press, 1990). He formerly owned and operated The Black Book (1972 ’ 1978), a Baltimore-based bookstore. His experience with the purchase, sale and collection, and publishing of books by and about Blacks is a love affair that has continued for more than three decades. "
"Vanessa Williams is a student and practitioner of all things critical pedagogy, with a special appreciation for social studies and literature. She holds a B.A. in Anthropology with a minor in Education from Davidson College; she also has a M.S. Ed in Education, Culture, and Society from the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. Vanessa taught secondary ELA and social studies for six years before becoming the program manager for D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice, a project of Teaching for Change. She serves on the D.C. History Conference planning committee and has been featured on panels for the Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium. Vanessa’s writing is published in Rethinking Schools and Education Post."
"Kojo Nnamdi, Rex Orville Montague Paul, better known as Kojo Nnamdi, is a Guyanese-born American radio journalist based in Washington, D. C. He is the host of The Kojo Nnamdi Show and The Politics Hour on WAMU, and hosted the Evening Exchange broadcast on WHUT-TV from 1985 to 2011. "
UNFINISHED BUSINESS, UNTOLD STORIES3:30 pm- UNFINISHED BUSINESS, UNTOLD STORIES: A Look Beyond the Immediate Horizon at The Future of Children’s Literature Written by African American Authors. PRESENTERS: Kwame Alexander, Tricia Elam Walker, David Miller, Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, Leroy Nesbitt and Joy Jones
"Kwame Alexander has written 38 books, three of them in a chair next to a fireplace at his neighborhood Panera Bread. He now writes in a penthouse in London, where he lives. But, he misses the writing studio he built in Virginia a few years ago. It has huge windows, a large painting of John Coltrane, 3000 books, heated floors, a blue couch, and a loft which was Randy’s idea. When he’s not writing, Kwame’s playing Softball with his soon-to-be six feet tall middle school daughter, walking around London listening to audio books, and travelling to schools and libraries across the globe...on Zoom. Kwame has eaten snails, chocolate covered bugs, and grasscutter, which is like a big rat, which he had no idea he was eating because it was in a really tasty stew he ate in Ghana while building a library and a health clinic in a village called Konko. He’s never eaten frogs. But, he has written a book about them called Surf’s Up. And, some other books you may have heard of like The Crossover and Swing and The Undefeated and Becoming Muhammad Ali, all New York Times Bestsellers, which his Dad likes to brag about in grocery stores and doctor’s offices. Kwame loves jazz. Kwame loves his family. Kwame loves his job. Part of Kwame's job is to write and produce the Disney Plus TV series based on his novel The Crossover. The other part of Kwame’s job is to Change the World One Word at a Time. Oh yeah, he also won the Newbery Medal. Whoa!"
"Tricia Elam Walker, author of the novel Breathing Room and other publications, is an award-winning fiction and non-fiction writer and cultural commentator who has written for National Public Radio, The Washington Post, Essence magazine, the Huffington Post and more. She practiced law for sixteen years prior to teaching writing in Washington, DC and Boston. Tricia is also the author of two acclaimed children's books, Nana Akua Goes to School (winner of the 2021 Ezra Jack Keats writer award) and Dream Street (one of the NYTimes 25 best books of 2021). Tricia is currently an assistant professor of Creative Writing at Howard University and is working on several projects including more children’s books, plays, essays and novels."
"Baltimore native, David C. Miller, has received international acclaim for Dare to Be King: What If the Prince Lives. A Survival Workbook for African American Males, a thought-provoking, 52-week curriculum teaching adolescent males how to survive and thrive in toxic environments.
Miller is a Ph.D. Candidate in the School of Social Work at Morgan State University with a primary concentration on Black Fatherhood. Miller has written several children’s books, including Chef Toussaint, Khalil’s Way, Brooklyn’s Finest: The Greene Family Farm, Gabe & His Green Thumb, and They Look Like Me (coloring book)."
"Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, Ph.D., is a Manager of Social Studies at District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS). Prior to joining DCPS, she served as an Assistant Professor of Secondary Social Studies at West Virginia University. She taught middle school social studies for 10 years in Washington, D.C., and Arlington, VA, and served as an adjunct professor in teacher preparation programs at local universities. In these roles, she taught a variety of university level courses including Elementary and Secondary Social Studies Methods, Research in Secondary Education, Teaching Diverse Learners, Education Equity, and Introduction to Critical Race Theory. Mitchell-Patterson earned her doctorate in Multilingual/Multicultural Education and Education Policy from George Mason University. Her research interests include racial and social justice in education, education activism, and teaching diverse Black histories, people’s history and underrepresented narratives in PreK-20 education. Advocacy, activism, intersectionality, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive education lie at the core of her work. Education is her revolution."
"Leroy Nesbitt, Jr. Executive Director, Black Student Fund
"The Black Student Fund (BSF) was founded in 1964, following Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic March on Washington in 1963, where people of all races demanded immediate change.
During the 1960s, black enrollment at independent schools in the Washington, D.C. area was extremely low, languishing at 1% or less in many schools.
Private schools lagged behind public schools in achieving diversity, prompting the BSF to become one of the few organizations dedicated to addressing inequality at elite institutions.
The BSF embodied the spirit of multiracial cooperation and focused on expanding educational opportunities as the key to achieving the "Beloved Community" that Dr. King envisioned. "
Leroy Nesbitt, Jr. is a social engineer and lawyer with more than thirty years of experience in the education arena. Leroy Nesbitt, Jr. is a graduate of Middlebury College and Howard University School Of Law. Following his graduation from law school he clerked for the Honorable George W. Mitchell, Associate Judge Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He then returned to Howard University serving as associate general counsel and directing the Moot Court Team at the School of Law. His work in the education arena continued at his undergraduate alma mater Middlebury College as Special Assistant to the President. He presently serves as Executive Director of the Black Student Fund. During his more than thirty years in the education industry Leroy has worked as arbitrator, lawyer, professor, administrator, programmer and consultant. He has worked with colleges in nine states and high schools in more than forty cities. "
“Joy Jones is a trainer, performance poet, playwright and author of several books including Private Lessons: A Book of Meditations for Teachers; Tambourine Moon, which was selected as one of the best books for children by the black caucus of the ALA and featured on the Bernie Mac Show; and Fearless Public Speaking. She has won awards for her writing from the D. C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, and the Colonial Players Promising Playwrights Competition, plus awards from both the D. C. Department of Recreation & Parks and the D. C. Commission on National & Community Service for outstanding community service.
Joy Jones’ provocative op-ed on marriage trends for The Washington Post, “Marriage is for White People”, went viral. She is the director of the arts organization, The Spoken Word, and the founder of the Double Dutch team, DC Retro Jumpers, which has led exhibitions and classes throughout metropolitan Washington and abroad. Joy often leads workshops on creative writing, communications and black history.”