Non-Profit Organization in Rochester, NY | Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives

Celeste-Marie Bernier (cont.)

Her single-authored books include: African American Visual Arts, Characters of Blood, Suffering and Sunset, Stick to the Skin, If I Survive, Living Parchments, Battleground, The Anna Murray and Frederick Douglass Family Papers and Douglass Family Lives. Winner of a British Association for American Studies Book Prize and co-winner of a European Association for American Studies Book Prize and International African American History and Genealogical Society Maryland Book Award, she has delivered over 250 guest lectures and plenaries and held visiting appointments and fellowships at Memphis, Harvard, Yale, Oxford, King’s College London, University of California, Santa Barbara, the National Center for the Humanities in Durham, North Carolina, and the Obama Institute in Mainz, Germany.

Previously Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of American Studies published by Cambridge University Press, Bernier is the recipient of a UK Philip Leverhulme Prize and Major Research Leverhulme Fellowship, AHRC Research and Leadership Fellowships, and Terra Foundation for American Art Program and Publication Grants. In 2018, she was awarded a Citation by Lt. Governor Boyd Rutherford of Maryland “as an internationally respected scholar, author and world-renowned historian of African American Studies.” She is currently working on a three-year international interdisciplinary research project funded by the UK Leverhulme Trust titled, Sacrifice is Survival: Black Families Fighting for Freedom in the USA and Canada (1732-1936).

Frederick Douglass (cont.)

Following his self-emancipation in 1838, Frederick Douglass became one of the most celebrated intellectuals of his time and one of the foremost leaders of the abolitionist movement in the decades before the Civil War. He advised presidents and spoke worldwide on various human rights issues. Douglass gained notoriety for his brilliant oratory and incisive antislavery writings. He was a best-selling author, a journalist, and the first African American to hold a high U.S. government rank as Minister Resident and Consul General to the Republic of Haiti.

Douglass served as an adviser to President Abraham Lincoln throughout the Civil War. He provided a powerful voice for enslaved people and the women’s suffrage movement in the 19th Century. During the Reconstruction era (1865-1877), Douglass fought for the adoption of the constitutional amendments that guaranteed voting rights and other civil liberties for Black people. He is still revered today for his work fighting against racial injustice and has been called the father of the civil rights movement.

Douglass won world fame when his first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, was published in 1845. His autobiography became an instant bestseller and, having escaped slavery just seven years earlier, put his life in immediate danger. Narrative helped change the course of the U.S. Abolitionist Movement in the 19th Century and has inspired and changed readers’ lives for more than 175 years. In 2012, the Library of Congress named Narrative one of the 88 Books That Shaped America.

Elihu "Eli" Miles (cont.)

Prior to AWS, he served as Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Saxiom Advisors, a boutique consulting firm operating at the intersection of strategy and analytics.

He has held management and operational roles at organizations across multiple industries, including education, non-profit, real estate and financial services. He has collaborated with clients on various projects ranging from developing a B2B market entry strategy for a major financial services firm to identifying a wholesale distribution strategy for a specialty glass and pottery designer and manufacturer.

Mr. Miles holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oberlin College. Additionally, he is a certified Change Management Advanced Practitioner (CMAP) and AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner.

Sybil Azur (cont.)

Sybil is a former actress and professional dancer who co-produced and co-directed the documentary PUSHING MOTHERHOOD. She is currently the researcher for the ABC show Station 19 and has recently been tapped to adapt an optioned novel into a screenplay.

Sybil led the team that succeeded in getting the Los Angeles Unified School District to commit to transitioning to 100% clean, renewable energy and is humbled to be the 2022 recipient of the Climate Reality Project’s Green Ring Award. She first read the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass twenty-five years ago and was deeply inspired. She is honored to amplify the legacy of the Douglass family.

Robert J. Benz (cont.)

In 2017, Mr. Benz edited FDFI’s Bicentennial Edition of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. As part of the One Million Abolitionists project, FDFI will give away one million copies of the book to young people across the country to help fulfill its mission to build strong children. Mr. Benz was the book’s Editor.

From 2016 through 2018, Mr. Benz led FDFI’s effort in proposing, drafting and promoting changes to the existing Trafficking Victims Protection Act, the most important human trafficking legislation in the US. The result of those efforts was signed into law as the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention & Protection Reauthorization Act of 2018. It was the first time that language and funding were included in the law specifically for prevention education.

Mr. Benz previously owned and operated a marketing company in the hospitality industry. With a focus on developing group meetings, conventions, and niche consumer markets for clients, Mr. Benz, with his partners, designed and implemented sales and marketing programs for many of the country’s most recognized hotel and casino brands. His company was also contracted by the largest cruise lines in the world to develop the incentive travel market. Ultimately, Mr. Benz’s company produced some of the biggest music cruise charters ever, starring such acts as The Dave Matthews Band, Kenny Chesney, and Tim McGraw.

Todd Allen (cont.)

Todd spent his career in the trading pits of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), buying and selling natural gas, crude oil, and gold futures and options. He was gently shoved into retirement as the antiquated ‘open outcry’ system of doing business on the trading floor, which had been in place since the 1870s, finally gave way to new technology and electronic trading. But don’t cry for Todd. He and his wonderful wife, Ruth, have together dedicated the second act of their lives to enjoying and raising their son, Luke.

Todd was introduced to Frederick Douglass in grade school and was reintroduced to him by Don Mullan, co-founder of the Frederick Douglass Ireland Project. Don lit the fire in Todd’s belly, and a passion grew for Frederick Douglass and his struggle, a struggle that still lives today. Those who strive to wrestle with this struggle are guided by the words and deeds of Frederick Douglass himself.

Todd has acted as an informal adviser to the Frederick Douglass Ireland Project. Amongst other achievements, the FDIP commissioned a larger-than-life bronze sculpture of Frederick that permanently resides on the campus of the University of Maryland. It is breathtaking.

Todd’s research has led to the creation of the Frederick Douglass Project at Rutgers University-Newark, where a committee was formed that seeks to rename the athletic field in Douglass’ honor. The field sits on the plot of land where a church once stood that hosted a Frederick Douglass speech in 1849. A program of research into the lives of the black community of 19th century Newark is also to be developed by the committee.

Finally, in this, the bicentennial year of the birth of Frederick Douglass, Todd has encouraged two European artists, one from Sweden and the other from Ireland, to create an image of Frederick. They both heeded the call. Christer Themptander and Jim Fitzpatrick have created images in their own styles. It should be noted that Jim Fitzpatrick is well known as the creator of the iconic Che image back in 1968.

Maria Weaver (cont.)

She leads the growth of Warner’s network of owned-and-operated consumer brands and oversees the day-to-day operations including streaming account management and playlisting, direct-to-fan and merchandising operations, consumer acquisition, content creation, legal & business affairs, and finance.

Maria has over three decades of experience leading marking and media teams. Previously, she was the Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer at Comcast Advertising where she created a strong, international marketing organization to support the company’s growing business needs. Maria was responsible for all facets of marketing and branding for the company’s advertising sales division, Effectv, including leading its rebrand from Comcast Spotlight. She also oversaw its full-service creative agency Mnemonic, as well as FreeWheel, which provides advertising software and solutions for the television ecosystem. Additionally, she helped provide relief to Black-owned small businesses that were affected by COVID-19 through launching the Comcast RISE program.

Prior to Comcast, Maria was one of the founders of Interactive One, the digital division of Urban One (formerly Radio One), overseeing marketing and digital ad sales across all of the Interactive One brands. Among other projects, she co-produced Interludes, a music showcase series on TV One and HelloBeautiful. Maria was also the co-founder of Triple Threat Films, a film fund that financed and executive produced award-winning cinematic projects. Maria previously held various senior marketing and creative services roles at HBO, where she most notably oversaw audience segmentation marketing. Her content marketing and acquisition strategy led to several of HBO’s programming successes, including the launch of The Wire, Def Poetry, and many others.

Maria received the National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications Award of Excellence, the Council of Urban Professionals Catalyst Award, and multiple honors from The Telly Awards and the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing. She serves on the boards of She Runs It, Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives, Figure Skating in Harlem, and the International Radio and Television Society. Maria holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Media Studies from Pace University and a Master of Professional Studies from Pratt Institute.

Charles Randolph-Wright (cont.)

CHARLES RANDOLPH-WRIGHT has built a dynamic and diversified career in directing, writing, and producing for theatre, television, and film. He currently is Executive Producer/Director on the initial season of the television series DELILAH on OWN. Upcoming theatre directing projects are the world premiere of AMERICAN PROPHET: FREDERICK DOUGLASS IN HIS OWN WORDS (which he co-wrote with Grammy winner Marcus Hummon) at Arena Stage in D.C., TROUBLE IN MIND by Alice Childress on Broadway at the Roundabout Theatre, and ORFEUS: A HOUSE MUSIC OPERA at the Young Vic in London. His play BLUE (starring Leslie Uggams and Lynn Whitfield) will be directed by Phylicia Rashad at the Apollo Theatre. Charles directed the smash hit MOTOWN THE MUSICAL (Broadway, London, and the National Tour).

For television, Charles directed episodes of the series GREENLEAF (OWN, Netflix), KATY KEENE (CW), STEP UP HIGHWATER (YouTube Red), LINCOLN HEIGHTS (ABC), and SOUTH OF NOWHERE (Nick). Charles directed and co-produced Bebe Winans’ special AMERICA AMERICA (BET), and co-produced AN EVENING WITH THE GOLDEN GIRLS. Charles has directed many videos and commercials, including the award-winning European “Freestyle” campaign for Nike.

His feature film directorial debut, PREACHING TO THE CHOIR, swept the feature film prizes at the American Black Film Festival and was featured in numerous festivals (including the Pan African Film Fest, Cannes, and London). He is an Executive Producer of the film MAURICE HINES: BRING THEM BACK, which won the Grand Jury Prize of the NY Documentary Film Festival and the Jury Award at ABFF. Charles has written screenplays for Showtime, Walt Disney Pictures, HBO, and 20^th Century Fox. He also co-wrote the screenplay WHITE CHOCOLATE (with John Leguizamo).

For the theatre, Charles directed the Broadway bound musical BORN FOR THIS (Alliance Theatre, Arena Stage, Cutler Majestic Theatre), which he co-wrote with gospel icon Bebe Winans, the Pulitzer prize-winning play RUINED and the record-breaking musical SOPHISTICATED LADIES (starring Maurice Hines) at Arena Stage, GUYS AND DOLLS (50^th anniversary national tour), the 75th anniversary tour of the opera PORGY AND BESS, Brian Stokes Mitchell in his solo show LOVE/LIFE at Lincoln Center, Daniel Beaty’s THROUGH THE NIGHT at the Union Square Theatre and the Geffen Theatre, the world premiere of AKEELAH AND THE BEE for the CTC in Minneapolis and Arena Stage, THEY’RE PLAYING OUR SONG (in Portuguese) in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brasil, and BLOOD KNOT at ACT in San Francisco (featuring music by Tracy Chapman).

Charles directed and co-wrote THE DIVA IS DISMISSED (starring Jenifer Lewis) at the NYSF Public Theater and the Hudson Theatre (LA), ME AND MRS. JONES (a musical which starred Lou Rawls, and featured the classic R&B music of the Sound of Philadelphia) at the Prince Music Theatre, and HOMEWORK (starring Kim Coles) in NYC, Crossroads (NJ), and LA.

He directed the world premieres of TOUGH TITTY by Oni Faida Lampley at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and SENOR DISCRETION HIMSELF, (the last musical written by Frank Loesser, based on a story by Budd Schulberg, and co-written with Culture Clash). He also directed TARTUFFE, INSURRECTION: HOLDING HISTORY, and BLITHE SPIRIT at ACT, HUNDREDS OF SISTERS at New York Theatre Workshop, and CABARET VERBOTEN at the Mark Taper Forum (with Bebe Neuwirth and Roger Rees). Charles directed HAIR … FOR THE NEXT GENERATION, the 20th anniversary event at the United Nations, which was the first benefit of its kind for children with AIDS, and MUSIC AND REMEMBRANCE (starring Leontyne Price, Itzhak Perlman, and James Galway) at Carnegie Hall.

Charles wrote the play BLUE, starring Phylicia Rashad, which broke box office records at Arena Stage (where Charles is an inaugural resident playwright). BLUE has had many productions throughout the United States, including the Roundabout Theatre and the Pasadena Playhouse (which starred Ms. Rashad, Diahann Carroll, and Clifton Davis). Charles also wrote CUTTIN’ UP (based upon the best selling book by Craig Marberry), THE NIGHT IS A CHILD (starring JoBeth Williams), LOVE IN AFGHANISTAN, and co-wrote JUST BETWEEN FRIENDS starring Bea Arthur, which toured internationally, including a Tony nominated run on Broadway.

Charles’ productions have received numerous awards, including NAACP Image, Bay Area Critics, Drama-logue, LA Weekly Theatre, Helen Hayes, Ovation, and Audelco as well as Grammy and Tony nominations. Charles was awarded grants from the Theatre Communications Group, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the NEA, the Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award, and also is the recipient of the S.C. Medal of Honor in the Arts, the Creative Spirit Award from the New Professional Theatre, The Pasadena Playhouse Theatrical Diversity Award, an honorary MFA from ACT, and the Paul Robeson Award from Actors’ Equity.

As a performer, Charles’ credits include Broadway (the original cast of DREAMGIRLS), television (HILL STREET BLUES, MELROSE PLACE, FALCON CREST), music (a disco group which will remain nameless that nonetheless garnered three gold records), film, numerous shows in theatre, and countless television commercials.

A native of York, South Carolina, Charles is an honor graduate of Duke University where he was an A.B. Duke Scholar and recently received the Distinguished Alumni Award. He serves on the Advisory Committee of the American Theatre Wing, the Board of Directors of the Roundabout Theatre, is an associate artist at The Young Vic, and a founding member of the Wright Family Foundation of South Carolina. Charles’ website is www.Randolph-Wright.com.

Negelle Morris (cont.)

Negelle Morris is a business leader with over 25 years of experience working within multiple clinical and corporate environments where her focus has been in direct patient care, healthcare leadership, sales strategy development, and patient access. She currently leads a team of 600 employees as Commercial Vice President at Novo Nordisk Inc., a global pharmaceutical company specializing in the treatment of Diabetes, Obesity and other rare diseases.

Prior to her 5-year tenure at Novo Nordisk, Negelle spent 14 years at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, where she started as a Specialty Sales Representative and took on roles of increasing responsibility including Trainer, District Sales Manager, Regional Account Director, Integrated Markets Director and National Account Director. In these roles, she led regional and national strategy and helped shape and implement organizational approach to Health System and payer customer segments. Before her start in Pharma 19 years ago, Negelle spent 8 years as a licensed clinician and Program Administrator in the mental health arena and worked in managed care with Magellan Behavioral Health.

Throughout her career, Negelle has championed diversity and inclusion, focusing on the development of others within organizations, both through her work as a mentor and as a national executive board member in various company sponsored employee network groups. She has also continued to serve her community, centering her attention on healthcare disparities and underserved populations. To this end, she spent 3 years on the Board of Directors for the Fayette Care Clinic, a non-profit organization in Fayette County, Georgia focused on delivering healthcare for uninsured and underserved populations. Negelle has been fortunate to receive several awards and accolades throughout her career including multiple national leadership, partnership and performance awards.

Negelle grew up in Southern California and is a graduate of Loma Linda University where she received her B.A. degree in Clinical Psychology before moving to Atlanta and receiving a Master’s in Social Work from Clark Atlanta University.

She currently lives in Atlanta with her husband Douglass Morris, and their 3 boys, David Austin (20), Doug Jr. (20) and Austin Bailey (17).

Gabrielle Koeppel (cont.)

Gabi resides with her family in Chevy Chase, MD.

Practice Areas
Commercial Real Estate
Residential Real Estate
Education
Haverford College, B.A.
University of Maryland School of Law, J.D.
Bar Admissions
State of Maryland
District of ColumbiaGabi has over a decade of not for profit board experience. She has chaired Committee on Trustees, Facilities, Education, Audit, and Strategic Planning Committees. Specific areas of board expertise include Executive Committee leadership, mission and strategic priorities, the financial health of the organization, diversity and strategic visions, governance policies, and trustee selection based on in-depth skills analysis and mission-aligned priorities.
Gabi is a new member of the Board of Directors of the Gandhi Brigade Youth Media. The mission of this organization is “to create communities where young people build
the confidence and media skills to express themselves and to promote community building, multicultural understanding, and the commongood.” https://www.gandhibrigade.org/

Gabi served on a multi-disciplinary team for the comprehensive redevelopment of an historically significant African American neighborhood with deep ties to Frederick Douglas. Gabi has designed, preserved and rehabilitated eastern shore properties in Maryland, including a national folk duplex, circa 1880, adapted to a single-family home (www.208southstreet.com)

Kenneth B. Morris, Jr. (cont.)

Mr. Morris could hardly have predicted that his career and life path would so closely mirror that of his famous ancestors. Prior to co-founding FDFI, he was a partner at C&A Marketing, a marketing and entertainment firm that was recognized as a leader in the field of corporate meetings, incentive travel, as well as the development of customized marketing programs.

Today, Mr. Morris and FDFI bring the guidance of history to the fight against modern forms of slavery. As part of the present-day abolitionist movement, FDFI educates young people about all forms of forced servitude and inspires them to action. Current FDFI projects include PROTECT: a partnership with two California-based nonprofit organizations, 3Strands Global and Love Never Fails, to provide grade-level appropriate, state standard-compliant human trafficking prevention education to thousands of schoolchildren from grade school to high school and the One Million Abolitionists project which, with a wide range of partners including the National Park Service, educational institutions, community organizations, and individuals, we will print and distribute one million copies of a special Bicentennial edition of Frederick Douglass’s first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, to young people across the country. In 2019, FDFI launched its Racial Equity initiative in Rochester, NY where the legacy of Frederick Douglass is strong.

An accomplished and prolific public speaker, Mr. Morris regularly appears before charitable organizations; local, state, and federal government agencies; civic organizations; and students across the country. He has lectured at universities, including Columbia University, Morehouse College, UNLV, Tuskegee University, Loyola University Chicago, and Yale University, and has appeared on CNN, Democracy Now!, PBS, NPR, Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien, and the CBS Evening News. Mr. Morris is honored to have been a keynote speaker at the United Nations on several occasions.

Mr. Morris appeared in both the National Geographic documentary, Civil Warriors, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, and in the 2015 History Channel documentary, Blood and Glory: The Civil War in Color, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the end of the war. Mr. Morris also appeared in the National Geographic documentary, Rise Up: The Legacy of Nat Turner. He contributed the afterword to Picturing Frederick Douglass: An Illustrated Biography of the Nineteenth Century’s Most Photographed American (November 2015; authors John Stauffer, Zoe Todd, and Celeste-Marie Bernier, with an essay by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.) and the foreword to a bicentennial edition of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, published in January 2017.

Mr. Morris received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of La Verne in California in January 2012. In June 2012, he received the inaugural National Park Service Underground Railroad Network to Freedom’s Frederick Douglass Underground Railroad Legacy Award in recognition of his commitment to promoting social change through activism that addresses contemporary social issues. In January 2014, Mr. Morris was the first man to be awarded the Women’s ENews 21 Leaders for the 21st Century Ida B. Wells Award for Bravery in Journalism. In April 2016, he received the Anne Frank Change the World Award from the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights, and in November 2017, he received the National Association of African American Honors Programs Legacy Keeper Award. In 2018, Mr. Morris received awards, including the Award for Excellence from Washington College, Wind Beneath My Wings from the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, and the Frederick Douglass Medal from the Douglass Institute for African & African-American Studies at the University of Rochester.

Mr. Morris has been a member of the board of directors for Kaleidoscope Arts Factory, and the Dean’s Advisory Committee at the University of La Verne. He is a director at the Frederick Douglass Ireland Project and The Young Americans performance and outreach organization, and he is an ambassador for the nonprofit organization Human Rights First. In November 2017, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi named Mr. Morris to the Frederick Douglass Bicentennial Commission, where he serves as Commission Chair.

Mr. Morris received a Bachelor of Arts in Religion from the Ecumenical Center for Black Church Studies at the University of La Verne. He strongly believes, as did Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, that education is the pathway to freedom.

microphone alt icon Request Mr. Morris as a Speaker!

twitter iconFollow Mr. Morris on Twitter

Rich Newman (cont.)

Richard Newman is Professor of History at Rochester Institute of Technology and the author or editor of seven books, including Freedom’s Prophet: Bishop Richard Allen, the AME Church, and the Black Founding Fathers, Abolitionism: A Very Short Introduction, and Pamphlets of Protest: An Anthology of Early African American Protest Literature, 1790-1860 (with Philip Lapsansky and Patrick Rael). He is the former Director of the Library Company of Philadelphia and the book series editor (with Patrick Rael and Manisha Sinha) of “Race in the Atlantic World,” published by the University of Georgia Press. He lives in Frederick Douglass’s Rochester.

Rebekka Boysen-Taylor (cont.)

Students read Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, analyze primary sources related to Anna Murray Douglass and Frederick Douglass, and discuss how abolition can be applied to contemporary challenges. 7th-graders learn from the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives (FDFI), the Antiracism Center at America University, local community members, University of Idaho faculty and students, and the Idaho Black History Museum. Rebekka is passionate about this collaborative work because “We are all living with the remnants of slavery and it is essential that American students (and teachers) understand the structures and biases that allow and encourage discrimination and racism to persist.”

In 2017, Rebekka was invited by FDFI to create curricula at the U.S Library of Congress with a team of educators in honor of Frederick Douglass’s Bicentennial. In 2018, Rebekka received FDFI and American University’s, FD200 Award for her work as an abolitionist teacher. In the summer of 2019, Rebekka received a Think Open Fellowship from the University of Idaho to write an inquiry-based curriculum about the life of abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor Anna Murray Douglass, with the support of FDFI and historians incorporating resources from the U.S. Library of Congress and the Maryland Archives.

Rebekka has a B.S. in Geography from Portland State University, a K-8 teaching certificate from California State University, L.A., and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Idaho. She is currently a Wright Fellow and doctoral student. At the University of Idaho, Rebekka is the assistant manager of the Indigenous Knowledge for Effective Education Program where she supports Indigenous scholars pursuing teacher certification in order to teach Indigenous students with a focus on cultural responsiveness.

Kevin Douglass Greene (cont.)

He has toured the world serving, experiencing, educating, and inspiring the importance of education and history. Kevin welcomes those interested in his personable style of educating and motivating the world. Kevin would love to have a conversation with your students, institution, or organization. He provides his time and support to the Frederick Douglass Family Initiative, and the ideals it stands for. Kevin joins the soldiers who continue the wage the war on modern-day enslavement and sex trafficking, in the name of his great, great grandfather Frederick Douglass.

To book Kevin for your next speaking engagement, click here.

Erica Mock (cont.)

Erica attended The Ohio State University with a focus on African/African American Studies. Erica has held several board positions including Crime Stoppers of Central Ohio and a member of ASIS (The American Society of Industrialized Security) for many years and served as the Women in Security Chair and currently holds the position of Legislative Chair in Columbus, OH. Erica is an advocate against human trafficking and domestic violence working with multiple agencies including former Attorney General now Governor Mike DeWine’s Blue Campaign and local domestic violence shelters aiding survivors.

Michael Szymanski (cont.)

Mike is currently a government affairs consultant in Washington, D.C. where he counsels public and private sector clients on a broad range of federal legislative and regulatory issues. A former member of the Obama Administration, Mike was appointed to the U.S. Department of State where he served as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of State and the Director of Policy for the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. While at the Department, Mike advised senior Administration officials on economic and trade issues as well as national and international security matters.

Prior to his service in the Obama Administration, Mike served for nearly a decade in the U.S. Congress on the staffs of U.S. Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) as her Senior Economic and Policy Advisor and Robert G. Torricelli (NJ) as his Senate Finance Committee Legislative Assistant for Tax and Trade. During his time on the Hill, Mike honed his policy expertise in several areas such as the federal budget process, domestic and international tax, trade, banking, financial services and economic development. Mike was also on the staff of the Governor of New Jersey as a legislative liaison in the State of New Jersey’s Washington, D.C. office.

Born in Seoul, Korea, Mike spent his childhood in Buffalo, NY and holds a B.A. in Political Science from Middlebury College in Vermont.

Kristin M. Leary (cont.)

As Co-Founder of the Frederick Douglass Ireland Project, Ms. Leary works with partners across the island of Ireland and the United States on symposia, lectures, and other programming to educate the public about Frederick Douglass’s time in Ireland, strengthen the bonds between Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the U.S., and promote and advance the protection of civil and human rights throughout the world.

Ms. Leary was previously Director of Programs at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank founded by four former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders. She began her career on the staff of the late U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy and has represented business and labor interests as well as numerous national political campaigns.

Ms. Leary is a Patron of the Washington Ireland Program for Service and Leadership, a non-profit organization that brings young people from across the island of Ireland to Washington, D.C. each summer for internships and leadership development. She is a graduate of Boston College and the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America and is a member of the bars of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States Supreme Court.

Nettie Washington Douglass (cont.)

Born in the town of Tuskegee, Alabama, at the historic Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University), Ms. Douglass has the unique distinction of being “heir of two great Americans.” She is the first person to unite the two bloodlines of Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass through the union of her mother, Nettie Hancock Washington (granddaughter of Booker T. Washington), and her father, Dr. Frederick Douglass III (great-grandson of Frederick Douglass).

Ms. Douglass began representing one or both of her famous ancestors at special events when she was just a little girl. She presented the first 1950 San Francisco minted Booker T. Washington Commemorative Half Dollar to Joe DiMaggio; speaking at the New York State Sesquicentennial (150th) Anniversary Celebration in 1977 (where she received a citation naming her Ambassador of Goodwill); being commissioned a Kentucky Colonel; having a day named in her honor in Easton, MD; making her “acting” debut in Rochester, NY, and speaking at City Hall in Hamilton, Bermuda are just a few of Ms. Douglass’s numerous and varied appearances. On June 19, 2013, she also spoke at the dedication of the Frederick Douglass bronze statue at Washington DC’s Capitol Visitors Center in Emancipation Hall. She was in the company of her son, Kenneth, and America’s top leaders.

While Ms. Douglass gets tremendous pleasure from her “living history,” presentations to students throughout the country are profoundly fulfilling. Still vivid in her memory is what she describes as her most heartwarming experience to date. She accepted the challenge to assist in the fundraising efforts of the award-winning Frederick Douglass High School Marching Band of Atlanta, Georgia. Ms. Douglass’s commitment to these students proved to be successful, thus allowing them to accept the invitation of Bermuda officials to perform in the Bermuda Day Parade. The Frederick Douglass High School Marching Band has the distinction of being the first “off island” band to be invited to perform in Bermuda’s second-largest holiday celebration. “Witnessing an entire country embrace ninety-six students from an inner-city school is an experience I will treasure always.”

Ms. Douglass served as the national spokesperson for the “African-American Heritage Check Series.” She was instrumental in successfully introducing the check series to the Riggs National Bank of Washington (DC), the U.S. Department of Agriculture Credit Union and the Bank South Corporation of Georgia, now known as Bank of America. In recognition of this celebrated endeavor, Ms. Douglass was given a “key to the city” of Memphis, Tennessee, by its mayor and a citation from the mayor of Washington, DC.

Ms. Douglass considers her greatest honor to be the publishing of one of her speeches along with the most noted speeches of Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington: “What to the Slave is the 4th of July?” and the “Atlanta Cotton Exposition” speech, respectively. The speeches were featured in “Vital Issues – The Journal of African American Speeches.” Ms. Douglass is a past volunteer for the United Negro College Fund (founded by Dr. Frederick D. Patterson, the third President of Tuskegee Institute) and the Georgia State Games. She served on the Board of Directors for the Friends of Frederick Douglass Museum in Washington, DC and also serves on the Board of Directors for Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives.

While her life is decorated with honors, the best part has been raising her family. Her children are Kenneth B. Morris, Jr, Nettie Douglass Morris and Douglass Washington Morris.

microphone alt icon Request Ms. Douglass as a Speaker!

Hank Rubin, PhD (cont.)

Dr. Rubin is a nationally respected authority on civic, nonprofit and community leadership. His best-selling, Collaborative Leadership: Developing Effective Partnerships for Communities and Schools has been used in research, trainings, evaluations, academic programs and new collaborations and collective impact initiatives across the country.

Dr. Rubin grew up in Rochester; was present on Joseph Avenue during the famous street actions of 1964; was president of Teen League of Rochester during the launch of Rochester’s first Hike for Hope; was the first youth representative on Superintendent Herman Goldberg’s Rochester School Desegregation Task Force; was the youngest person at the time to serve on the US Commission for Civil Rights; and, as an intern in the US Office for Civil Rights, participated on the work-team that developed the first draft of the federal Title IX regulations. Dr. Rubin launched the Chicago Panel on Public Schools Policy and Finance (“Chips”), co-founded the Institute for Collaborative Leadership, and convened the Harvard-based Clarion Initiative for the Discipline of Non-profit Administration.

Dr. Rubin’s career as a public, non-profit and education leader spans three decades. He has held positions as: Professor of public, non-profit and education leadership; Dean of Education (University of South Dakota, South Dakota State University, and the University of Redlands); Distinguished Visiting Scholar (George Mason University); Director of Public Administration (Roosevelt University); Dean-in-Residence at the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education; Associate Superintendent of Public Education for the State of Ohio; Executive Director of several nonprofit organizations; Candidate for Alderman in Chicago’s 50 th Ward; and member of dozens of school boards and nonprofit boards of directors. In 2018, Dr. Rubin retired from the Rochester Area Community Foundation as Vice President for Community Programs.

Dr. Rubin is author of over 60 scholarly and editorial articles, chapters and books on topics including public, non-profit, education and collaborative leadership; collective impact; race, racism and privilege. He is enthusiastically available for panels, workshops and speaking engagements on public and community leadership, collaboration and the important relationship between leadership and racial equity.

Jeremy Alexander (cont.)

Mr. Alexander’s discovery happened thanks to a DNA test that he and his father took in 2014. A genealogist, working for Georgetown University, his and his father’s DNA to known descendants of the Georgetown University 272 (GU272), with 272 being the largest number of enslaved people sold by the Jesuits at one time.

In his last position, Mr. Alexander served at the Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF) as the Director of Government Affairs in Washington, D.C. At TMCF, he worked on defense, education, and global hunger policy issues. Prior to TMCF, Jeremy worked on Capitol Hill with U.S. Representative, Yvette Clarke (NY) as her Scheduler and he conducted policy analysis on environmental issues. Before he worked on the Hill, Mr. Alexander was
Government Relations Specialist for the National Court Reporters Association in Vienna, VA. There he fought for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, appropriations for court reporting schools, and organized State Leadership Conferences as well as Hill Days for the association. Mr. Alexander also worked in The White House and the U.S. Department of Energy during the Clinton Administration.

He has a Bachelor of Arts from Grinnell College (Grinnell, Iowa) in Anthropology, attended the University of London King’s College (London, England) for a Program in British Politics and Public Policy, and has a Master of Arts from DePaul University (Chicago, Illinois) in Interdisciplinary Studies: Medical Anthropology/Public Policy.

Hon. Teta V. Banks (cont.)

Dr. Banks holds the position as the National Chair of the United Nations Association of the United States of America. She is the second woman to hold this position in the organization’s 70+ years. The UNA-USA, with its 30,000 membership throughout the USA, is part of the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) consisting of 94 countries. She is a member of the Executive Committee of WFUNA and is the first woman to represent America on the ExCo. Established by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1946, the UNA has as its mission to advocate for the mission and vision of the United Nations and upholding human rights.

Dr. Banks accompanied the U.N. Secretary-General on his mission tour for the refugee crisis, and was selected as one of 100 people-worldwide to be a citizen delegate to the Secretary- General’s U.N. Special Session on Human Trafficking. As National Chair of the UNA-USA, she has championed such programs and initiatives as the following: Model United Nations for students, Global Classrooms, Millennium Development Goals consultations, Sustainable Development Goals program integration, advocacy for UN full funding; UN Foundation programs- Nothing But Nets, Shot at Life, Girl Up; UNA-EPA Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority project, UNA Women, and UN75.

Dr. Banks also has served as Consul General of the Republic of Liberia, representing the country as it progressed through an era of civil war, rebuilding, the ebola crisis, humanitarian outreach, and redevelopment. She served on the Advisory Council of the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission. She has held numerous positions including the following:

Executive Director of the King Association for Nonviolence appointed by Mrs. Coretta Scott King
Liaison for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
President of the Consular Corps of Philadelphia

Dr. Banks has served at several universities in both faculty and administrative positions, is a member of the Advisory Board of North American University, serves a Director of University Advancement and Development at NAU, is a member of the Advisory Board of the Honors College at Texas Southern University, is a senior advisor to the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives by appointment by the great- granddaughter of Frederick Douglass, chairs the International Trends Facet of The Links, Inc (Texas Spring Cypress Chapter), and is an Honorary Member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.

Dr. Banks has published books and articles and presented speeches on the topics of global education, literature, women’s issues, human rights, and civil rights. She is the recipient of many awards and recognitions, including recognition as a “Distinguished Daughter of Liberia” and “Top 30 Influential Women of Houston.” She attended Wellesley College, Howard University, Wayne State University, Capella University, and Oxford University.

Lloyd Weaver (cont.)

In addition to being part of the FDFI team, Lloyd holds the following titles:

Journalist/FilmMaker/TV Producer/Director/Writer
Managing Director The Serengeti Network (Lagos and New York)
Managing Director Black Dog Entertainment LLC
Co-Founder of the Ile Ase Yoruba Religious Community

Born in 1941 in Washington D.C. and raised in New York City’s Harlem, following four years in the U.S. Air Force, Lloyd’s professional career includes several years of editing and publishing newspapers and magazines followed by 14 years with WCBS-TV and CBS News in New York City. His credits as a Producer, Associate Producer, and Editor, include The CBS Evening News (Cronkite), Sunday Morning, 60 Minutes, many documentaries and special programs including the landmark series Of Black America broadcast in 1959 and a 105 episode series called Black Heritage: A history of Afro Americans, with Dr. Vincent Harding and Professor John Henrik Clark as co-producers. Lloyd attended Kent State University for three years before dropping out to participate actively in the civil rights/black empowerment movement of the 1960s. He worked with LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) in the establishment of the Black Arts Theater School in Harlem, and for a time, was the Chairman of the Harlem Black Panther Party. With the backing of the New York Urban League as a street organizer, Lloyd established a youth business intended to take brilliant Harlem youth from the streets and teach them to express themselves in a magazine called The Probe. This led to a contributing editorship with New York Magazine and in 1968 to work at various levels at CBS News that continued for the next 14 years. With a fellowship from the CBS News Foundation, Lloyd took graduate courses in filmmaking and African Affairs at Columbia University. Lloyd also served as an instructor in filmmaking at the New York Institute of Technology and at various community workshops in New York City.

In 1982 Lloyd helped establish a training program for the staff of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA). At the expiration of a two-year contract, Lloyd stayed on for 33 more years producing over 400 TV commercials for international brands and, with his former NTA trainees, founded the now internationally acclaimed Nollywood movie industry. Over time Lloyd produced long-running TV Drama series and sitcoms as well as reality shows, game shows, and documentaries with social themes. In 1995 together with African American and Nigerian co-producers and directors, Lloyd produced The Omen of Love and two motion pictures for the South African cable company M-NET Twins of the Rain Forest and A Place Called Home.

Much of Lloyd’s time in Nigeria was spent developing theories of Intended Outcomes television. Between 1998 and 2004, Lloyd produced the first 105 episodes of I Need To Know, a TV drama for young people that dealt with issues of adolescent sexuality and reproductive health. The highly successful series found sponsorship from UNFPA, CIDA, and Nestles. In 2004 Lloyd co-established Common Ground Productions, an international NGO whose programs promote ideas of conflict resolution. The project included the building of a massive production studio in Ikeja, Lagos. At the same time, Lloyd produced a reality show sponsored by Nestle called The Academy.

Following this, Lloyd designed and built the Inspire Africa studio for an Oprah type talk show called Moments with Mo in the City Mall in Lagos.

Between 2007 and 2015, Lloyd produced documentaries on the cultures of various Nigerian ethnicities as well as reality shows and game shows sponsored by major Nigerian corporations, all with socially important themes. In 2013 Lloyd wrote and directed 26 episodes of a situation comedy called Unayi Police Station. The purpose was to role model a corruption-free Nigerian Police Force.

While raising three children, Lloyd noticed the absence of history in Nigerian schools and the consequent apathy toward the Nigerian nation and its flag The Serengeti Network Limited was established in late 2008 with Lloyd as its Managing Director to create a drama series highlighting Nigeria’s 150-year victorious struggle for independence. The series, which proved to be too expensive for corporate Nigeria or that Federal Government to undertake, is still to be produced along with a textbook that would reintroduce history into Nigerian schools.

In October 2015, Lloyd returned to the US to leverage his experience in Nigeria by establishing Black Dog Entertainment as a subsidiary of The Serengeti Network. Our mission remains to create intended outcomes cinematic motion pictures that speak to the concerns of the African American community in the United States. The first motion picture project called The Black Space deals with the challenge of the gentrification of traditionally African American communities across the United States and is presently in the content development and pre-production stages.

Lloyd is also an influential priest (Olorisa) in the ancient religious tradition of the Yoruba people of West Africa, South America, the Caribbean, and now the United States. He is recognized and highly regarded among spiritual traditionalists in Nigeria and has been conferred with several chieftaincy titles. Returning to New York in October 2015, he brought with him a CD album of religious music recorded in Nigeria called Oro Afrika. In 1999 Lloyd co-authored the seminal work on the Orisa Yemonja, which is currently being revised while his new book Iwa Rere and others co-authored with Nigerian priests that are ready for publication. Lloyd has recently become a contributor to the Pan African Broadcast company’s (PABC) podcast contributing an audio column called A Different Angle.

Dr. Michael J. Brna (cont.)

Over a seven-year period, he has secured approximately $1.3 million of federal funding to start-up and expand the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program. Dr. Brna wrote and received the inaugural Workforce and Economic Development Network job training grant in PA in 1999: a program that continues to annually award millions of dollars in job training grants to PA firms. He has helped local companies secure over $3.3 million of PA job training grants to train over 6,400 employees and has written over 100 business plans for entrepreneurs helping them to secure in excess of $5.5 million for business startups or expansions.

Through the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program, he has involved the university with community and schools. He initiated a collaboration with the Library of Congress American Folklife Center by establishing California University of Pennsylvania as a collecting partner for the Veterans History Project. He has overseen the collection and archival of over 100 oral histories of local veterans and conducted an oral history with the late Congressman John P. Murtha. For local schools, he initiated a Cal U Primary Source History Day competition that prepares local students for participation in the regional National History Day competition at the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Brna also serves the community as Secretary on the Board of Directors of Southwestern Pennsylvania Human Services, Inc. (SPHS) and is a member of its Executive and Investment Committees. The mission of SPHS, Inc. is to identify and provide for the health and social service needs throughout the southwestern Pennsylvania region. The SPHS system includes child care, aging programs, family planning services, primary and pediatric health care, mental health treatment and care, substance abuse treatment, homeless assistance, home health care, nutrition services, and family support services.

Dr. Brna earned his Ph.D. at Penn State University, where he graduated from the Workforce Education and Development doctoral program with an emphasis in Training & Development and Human Resources. He earned both his B.S. Finance and M.B.A. degrees with honors from California University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Brna has appeared before the PA House of Representatives Intergovernmental Affairs Subcommittee for Workforce Development and also served as a member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education’s Science and Technology Task Force. Additionally, he co-chaired the Educational Curricula and Digital Collections Program Transitional Advisory Board with responsibility for developing the Library of Congress’s Teaching with Primary Sources program’s current vision, mission statement, and goals. Dr. Brna is also on the editorial board of the TPS Quarterly: an internationally distributed newsletter sponsored by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources program.

Dr. Brna is also an accomplished public speaker, small group facilitator, and life coach who works with individuals and small and large groups in various settings. In his spare time, Dr. Brna enjoys golf, billiards, reading, traveling, cooking, music, theater, and the outdoors.

William Dolan (cont.)

Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, William was a Senior Wealth Advisor/Managing Director of Investments for California Private Wealth Management, an Independent Registered Investment Advisory Firm based in Newport Beach, California. Prior to his position at California Private Wealth Management, William was a Wealth Manager and Financial Advisor for Morgan Stanley, where he advised clients on investments and financial planning.

William’s educational background includes a Masters of Business Administration from Cornell University — Johnson School of Business, International MBA from Queens University School of Business, and a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola Marymount University. He is licensed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority holding the series 7, 66, and 31 licenses and the California Department of Insurance.

William is on the Endowment Committee and is a volunteer at the Boys and Girls Club of Laguna Beach. He resides in Laguna Beach with his wife, son, and daughter.

Paulette Brown-Hinds, Ph.D. (cont.)

Dr. Paulette Brown-Hinds has 25 years of experience in community outreach and engagement, political organizing, and media strategy. She earned her Ph.D. in English Literature with an emphasis in African-American Literature & Culture from the University of California, Riverside, and has taught at various universities throughout the country, including the University of Cincinnati, Pomona College, CSU San Bernardino, University of Redlands, and UC Riverside. She is currently an adjunct faculty member in the Department of English and Communications Studies at LaSierra University in Riverside. As an expert in ethnic media, Dr. Brown-Hinds is often asked to participate in forums on ethnic media for various trade and academic organizations including New America Media, West Coast Black Publishers Association, National Newspaper Publishers Association, the Aspen Institute for Communications and Media, and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism Diversity Workshops. She has also published a number of scholarly articles on 20th Century Black women writers.

Dr. Brown-Hinds is the founder and managing partner of BPC Mediaworks, LLC, a strategic media and marketing firm she founded with her sister in 2004. Its client list includes a number of key California candidates, initiatives, government agencies and companies including March Healthcare Development, The Black Voice News, Siebert Brandford Shank & Co (public finance specialists and number one ranked minority-owned investment banking firm in the US); The Research and Policy Institute of California, First Lady Maria Shriver’s WE CONNECT Campaign; First 5 California; California Black Media, the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations, the Coalition to Protect California’s Budget & Economy 06; the California Department of Insurance; Morongo Band of Mission Indians/Together California Campaign; Schwarzenegger 2006, Westly for Governor 2006, and Wilmer Amina Carter for Assembly.

Anthony P. Chavez (cont.)

The oldest son of Socorro and Paul Chavez, Cesar Chavez’s middle son, Anthony speaks around the country before numerous student and community groups on behalf of the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation, established by the Chavez family to further his grandfather’s life and work. The political trail has captured his attention, including campaigning for President Obama during the fall 2008 general election in the key swing state of Colorado, serving as campaign manager for a successful Phoenix city council candidate in the nation’s fifth-largest municipality and an internship with one of California’s most prominent political strategists in Sacramento. The past three years have seen him serve as travel assistant to Benedictine Brother David Steindl-Rast, a world-renowned author, lecturer, and spiritual guru, on his national and international tours. Anthony graduated in 2007 from California State University, Bakersfield, with a B.A. degree in religious studies.

Michelle Duster (cont.)

Michelle produced dozens of concerts, awards ceremonies, fundraisers, and other public programs while working with various organizations, including the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and Jewell Jackson McCabe in New York City. She also worked on documentary films Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice about the life and times of her great-grandmother, and A Question of Color, that examined intraracial tensions in the African American community.

In her effort to preserve the legacy of her great-grandmother, Michelle is involved in several projects named after Ida B. Wells, including a scholarship fund at Rust College (Ida’s alma mater) and a museum in Holly Springs, Mississippi. She is also a member of a commemorative art committee in Chicago, which is developing a substantial piece of artwork that will be located in the Bronzeville neighborhood. The multi-dimensional piece will capture the life and times of her great-grandmother.

In 2009, Michelle partnered with two other writers to start a group called MuseWrite. They conduct seminars, speak at literacy programs, provide consultations, and offer critiques to help others develop their writing. She also is a founding member of the Chicago Black Author’s Network that is focused on creating and promoting work by and about African Americans.

She is a member of the Board of Directors with the National Public Housing Museum and the Chicago Area Women’s History Council. Her other memberships include the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, Association of Black Women Historians, Association for the Study of African American Life and History as well as the National Women’s History Project.

Michelle earned her B.A. in Psychology from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and an M.A. in Communications from the New School for Social Research in New York City. She also studied film and video production at Columbia College in Chicago.

Steve Gomez (cont.)

Recognized as one of the top experts on business systems and structures in the cosmetology industry, Steve has delivered over 350 trainings and seminars to over 45,000 people internationally. His articles on business, personal, and leadership development have been published in 6 countries and translated into four languages.

Contact Steve: stphngomez@yahoo.com

Glendene Grant (cont.)

March 28, 2006, the course of my life changed dramatically when my 2nd oldest daughter, Jessie Foster, went missing. We (her family and friends) knew from the first day that something was terribly wrong because Jessie was in constant contact with us every day she was away from home. It was after we hired a private investigator that I knew Jessie was taken away against her will and was forced to work in the ‘sex-trade’ – that Jessie was the victim of human trafficking (modern-day sex slavery).

Jessie was lured from her home in Canada to the USA by a sex-trafficker supposedly bringing her on a vacation, who consequently entrapped her into the sex-trade world in Las Vegas, NV after ‘breaking’ her in three other U.S. cities deemed hubs for human trafficking by the FBI (just like in the movies, but this is not a movie, it is a living nightmare). A huge market for human trafficking is always waiting in Las Vegas, Nevada . . . A.K.A.: SIN CITY, where she was introduced to two other pimps (human traffickers) which lead to more brutality and sex slavery . . . ultimately leading to her disappearance almost five years ago.

I did not have a choice for this to happen, neither did Jessie – so I have CHOSEN to do everything that is within my power to stop this from happening to others. I do not want another person to experience the unimaginable horror that Jessie has, and I do not want another mother to suffer the agony of losing her daughter to such despicable people. Since Jessie has been missing, I have been crusading against human trafficking by educating students in our local high schools and attending human trafficking events to educate myself and talk about Jessie’s case. I’m amazed at the amount of knowledge I have gained and that I am able to share Jessie’s dreadful story in such a compelling way.

There have been five books written and published that includes Jessie’s case such as INVISIBLE CHAINS: Canada’s Underground World of Human Trafficking by the University of British Columbia Assistant Professor of Law, Benjamin Perrin and MEMOIRS OF A SEX SLAVE by human trafficking survivor and the founder of the human trafficking organization Walk-With-Me, Timea Nagy. She has been featured in documentaries such as E! Entertainment’s YOUNG, BEAUTIFUL & VANISHED: 15 Unthinkable Crimes and news reports focusing on human trafficking via television, newspaper, radio, and internet media, including America’s Most Wanted, the Montel Williams Show and many, many others. I call her “the most well-known unknown missing person” in the missing person’s network around the world. Jessie is fast becoming Canada’s poster-child for human trafficking. What has happened to Jessie has prompted me to start my own advocacy initiative to combat human trafficking entitled Mothers Against Trafficking Humans (M.A.T.H.) on Facebook with over 7,000 members. DO THE MATH – Human Traffickers are getting rich off the backs of their numerous victims of this horrible crime.

2.5 million people are trafficked yearly around the world*
PLUS a global annual market of about $42.5 billion**
EQUALS who is getting rich?

*The United Nations estimates 2.5 million people from 127 different countries are being trafficked around the world annually
**The Council of Europe states there is a global annual market of about $42.5 billion

I will find Jessie or die trying. I will do anything I can to combat the crime that took my daughter away from her family and friends – away from her life. I will continue to educate others. I will counsel families, and I will help turn victims into survivors.

Alicia M. Jacobs (cont.)

Alicia has provided consulting services for over 20 years to Fortune 500 companies, educational institutions, and government agencies including, Raytheon, Southern California Edison (SCE), IHOP, TEVA Pharmaceuticals, Time Warner, City of Burbank, Pepperdine University, Morehouse School of Medicine, the Internal Revenue Service and the State of Arizona, Department of Housing. As a strategic business partner, Alicia assists corporate clients and senior executives in meeting developmental and performance goals for their human capital by creating customized strategic leadership programs, which include assessing leadership and management effectiveness. One of Alicia’s flagship programs provides tools that empower individuals to chart their own career paths by building confidence and personal accountability for their careers. Her expertise in group facilitation includes bringing together professionals from diverse disciplines to talk, share ideas, and processes that enhance their professions. In 2011, Alicia was awarded the SCE Supplier of the Year Award-Advancing Diversity.

As an experienced speaker/teacher Alicia toured nationally for the American Association of Women facilitating Women As Leaders Workshops. This engagement led to Alicia’s appointment as an adjunct professor to teach Women As Leaders for the Business Department at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMUC). Alicia was nominated for two UMUC teaching awards in 2009 and was a finalist for the Class of 2010 “Women of the Year Award” for Enterprising Women Magazine. In addition, as an adjunct professor for California State University, Fullerton, Alicia has taught New Ventures in Entrepreneurial Leadership and Management in the MBA Program and Organizational Behavior in the undergraduate school.

Alicia earned her MBA from Pepperdine University and her undergraduate degree from Oberlin College. As a Certified Behavioral (CPBA) and Values Analyst (CPVA), Alicia is also certified to administer the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory, Strength Deployment Inventory, FIRO B, and DISC assessments.

Alice Keesey Mecoy (cont.)

For more than 35 years, Alice has researched her family history, with her studies primarily focused on the women in John Brown’s life, whose dedication and sacrifices contributed greatly to the war against slavery. She has worked closely with numerous historians and writers in her quest to better understand her family’s history. She has also compiled one of the most comprehensive Brown Family Genealogies, spanning from John Brown’s father, Owen, to descendants born this year, with more than 4000 entries in the database.

Alice has presented her findings on the Brown women and the Brown genealogy to numerous audiences, including; The National Abolition Hall of Fame, in Peterboro, NY, the Allen Public Library, in Allen, TX, the Saratoga History Museum, in Saratoga, CA, and at the Academic Symposium held at Harper’s Ferry, WV, during the sesquicentennial of John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry in October 2009.

Alice is a member of many organizations including The Saratoga Historical Society, The Humboldt Historical Society, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, The National Abolition Hall of Fame, The Blackjack Battlefield Historical Society, The North Country Underground Railroad Historical Association, The Lesser North Texas Writers Group, The Collin County Genealogy Society, and The Dallas Genealogy Society.

Alice can be reached at jbrownkin@yahoo.com (make mailto:) and has a blog recounting her discoveries and adventures available at https://johnbrownkin.blogspot.com.

Kip Longinotti-Buitoni (cont.)

In 2007, Kip launched Compassionworx.com, a web-based application that tracks, validates, and documents community service and volunteerism. A YouTube meets Facebook application that provides individuals with a CompassionWorx Index and lets them tell their stories of service and “good works.” The mission of CompassionWorx is to enable individuals to marry their passion with compassion in their hunt to find projects and initiatives that they really care about and can “own.”

In 2006, Kip launched Global Compassion In Action, a non-profit organization that links resources with small humanitarian on-the-ground operations in underprivileged and under-served global communities in an effort to promote public awareness and action.

Kip joined Dr. Bob Arnot in the filming of “Dr. Danger,” a television series for Time Warner’s high-definition MOJO Network (aired October 1st, 2006). During this filming, Kip headed out across Africa on BMW motorcycles to ride with Dr. Danger as his sidekick, Nurse Fearless. Her other credits during this shoot were South Africa Coordinator, On-Camera Personality, Writer, and Still Photographer.

Terri Miller (cont.)

In 1983, the impetus that brought Ms. Miller into the advocacy realm was the discovery that students were being exploited and sexually assaulted at the high school in the small rural community where she and her young family resided, 60 miles west of Las Vegas, NV. This intolerable state of affairs impelled Ms. Miller to eventually conduct her own investigation uncovering abuses of more than 60 students in one teacher’s 20-year tenure. Joseph S. Peterson was consequently charged in 1994 with three counts of Sexual Assault, a class A felony. He pled, in accordance with the United States Supreme Court case of North Carolina v Alford, to one count of Sexual Assault, in 1996, and was sentenced to 5 years to life, which he continues to serve.

Ms. Miller successfully lobbied the Nevada legislature to pass Senate Bill 122, to prohibit sexual conduct between certain employees of the school and 16-17-year old pupils. SB 122 was signed into law in July 1997, and NRS 201.540 became effective Oct. 1, 1997. During her lobbying efforts, in 2001, to amend the law (“her baby” as she calls it), she became familiar with the Nevada Coalition Against Sexual Violence, the organization responsible for drafting the amendment. Together they successfully lobbied to amend the law to recognize offending school volunteers and to protect 14-15-year old students, as well. She eagerly became a member of the coalition and, in less than a year, took a staff position as Training Services Coordinator. It was in this capacity that she convinced her Director to address Educator Sexual Abuse at the coalition’s second annual conference, 2003; the nation’s first of its kind, funded by a grant from the Center for Disease Control. She assembled her dream team of national experts, whose works she had tenaciously studied, to pursue her goals to prevent abuse and provide support to victims of abuse in schools nationwide. Ms. Miller, through countless hours of internet research, has compiled one of the largest libraries of Educator Sexual Misconduct resources available through S.E.S.A.M.E., Inc. at the click of her mouse.

Ms. Miller has worked to educate through numerous appearances on national talk shows, conference presentations, and has contributed to countless articles throughout the United States and Canada. Ms. Miller has presented at the Voices in Action conference, July 1997, NOVA conference 1999, and NASDTEC Professional Practices Institute (PPI)-Roundtable Discussion, 2000, PPI-Educator Sexual Misconduct-Advocating for the Victim, 2004, Educator Sexual Misconduct-Taking Action, Hofstra Univ. 2004, NASDTEC Annual Conference-Poster Presentation, 2005, and Nevada Public Health Foundation Conference-Consent is Not a Defense, 2005. Some of her appearances include The Montel Williams Show, the John Walsh Show, Geraldo Rivera Show, and Good Morning America. Her story was featured in Ladies Home Journal, The Teacher From Hell – May 1997, Good Housekeeping, School Sex Scandal: The Predator in the Classroom – May 2003 and Lifetime’s “Final Justice,” April 11, 2003. Ms. Miller authored her first article, which appeared in the Sexual Assault Coalition Resource Sharing Project’s RESHAPE Newsletter, Issue 15, Summer 2005-General Information and the Role of Coalitions in Fighting Educator Sexual Misconduct.

Ms. Miller, in 2006, was named as Director of A.T.L.A.S. – Southern Nevada’s Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force – funded by the Department of Justice. Always a passionate victims’ rights advocate, Ms. Miller has lobbied for more reasonable legislation, protocol, and standards for the processing of victims.

Deborah Richardson (cont.)

Deborah has been recognized over the years for her community service. She has been given many distinctions such as The Community Leadership Award by Spelman College Board of Trustees, The Legacy Award by the Juvenile Justice Fund, The Grassroots Justice Award by the Georgia Justice Project, a Woman of Excellence by Business to Business Magazine, Ember Award by Campfire USA, inducted into the YWCA Academy of Women Achievers, the Atlanta Business League 100 Black Women of Influence and the Liberty Bell Award by the Atlanta Bar Association. She is an alumnus of Leadership Atlanta, the Regional Leadership Institute, and a recipient of a Harvard Business Club of Atlanta Executive Education Scholarship. She is on the board of the African Women’s Development Fund – USA and a member of the Sister Scholars Advisory Council of the Delta and on the D5 Executive Committee, a coalition among funders to increase equity and diversity in philanthropy.

Deborah is a nationally recognized leader on social justice for women and girls and an advocate against child sex trafficking. She has designed leading programs for girls victimized by commercial sexual exploitation and is the co-author of Ending Sex Trafficking of Children in Atlanta (Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, Spring 2007). In 2010, Deborah testified during the “Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking” hearing of the U. S. Congress Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security. She is a national spokesperson for A Future. Not a Past., a campaign to stop the prostitution of our nation’s children and a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post.

Victor Rodriguez (cont.)

Driven by a personal and professional passion for giving back, Victor has created the “Eurie cares” initiative to provide design/communications support to a number of non-profit organizations. His community involvement includes serving as a founding member of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies, Integrated Marketing Communications Track Advisory Board, and is an Advisory Board member for the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation. He has also held long-term leadership positions with AIGA, the professional organization for design as President, Work Show Director and Advisory Board Director, and currently serves as Senior Communicators’ Council Director and Executive Vice President for the International Association of Business Communicators Las Vegas.

Under Victor’s leadership, Eurie Creative became certified as a minority-owned business and was named as an associate member of the Las Vegas Cultural Corridor Coalition.

Victor is a two-time IABC Pacific Plains region Silver Quill recipient, has been recognized by the AIGA as “Ambassador of the Arts,” and was selected by Graphic Design USA as one of the industry’s “Top 50 People” to watch (in the nation) in 2001 and again in 2005. He was named the 2009 Communicator of the Year by IABC/Las Vegas. Recently, Victor and Eurie Creative were recognized by the Mayor and City Council of the City of Las Vegas for their support of the arts and culture for the City of Las Vegas.

He studied Media and Communications at Michigan State University and Graphic Design at Western Michigan University.

Greg Ruggiero (cont.)

Ruggiero published the Open Media series independently for several years before bringing the imprint to Seven Stories Press in 1997. He worked as a senior editor with Seven Stories Press from 1997 to 2005. In 2006, he joined City Lights Books, where he has been working as an editor since 2006.

In 1996, Ruggiero began working with an underground FM radio station on New York City’s Lower East Side, where for two years he hosted a weekly show using the on-air name of “DJ Thomas Paine.” Under a MacArthur grant received by the National Lawyers Guild in 1999, he took a three-month sabbatical from publishing to work as a national organizer for The Micropower Radio Coalition, an organization founded to end the government ban on low-power community radio. That organization’s mission and purpose continue to this day through the ongoing efforts of the Prometheus Radio Project.

Ruggiero often travels to Chiapas, Mexico, home of the indigenous Zapatista movement and communities of resistance. Since 1999 he has been working with those communities to help produce a network of indigenous controlled, low-power FM stations as well as numerous books, pamphlets, and audio projects by and about the movement. After celebrating New Year’s Eve, 1999, in a Zapatista community, Ruggiero was detained and interrogated by Mexican authorities and given one week to leave the country.

In November 1999, Ruggiero traveled to Seattle for the historic anti-WTO protests, and while there worked with friends on the first of what has since become a global network of Independent Media Centers. Represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights, in February 2002, Ruggiero won a First Amendment victory in Federal District Court. The case, Ruggiero vs. the FCC, proved that the U.S. government’s lifetime prohibition against individuals who had engaged in civil disobedience from applying for a low-power FM license was unconstitutional. The victory was later overturned by an en banc decision, and the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected to hear the case.

Ruggiero authored Microradio and Democracy, Low Power to The People and has co-edited several books, including The Speed of Dreams, Selected Writings of Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos (with Canek Peña-Vargas, City Lights Books, 2007) Critical Mass, Voices for a Nuclear Free Future (with Start Sahulka, Open Media, 1996), The New American Crisis: Radical Analysis of the Problems Facing America Today (with Start Sahulka, New Press 1995), and Open Fire (with Stuart Sahulka, New Press 1993).

Among the most recent titles in Ruggiero’s Open Media Series are a new edition of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and The Black History of the White House, which was the subject of a Black History Month celebration at the White House in February 2011.

Melissa Snow (cont.)

Recognizing the dearth of awareness and understanding on the issue of DMST, she developed two comprehensive training curriculums, Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: How to Identify and Respond to America’s Prostituted Youth and INTERVENE: Identifying and Responding to America’s Prostituted Youth. She has utilized these resources for training thousands of first responders, providing them with a deeper understanding of child sex trafficking, enabling increased victim identification and response. Melissa also manages the expansion and establishment of Shared Hope’s partnership programs for victims of trafficking in India, Nepal, Fiji, Jamaica, and the United States. These programs provide funding for services such as street outreach, HIV clinics, long-term shelter, holistic care, vocational training, and education programs.

Melissa has overseen a myriad of initiatives to combat human trafficking, specifically operating as Lead Field Assessor and Communications Correspondent for human rights investigations in Japan, Jamaica, and the U.S. These field assignments have led to partnerships with local non-government groups and faith-based organizations to expand shelter facilities and increase public awareness. Released in September 2007, this research produced a report and a 45-minute documentary and report titled DEMAND. These deliverables revealed how cultures of tolerance and buyer demand are driving the marketplace of exploitation where women and children are the product for sale.

Melissa is currently on staff as a writer for the End Human Trafficking blog on Change.org, a leading online activism platform for social change. Additionally, she is an RYT and Founder of the Shanti Warrior Yoga Project, which empowers survivors of trauma and torture by offering the tool of yoga for holistic healing.

Melissa earned her B.A. in Sociology and Political Science from the University of Colorado. She is currently pursuing her M.A. in Global Development and Social Justice from St. John’s University.

Tiveeda Stovall (cont.)

Ms. Stovall received her Master’s in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley. She has had over 20 years of social work and counseling experience with children, adolescents, and families in community, educational, and medical settings. She has consulted for schools, public health departments, medical professionals, and community organizations on psycho-social issues of youth and families.

Ms. Stovall was the recipient of the 2007 Congresswoman Susan Davis Award for an Adult Actively Engaging Students in Service.

Samantha Healy Vardaman, Esq. (cont.)

Samantha is a co-author of The National Report on Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking: America’s Prostituted Children, which was admitted into the Congressional Record in October 2009. She is currently leading the Protected Innocence Initiative, assessing each state’s legislation against a minimum framework for the response to domestic minor sex trafficking. Before joining Shared Hope International, Samantha was the Director of American Bar Association Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative’s Moldova office implementing a rule of law program including anti-trafficking legislation development, and facilitating the provision of pro bono legal services for the public, including victims of human trafficking and their families.

Gordon S. Woodward (cont.)

Areas of Experience

Litigation Practice

Mr. Woodward’s litigation experience involves jury trials as first and second chair, non-jury trials, as well as numerous arbitrations and mediations. Mr. Woodward’s experience includes:

Successfully defending a national home builder’s stormwater management system against a multi-million dollar claim
Representing national home builders on construction disputes in Maryland and Virginia;
Representing a regional airline in personal injury and products liability litigation;
Representing a manufacturer and retailer of printing equipment in personal injury actions and in contract actions involving financing agreements and the sale of equipment;
Managing over 300 cases on the Baltimore, Maryland asbestos docket.

Counseling

Insurance

Mr. Woodward has prepared numerous complex insurance coverage opinions, most significantly in the context of aviation-related bodily injury, property damage, and manufacturing losses.

Non-Profit Organizations

Mr. Woodward has advised non-profit organizations on a number of legal issues, including corporate governance, contracts, and real estate matters. These organizations include:

Close Up Foundation
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
The National Black Child Development Institute
Frederick Douglass Family Foundation

Pro Bono Practice

Mr. Woodward is a member of the Firm’s Pro Bono Committee and has handled a number of pro bono matters. Most notably, he has led Schnader’s involvement in habeas corpus cases involving Guantanamo Bay detainees, including:

Tumani v. Bush, 05-0526, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Mohammon v. Bush, 05-2386, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
Al-Sharekh v. Bush, 05-0583, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

As a result of these representations, Schnader was honored in June 2007 as a recipient of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association’s Beacon of Justice Award. In addition, in November 2007, the Firm received the Frederick Douglass Human Rights Award from the Southern Center for Human Rights. In 2009, the Firm honored Mr. Woodward with its Earl G. Harrison Pro Bono Award.

Community Activities

Board Member, National Black Child Development Institute

David W. Blight (cont.)

During the 2006-07 academic year, he was a fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars, New York Public Library. He has written a book on the anticipation of the Civil War sesquicentennial (2011-15), rooted in the work of Robert Penn Warren and comparing the 100th anniversary of America’s most pivotal event to its 150th, and has also written full biography of Frederick Douglass that was published by Simon and Schuster.

Blight is the author of A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom, Including their Narratives of Emancipation, (Harcourt, 2007), paperback in 2009. This book combines two newly discovered slave narratives in a volume that recovers the lives of their authors, John Washington and Wallace Turnage, as well as provides an incisive history of the story of emancipation. In June 2004, the New York Times ran a front-page story about the discovery and significance of these two rare slave narratives. A Slave No More garnered three book prizes, including the Connecticut Book Award for non-fiction. Blight recently published the article, “The Theft of Lincoln in History, Politics, and Memory,” in Our Lincoln, Eric Foner, ed., (2008).

Blight is also the author of Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (Harvard University Press, 2001), which received eight book awards, including the Bancroft Prize, the Abraham Lincoln Prize, and the Frederick Douglass Prize as well as four awards from the Organization of American Historians, including the Merle Curti prizes for both intellectual and social history. Other published works include a book of essays, Beyond the Battlefield: Race, Memory, and the American Civil War (University of Massachusetts Press, 2002); and Frederick Douglass’s Civil War: Keeping Faith in Jubilee (LSU Press, 1989). Blight is the editor of and author of introductions for six books, including When This Cruel War Is Over: The Civil War Letters of Charles Harvey Brewster (Univ. of Massachusetts Press, 1992); Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (Bedford Books, 1993); co-editor with Robert Gooding-Williams, W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (Bedford Books, 1997); co-editor with Brooks Simpson, Union and Emancipation: Essays on Politics and Race in the Civil War Era (Kent State Univ. Press, 1997); and Caleb Bingham, The Columbian Orator (orig. 1797, NYU Press, 1997), the book of oratory and antislavery writings that Frederick Douglass discovered while a youth. The edited volume, Passages to Freedom: The Underground Railroad in History and Memory, was published by Smithsonian Press in 2004 and is the companion book for the opening of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.

Blight is also a frequent book reviewer for the Washington Post Book World, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, Slate.com and other newspapers, and has written many articles on abolitionism, American historical memory, and African American intellectual and cultural history. He is one of the authors of the bestselling American history textbook for the college level, A People and a Nation (Houghton Mifflin). He is also a series advisor and editor for the Bedford Books series in American History and Culture, a popular series of teaching books for the college level. Blight lectures widely in the US and around the world on the Civil War and Reconstruction, race relations, Douglass, Du Bois, and problems in public history and American historical memory. He teaches summer institutes for secondary teachers and for park rangers and historians in the National Park Service, devoting a good deal of time to these and many other public history initiatives.

Blight has been a consultant to many documentary films, including the 1998 PBS series, “Africans in America,” and “The Reconstruction Era” (2004). Blight has a Ph. D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and did his undergraduate degree at Michigan State University. He has also taught at Harvard University, at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, and for seven years as a public high school teacher in his hometown, Flint, Michigan. He was also a senior Fulbright Professor in American Studies at the University of Munich in Germany in 1992-93.

Blight was elected as a member of the Society of American Historians in 2002. Since 2004, he has served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the New York Historical Society and the board for African American Programs at Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia. He also serves on the board of advisors to the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission and is involved in planning numerous conferences and events to commemorate both the Lincoln anniversary and the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. In his capacity as director of the Gilder Lehrman Center at Yale, Blight organizes conferences, working groups, lectures, the administering of the annual Frederick Douglass Book Prize, and many public outreach programs regarding the history of slavery and its abolition.

Blight maintains a professional web site at www.davidwblight.com, and his lectures for the course, “The Civil War and Reconstruction Era,” are available online at the Yale University website, yale.edu, linking to the program, “Open Courses.” In 2009, Blight chaired the jury for non-fiction for the National Book Award.

Carvin Eison (cont.)

Carvin received numerous accolades for July ’64: Roots of Urban Unrest, including two Emmy nominations and a national PBS broadcast. Shadows of the Lynching Tree was screened at the 2012 Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2012 Black Documentary Collective, New York City, and the 2011 Texas Black Film Festival, Dallas, Texas, where it received Best Documentary honors. In addition, Shadows of the Lynching Tree was screened at the 2010 INPUT Festival at the Goethe-Institute, Accra, Ghana, The 2010 BaKa Forum, Basel, Switzerland, and it was featured during Eison’s 2010 artist-in-residence fellowship at Capital Normal University, Beijing, China.

An Associate Professor in the Department of Journalism, Broadcasting and Public Relations at The College at Brockport, SUNY, Eison received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship for sustained achievement in production. Eison is also General Manager of RCTV, Rochester’s Community Media Center. RCTV provides media production education and services for Rochester area residents and is the long-time company videographer for Garth Fagan Dance.

Most recently, Eison, a member of the board of directors of the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives, has become a leader in the national movement to replace Confederate statues with statues that unite communities. He is the project director of the Re-Energizing the Legacy of Frederick Douglass, which is placing statues across the City of Rochester, New York, commemorating the life and legacy of Douglass in the city where his most important work was accomplished. The project is attracting the attention and support of other cities nationwide.

Eison currently has multiple film projects in various stages of production that continue his social justice mission, including a feature film and a Frederick Douglass film.

Booker T. Washington (cont.)

He went to school in Franklin County – not as a student, but to carry books for one of James Burroughs’s daughters. It was illegal to educate slaves. “I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse and study would be about the same as getting into paradise,” he wrote. In April 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation was read to joyful slaves in front of the Burroughs home. Booker’s family soon left to join his stepfather in Malden, West Virginia. The young boy took a job in a salt mine that began at 4 a.m. so he could attend school later in the day. Within a few years, Booker was taken in as a houseboy by a wealthy towns-woman who further encouraged his longing to learn. At age 16, he walked much of the 500 miles back to Virginia to enroll in a new school for black students. He knew that even poor students could get an education at Hampton Institute, paying their way by working. The head teacher was suspicious of his country ways and ragged clothes. She admitted him only after he had cleaned a room to her satisfaction.

In one respect, he had come full circle, back to earning his living by menial tasks. Yet his entrance to Hampton led him away from a life of forced labor for good. He became an instructor there. Later, as principal and guiding force behind Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, which he founded in 1881, he became recognized as the nation’s foremost black educator.

Washington, the public figure, often invoked his own past to illustrate his belief in the dignity of work. “There was no period of my life that was devoted to play,” Washington once wrote. “From the time that I can remember anything, almost everyday of my life has been occupied in some kind of labor.” This concept of self-reliance born of hard work was the cornerstone of Washington’s social philosophy.

As one of the most influential black men of his time, Washington was not without his critics. Many charged that his conservative approach undermined the quest for racial equality. “In all things purely social we can be as separate as the fingers,” he proposed to a biracial audience in his 1895 Atlanta Compromise address, “yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.” In part, his methods arose for his need for support from powerful whites, some of them former slave owners. It is now known, however, that Washington secretly funded antisegregationist activities. He never wavered in his belief in freedom: “From some things that I have said one may get the idea that some of the slaves did not want freedom. This is not true. I have never seen one who did not want to be free, or one who would return to slavery.”

By the last years of his life, Washington had moved away from many of his accommodationist policies. Speaking out with a new frankness, Washington attacked racism. In 1915 he joined ranks with former critics to protest the stereotypical portrayal of blacks in a new movie, “Birth of a Nation.” Some months later, he died at age 59. A man who overcame near-impossible odds himself, Booker T. Washington is best remembered for helping black Americans rise up from the economic slavery that held them down long after they were legally free citizens.

About Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives

Our Philosophy

Our Mission

Our Vision

History

Why Rochester, NY?

Our Remarkable Family Lineage

Anna Murray and Frederick Douglass

Charles Remond Douglass

Joseph H. Douglass’s Family: Fannie Howard Douglass, Blanche, and Frederick III

Frederick Douglass III, Nettie II, and Booker T. Washington III

Nettie II and III (Honey) with Josephine Baker

Meet Our Team

Frederick Douglass

Booker T. Washington

Nettie Washington Douglass

Kenneth B. Morris, Jr.

Robert J. Benz

FDFI Staff & Senior Advisors

Celeste-Marie Bernier

Kevin Douglass Greene

Rebekka Boysen-Taylor

Kristin M. Leary

Hon. Teta V. Banks, Ed.D.

Jeremy Scott Alexander

Board of Directors

Nettie Washington Douglass

Michael Szymanski

Negelle Morris

David W. Blight

Gabrielle Koeppel

Carvin Eison

Charles Randolph-Wright

Elihu "Eli" Miles

Maria Weaver

Todd Allen