Board of Directors
Board of Directors
THE AFRICAN AMERICAN POLICY FORUM
HER DREAM DEFERRED 2023
A WEEK ON THE STATUS OF BLACK WOMEN
TUESDAY, MARCH 28, 2023
Don't Touch My Hair: Status of the CROWN Act
AAPF invites you to join us for a panel discussion that will chart the politicization of Black women’s hair as identity, a tool of resistance and celebration of Blackness and beauty. It will focus on the enactment of the CROWN Act and the ways in which Black women’s hair and expression continues to be used as a conduit for discrimination, marginalization, violence and internalized self-hate. Through films, images and historical artifacts this panel will bring together leading advocates, artists and academics to root the conversation in the ways in which Black women can celebrate their hair while resisting the misogynoir that implicates the ways in which we choose to wear our hair. Join us as we dive into a conversation of healing, unlearning and celebration of Black hair.
Guests include:
Michaela angela Davis is a writer, creative director, producer and image activist focusing on the intersections of gender, race, fashion, culture, beauty, and identity. She is the creator and executive producer of HULU’s The Hair Tales, a dynamic six part docu-series celebrating Black
women’s identity, beauty, culture and humanity, uniquely expressed through the stories in hair featuring Ayanna Pressley, CHIKA, Marsai Martin, Chlöe Bailey and fellow executive producers Tracee Ellis Ross and Oprah Winfrey, recently nominated for 2 NAACP Image Awards. Davis collaborated with Mariah Carey on “The Meaning of Mariah Carey” a memoir of her identity - an instant #1 New York Times Bestseller.
She has spoken globally and has been a cultural contributor and writer for The Atlantic, Allure,
CNN, MSNBC, and The BBC. Her most recent project is another collaboration with Mariah
Carey – a children's book titled “The Christmas Princess” which is available now everywhere
books are sold.
Michaela Angela Davis
SPEAKER
Writer, Producer, Image activist
Shermena Nelson serves as AAPF's Chief of Staff/Director of Programs and Community Engagement. Shermena is an Afro-Cuban macro social worker and attorney who focuses on interventions in larger systems, such as communities and organizations, in order to effect change that will enhance the lives of individuals. A native New Yorker, Shermena holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (minor in African American Studies) from Howard University, a Juris Doctor from the University of the District of Columbia, and a Masters of Social Work from New York University. Shermena’s areas of practice include Program Development and Management, Legal Advocacy, Trauma, Loss and Bereavement.
Shermena M. Nelson
SPEAKER
Chief of Staff/Director of Programs and Community Engagement, AAPF
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2023
Resisting Erasure: Black Women Scholars in Defense of Themselves
Earlier this year the College Board released a revised version of the AP African American Studies (AAS) curriculum that had censored, excised, and suppressed the thinking, writing, and activism of Black women. In response, a global coalition of over 4000 leading academics, authors and advocates released a letter condemning the silencing of Black women, Black feminism, and intersectionality in the revised AP AAS curriculum.
It is with this context in mind that we invite you to join us in a panel discussion that will feature Black women writers, scholars and activists who have all been pivotal in the articulation of the theory and praxis of Black feminism and intersectionality in the U.S. and beyond. The panel will be an opportunity to take seriously how Black women, girls, and femmes and their knowledge and ability to theorize has always been contested and under threat, and, as Audre Lorde famously said, were “never meant to survive”.
Guests include:
Kimberlé Crenshaw is a Professor of Law at Columbia University and UCLA, as well as the Executive Director of the African American Policy Forum and Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies. She coined the term intersectionality. Intersectionality was formed as a framework to understand how certain groups of marginalized people are rendered invisible through the intersection of multiple forms of oppression, particularly Black women.
Kimberlé Crenshaw
SPEAKER
Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law at Columbia University, Distinguished Professor of Law and the Promise Institute Chair in Human Rights at UCLA, and the Executive Director of AAPF
Beverly Guy-Sheftall is is founding director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center (since 1981) and Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Women’s Studies at Spelman College. She is also an adjunct professor at Emory University’s Institute for Women’s Studies where she teaches graduate courses in their doctoral program. She is currently President of the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA).
Beverly Guy-Sheftall
MODERATOR
Anna Julien Professor of Women’s Studies at Spelman College
Cathy Cohen is the David and Mary Winton Green Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Cathy’s work focuses on topics like the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Black feminism and queer politics. Cathy is known for her seminal work arguing for an intersectional approach to queer politics and organizing. She is a founding board member of the Audre Lorde project in New York City.
Dr. Cathy Cohen
SPEAKER
David and Mary Winton Green Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago
Evelyn Hammonds is the Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science, Professor of African and African American Studies & Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard University. Evelyn’s research focuses on topics like the HIV/AIDS epidemic, as well as Black female sexuality. Moreover, her work focuses on the intersections between science and race in the medical profession.
Evelynn Hammonds
SPEAKER
Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science, Professor of African and African American Studies & Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard University
FRIDAY, MARCH 31, 2023
Searching for Harmony: Self Care as a Sustaining Practice
For this third installation of the now staple event of Her Dream Deferred, we are looking to explore practical ways to find momentary rituals of care. In this current political era, there is a critical need to highlight and uplift the challenges faced by Black women and girls, and to push back against the common misconception that we are doing “just fine.” We must continue to elevate the voices of Black women and girls and construct a policy agenda around their experiences. As we engage in the work of social justice and human rights, we also have to attend to our overall health and wellness needs.
For this special in-person event, we’ll come together as a collective of Black women who imagine a more harmonious way of living, resisting, and thriving! AAPF alongside mental health and well-being practitioners, Shawna Murry Browne, Dr. Mariel Buque, Anana Harris Parris, and Imani Samuels, will provide a communal space of restorative care where we will honor other Black women who are committed to self-care practices that center Black women’s ways of knowing and healing. Be prepared for dialogue, liberatory ritual practices, and opportunities for engaged sisterhood with hosts Awoye Timpo, Shermena M. Nelson, and Dr. Venus Evans-Winters.
Guests include:
Shawna Murray-Browne, LCSW-C is an award-winning community healer, professional speaker, and Liberation-Focused, Mind-Body Medicine Practitioner. She is the Principal Consultant at Kindred Wellness LLC and trained as an integrative psychotherapist.
In her hometown of Baltimore City, Shawna is known for holding grassroots healing circles to equip Black families and change-makers with the tools to heal themselves. Others know her best for her training intensive, Decolonizing Therapy for Black Folk, where she co-creates space for deconstructing and reimagining mental health care as we know it.
Shawna works at the intersection of healing, ancestral wisdom, and deep support for organizations, corporations, and everyday humans seeking liberation. Her clients have included human service and political advocacy organizations, foundations, and universities. Intuitive, authentic, and high energy, she is committed to helping communities reclaim collective wisdom to triumph over the effects of historic and present-day trauma. Shawna was named by The Huffington Post as one of the “Ten Black Female Therapists You Should Know,” featured on the PBS special Mysteries of Mental Illness, and was a two-time guest on the popular, Therapy for Black Girls podcast.
Shawna Murray-Browne, LCSW-C
SPEAKER
Mind-Body Medicine Practitioner, Kindred Wellness LLC
Awoye Timpo is a New York-based performing arts director and producer. Her work with AAPF includes development of the play Say Her Name: The Lives That Should Have Been. Awoye’s New York credits include work at New York Theatre Workshop, The Vineyard Theatre, The Playwrights Realm, Atlantic Theater Company, the National Black Theater and the Public Theater. Regionally she has directed at Studio Theatre (DC), Actors Theatre of Louisville, Long Wharf Theatre (New Haven) and Berkeley Rep. Her work has also been seen in Edinburgh and Johannesburg. Awoye works as a Creative Director for music events and is a Producer of CLASSIX, a series exploring classic plays by Black playwrights.
Awoye Timpo
CO-HOST
Creative Arts Administrator, AAPF
Venus E. Evans-Winters, Ph. D. is the Black Girls Initiatives Research Coordinator at the African American Policy Forum. Her areas of research are educational policy analysis, Black girls’ and women’s onto-epistemologies, and critical race feminist methodologies. The former Professor of Education, Women & Gender Studies, and African American Studies is the author of Black Feminism in Qualitative Inquiry: A Mosaic for Writing Our Daughter’s Body and Teaching Black Girls: Resilience in Urban Schools. She is co-editor of the books, Black Feminism in Education: Black Women Speak Up, Back, & Out and Celebrating Twenty Years of Black Girlhood: The Lauryn Hill Reader. Her forthcoming co-authored text is Introduction to Intersectional Qualitative Research. Dr. Evans-Winters is also a clinical psychotherapist in private practice and founder of Planet Venus Institute.
Dr. Venus Evans-Winters
CO-HOST
Research Coordinator for Black Girls’ Initiatives, AAPF
Shermena Nelson serves as AAPF's Chief of Staff/Director of Programs and Community Engagement. Shermena is an Afro-Cuban macro social worker and attorney who focuses on interventions in larger systems, such as communities and organizations, in order to effect change that will enhance the lives of individuals. A native New Yorker, Shermena holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (minor in African American Studies) from Howard University, a Juris Doctor from the University of the District of Columbia, and a Masters of Social Work from New York University. Shermena’s areas of practice include Program Development and Management, Legal Advocacy, Trauma, Loss and Bereavement.
Shermena M. Nelson
CO-HOST
Chief of Staff/Director of Programs and Community Engagement, AAPF
Dr. Mariel Buqué is an Afro-Dominican, Columbia University-trained Psychologist, intergenerational trauma expert, and the author of the book Break the Cycle: A Guide to Healing Intergenerational Trauma. Her clinical framework is holistic and infuses ancient and indigenous healing practices into a modern, comprehensive therapeutic approach. She additionally provides healing workshops to Fortune 100 companies including Google, Twitter, Capital One, and Facebook and lectures within the psychology department of Columbia University. Dr. Buqué is widely sought out for her clinical expertise and trauma healing approach and has been featured on major media outlets including The Today Show, The Real, Good Morning America, and ABC News. She has been named as a School of Greatness’s 100 Greatest People Doing Good in 2022. Her work can be found on www.drmarielbuque.com.
Dr. Mariel Buqué
SPEAKER
Trauma Psychologist, Speaker & Author of "Break the Cycle"
Imani Joye Samuels is a spiritual thought leader, speaker, and advocate for stillness and rest as means to find peace. As a champion of the practice of rest, Imani founded HURU, an organization on a mission to ensure every American has access to rest..
Imani is also the creator of The Serenity Act, which challenges employers, government officials, and industry leaders to enact paid mental health leave. Her efforts to lead solo, group, and corporate rest retreats have helped thousands of individuals and organizations across North America, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Taiwan, UAE, and the UK.
Imani holds a Master of Arts degree in Public Communication from American University and is a graduate of the Spirituality Mind Body program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She is also a graduate of Howard University where she studied democratization and dance at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
Imani is married with two young feminists, both who have a great sense of curiosity, purpose, and imagination. She is deeply committed to creating a world where everyone has access to rest and is inspired by the transformative power of stillness.
Imani Samuels
SPEAKER
Spiritual Thought Leader, Huru
Anana Johari Harris Parris (@ananajohariharrisparris) is the founder and CEO of the Self Care Agency, LLC where she operates as the lead Strategic Business & Self Care Consultant Program Designer as well as the founder of the SisterCARE Alliance. Ms. Parris also is the co-founder and Managing Partner of the Wellness & Justice Group, LLC.
Ms. Parris is also the founder of non-profit initiatives like the AfriSalsa Cultural Organization/AfriSalsa fights HIV/AIDS Campaign, the SisterCARE Dance Club and the Self Care Day Campaign. Ms. Parris authored the first official Self Care Day Proclamation on December 4, 2011 recognized by the City of Atlanta and later the cities of Savannah, GA, Lithonia, GA, Charlotte, NC, Charleston, SC, Mecklenburg County, NC , Mansfield, TX, and DeKalb County, GA. Her book, Self Care Matters: A Revolutionary's Approach, has launched several self care support groups and its Strategic Self Care Training Program has been approved for training with the American Academy of Pediatrics as well as adopted as a required training text for many programs and organizations throughout the country.
Ms. Parris was awarded the Unsung Heroine Award by the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc., the State of Georgia Goodwill Ambassador Award and the Community Service Award from the U.S. Attorney General’s Office of the Northern District of Georgia.
Anana Harris Parris
SPEAKER
Founder & CEO, Self Care Agency LLC
Jasmine Bowie is a licensed therapist, wellness consultant, and the Founder of Zola Indlu Wellness. With over 10 years of youth development, gender-based program design, and mind-body wellness expertise, her practice is rooted in building accessible healing spaces for adolescent girls to connect more intentionally with themselves and their community, release and restore the impact of generational trauma, and support their creation of opportunities for self-expansion and joy. Guided by principles that are trauma-informed, healing centered, and evidence-based, she believes the more opportunities Black women and girls have to be in community with each other, connecting through shared experiences, while creating a unified vision for their liberation, shapes a future where women and girls are free to exist, thrive and stand in their full power.
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Jasmine Bowie
SPEAKER
Licensed therapist, wellness consultant & Founder of Zola Indlu Wellness