Board of Directors
Board of Directors
THE AFRICAN AMERICAN POLICY FORUM
HER DREAM DEFERRED 2024
A WEEK ON THE STATUS OF BLACK WOMEN
MONDAY, MARCH 25, 2024 | 12:00 PM EST
VISION: America's Tug of War for Racial Equality
The Ida B. Wells Symposium at Columbia University’s School of Journalism will begin with a keynote from AAPF Executive Director Kimberlé Crenshaw will be in conversation with journalist and author of The 1619 Project Nikole Hannah-Jones in a panel discussion, VISION: America's Tug of War for Racial Equality, moderated by Errin Haines, editor at large at 19th News at 12:00PM ET. This panel will explore the concept of inequality and injustice, asking ourselves: Is America taking steps away from a more equal and just society? Are we going backward? Or is this just the organic ebb and flow on a linear path toward equality? Starting at 8:00PM ET, AAPF will broadcast the recording of the opening keynote for those that were unable to attend in person.
Columbia University’s School of Journalism is commemorating the life of Ida B. Wells on March 25th with their inaugural Ida B. Wells Symposium at Columbia Journalism School. This event will bring together distinguished journalists, scholars, Columbia Journalism School alums, faculty, students, and other practitioners to explore the ongoing opportunities and challenges of representation, inclusion, and equity in the journalism industry. The symposium will feature a day of panels focused on Ida B. Wells’ legacy, the status of journalism today featuring friends of AAPF such as Paula Giddings, Joy Ann Reid, and Soledad O’Brien.
Guests include:
Errin Haines is a Founding Mother and Editor at Large for The 19th, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom covering the intersection of women, politics and policy, and an MSNBC Contributor.
An award-winning political journalist focused on issues of race, gender and politics, Errin was previously the Associated Press' National Writer on Race and Ethnicity. She has also worked at The Washington Post, The Orlando Sentinel and The Los Angeles Times.
Errin Haines
MODERATOR
Editor-At-Large, 19th News
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
Co-Founder & Executive Director, AAPF
Nikole Hannah-Jones is an award-winning investigative reporter who covers civil rights and racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine and the Knight Chair in Race and Journalism at Howard University where she is the founding director of the Center for Journalism & Democracy.
Her reporting has earned her the Pulitzer Prize, the MacArthur “Genius” Grant, the Knight Award for Public Service, the Peabody Award, two George Polk awards, the National Magazine Award three times and an Emmy.
Nikole Hannah-Jones
SPEAKER
Journalist & Author, 1619 Proect
TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2024 | 8:00 PM EST
#SayHerName: Black Women’s Stories of Police Violence and Public Silence - An Advocacy-Based Book Club
Join AAPF and the #SayHerName Mothers Network on Tuesday, March 26th at 8PM ET for a special screening of an excerpt from our #SayHerName book tour stop at the Free Library of Philadelphia, followed by a live artivism and advocacy conversation to be moderated by AAPF Artist-in-Residence, Abby Dobson. The conversation will feature members of the #SayHerName Mothers Network Gina Best, Valarie Carey, Ashley Carr, Rhonda Dormeus, Shante Needham, Tamika Palmer, Chelsie Rubin, Debra Shirley, and Sharon Wilkerson.
Don’t forget to RSVP to reserve your spot!
More about the book:
#SayHerName: Black Women’s Stories of Police Violence and Public SIlence, co-authored by Kimberle Crenshaw and the African American Policy Forum, is a culmination of nearly 10 years of research highlighting the specter of violence and silence surrounding the police killings of Black women. The book includes personal anecdotes from the #SayHerName Mothers network about the memories they have of their daughters lost to police violence.
Guests include:
Rosalyn Coleman is a New York based actor known for appearances on Broadway: To Kill A Mockingbird, Travesties, The Mountaintop, Radio Golf, Seven Guitars, The Piano Lesson, Mule Bone. Film: (upcoming) Rob Peace, Game Nite, Miss Virginia, The Immortal Jellyfish, Frankie and Alice, Brooklyn’s Finest, Our Song, Brown Sugar, Music of the Heart; TV: Terror Lake Drive, Bull, Jessica Jones, Blue Bloods, Madam Secretary, Law & Order; and Off-Broadway performances: Wedding Band, The Woman’s Party, Native Son, Breakfast with Mugabe. Solo play The Master’s Tools at Williamstown Theatre Festival.
Rosalyn Coleman
SPEAKER
Actor
Sonic Conceptual Performing Artist and Composer, Activist and Scholar, Abby Dobson is an Artist-in-Residence with the African American Policy Forum (AAPF). Abby Dobson has performed at the Apollo Theater, Blue Note Jazz Club, Hammer Museum & The Tonight Show. Her debut CD, "Sleeping Beauty: You Are the One You Have Been Waiting On” received rave reviews. Featured on Talib Kweli’s album “Gravitas” on “State of Grace”, Abby was nominated for a 2014 BET Hip Hop Award for Best Impact Song. Abby was also featured on Talib Kweli's album, "Prisoner of Conscious” on “Before He Walked". Abby has also sung backing vocals for artists ranging from Talib Kweli to John Legend.
Abby Dobson
MODERATOR
Artist-In-Residence, AAPF
Kim is a New York born and based actor currently living in Brooklyn NY. She has numerous theatre, television and film credits in her veteran career. Currently, she can be heard as Wanda in the I Heart podcast “Supreme: The Battle for Roe” starring Maya Hawke and William H. Macy.
Kim Yancey
SPEAKER
Actor
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2024 | 8:00 PM EST
In the Bullseye of the Backlash: Black Women in Defense of Themselves
This special Under the Blacklight episode, In the Bullseye of the Backlash: Black Women in Defense of Themselves, will focus on how Black women have found themselves as the most visible targets of the “war on woke.” This panel moderated by Kirsten West Savali will bring together Black women from a variety of sectors to not only sound the alarm about Black women’s vulnerability to these attacks in the war on woke, how we should see this as part of long-term efforts to undermine Black women’s place in society as part of a larger assault on civil rights and democracy. Our speakers Karen Attiah, Jeanell English, Janel George, and Katrina Gipson will draw from historical efforts Black women have always taken up to defend ourselves and our communities.
While the anti-woke backlash against literature, ideas and social justice infrastructure has impacted a variety of communities, it is becoming more evident that Black women are often the most visible targets of this onslaught. This disturbing trend can be seen from the continued attacks on the intellectual integrity of Black women, the lawsuit filed against the Fearless Fund, run by and for Black women, and the exodus of Black women from high-profile DEI positions in entertainment and media. Twenty-one states have introduced and nine have passed legislation to roll back DEI initiatives that have led to Black women’s inclusion in a variety of sectors of society. And these attacks only intensified after the crucial voting cohesion of Black women were seen as being central to the Democratic victory in 2020.
This panel will bring together Black women from a variety of sectors to not only sound the alarm about Black women’s vulnerability to these attacks in the war on woke, how we should see this as part of long-term efforts to undermine Black women’s place in society as part of a larger assault on civil rights and democracy. The panel will draw from historical efforts Black women have always taken up to defend ourselves and our communities.
Guests include:
Kirsten West Savali is VP, Content, at iOne Digital—an Urban One company. She most recently served as executive producer at ESSENCE Magazine and as the magazine’s senior editor of News & Politics. As both a writer, movement journalist, and cultural critic, her work explores the intersections of race, social justice, feminism, and politics. She is the recipient of the Vernon Jarrett Medal for Journalistic Excellence, which honors exemplary reporting on Black life in America, an NABJ Award for Journalistic Excellence, and a John Jay College of Criminal Justice/Harry Frank Guggenheim Fellowship for her work focusing on criminal justice.
Kirsten West Savali
MODERATOR
VP, Content, iOne Digital -
an Urban One company
Karen Attiah is a columnist for The Washington Post and writes a weekly newsletter. She joined The Post in 2014 as a digital producer in the Opinions section. Attiah often writes on issues relating to race, gender and international politics, with a special interest in Africa. Previously, she reported as a freelancer for the Associated Press while based in the Caribbean. Attiah was the winner of the 2019 George Polk Award and was the 2019 Journalist of the Year from the National Association of Black Journalists.
Karen Attiah
SPEAKER
Columinist, The Washington Post
Jeanell English is the founder of Elizabeth, a publishing and consulting company dedicated to identifying and amplifying stories of Asian, Black, Indigenous, Latino, and Middle Eastern communities, with an emphasis on women. English was previously the former Executive Vice President of Impact and Inclusion at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In this role, she led the Academy’s initiatives designed to address underrepresentation across the industry and to discover, empower, and advance the work of emerging and diverse film artists.
Jeanell English
SPEAKER
Founder, Elizabeth
Janel George is an Associate Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center and the founding Director of the Racial Equity in Education Law and Policy Clinic. The Clinic engages second and third-year law students in legislative lawyering work on behalf of clients to address issues of racial inequality in public education, including discriminatory school discipline, school segregation, and resource inequities along racial lines. Her scholarship focuses on racial stratification and inequality in U.S. education. She has written about the resegregation of public schools, discriminatory school discipline practices, Critical Race Theory, and resource equity. As a civil rights attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), she worked with several campaigns and coalitions to leverage legislative and policy advocacy to advance equal educational opportunity. She has served as Legislative Counsel in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, during which time her legislative portfolio included child welfare, civil rights, health care, and education issues.
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Janel George
SPEAKER
Associate Professor, Georgetown University Law Center
Katrina Gipson is an assistant professor of Emergency Medicine at Emory University School of Medicine where she practices clinically at Grady Memorial Hospital, one of the country’s busiest emergency departments. Dr. Gipson is a national leader in emergency medicine, serving as Secretary of the Emergency Medicine Section of the National Medical Association (NMA), the collective voice of African American Physicians. She is Co-Chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee’s Education Subcommittee for the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) and president-elect of SAEM’s Academy for Diversity & Inclusion in Emergency Medicine (ADIEM).
Katrina Gipson
SPEAKER
Assistant Professor - Emergency Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine
Diana Greene is the CEO of philadelphia-based Children's Literacy Initiative which focuses on liberation through literacy by Focusing on black and brown students through professional development and coaching of teachers and school leaders in the Science of Reading and Culture relevant pedagogy . Prior to this position, Greene served as the superintendent of Duval County Public Schools and the School District of Manatee County. Diana has served in public education for 37 years in a variety of roles but has never forgotten what it is like to be a teacher.
Diana Grenne
SPEAKER
CEO, Children's Literacy Initiative
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2024 | 8:00 PM EST
You Carry The Dream: Reclaiming Rest and Resilience
Black women have been fighting through an ongoing health pandemic, dehumanizing attacks in the media, all while we continue to struggle to maintain our dignity in the workplace and attempt to create moments of ease and fulfillment. As we strive to find harmony in providing for our families while finding time for ourselves, many Black women report feelings of fatigue – mental and physical exhaustion. In this special convening, AAPF will bring together a group of Black women wellness experts committed to helping us learn how to reclaim rest and garner new tools to foster resilience collectively. During this fourth iteration of our annual HDD self-care event, we will reflect on these words by author Tracy Hershey, “Treating each other and ourselves with care isn’t a luxury, but an absolute necessity if we’re going to thrive. Resting isn’t an afterthought, but a basic part of being human.” How do we reclaim rest and resilience in the context of historical trauma and racial retrenchment as well as the basic duties of everyday life?
Guests include:
Shermena M. Nelson: 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
HOST
Chief of Staff/Director of Programs & Community Engagement, AAPF
Venus E. Evans-Winters, Ph. D. is the Black Girls Initiatives Research Coordinator at the African American Policy Forum. She is also a Visiting Professor of Education at The Ohio State University. Her areas of research are educational policy analysis, Black girls’ and women’s onto-epistemologies, and critical race feminist methodologies. She 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 and co-author of Introduction to Intersectional Qualitative Research. 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. Dr. Evans-Winters is also a clinical psychotherapist in private practice and the founder of Planet Venus Institute.
Dr. Venus Evans-Winters
HOST
Coordinator - Black Girls Initiatives Research, AAPF
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 Timbo
HOST
Performing Arts Director & Producer/Creative Director
Jasmine Bowie is a holistic wellness practitioner, breath and sound healing guide, and the Founder of Zola Indlu (In-loo)- a trauma and healing-informed wellness platform that centers the holistic well-being of Black women and girls. Having received her Master’s Degree in Social Work from New York University, her practice is rooted in curating authentic healing spaces for Black women and girls to connect more intentionally with themselves, their breath, and their community, release and restore the impact of generational trauma, and support their self-expansion through the creation of opportunities for self-liberation and joy.
Jasmine Bowie
SPEAKER
Founder, Zola Indlu
Dr. Shawna Murray-Browne (she/her/hers) is a liberation-focused healer and strategist, budding oral historian, transformational speaker, and keeper of sacred space for Black women globally. She is the Principal Consultant at Kindred Wellness LLC and trained as an integrative psychotherapist. She studies the modern and historic healing ways of African descendants and utilizes these insights to guide organizations, foundations, and universities in co-creating affirming practices, policies, and environments for Black, Brown, and Indigenous leaders. Intuitive, authentic, and high energy, she believes deeply in honoring the land and centering ancestral wisdom. Dr. 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.
Dr. Shawna Murray Browne
SPEAKER
Principal Consultant, Kindred Wellness LLC
Passionate about using music as a tool for empathy cultivation, Abby Dobson creates music to inspire audiences to engage in action to promote transformative social change. Abby is also a member of the Resistance Revival Chorus, a women’s ensemble born out of the Women’s March in 2017. Abby’s song #SayHerName, inspired by AAPF’s campaign of the same name, is featured on The Resistance Revival’s debut album, “This Joy”, released in 2020 on Righteous Babe Records. Abby’s song #SayHerName was also featured on Ava DuVernay’s hit television series Queen Sugar on the OWN Network.
Abby Dobson
SPEAKER
Aritst-In-Residence, AAPF
Practitioners
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.
Anana Harris Parris
SPEAKER
Founder & CEO, Self Care Agency, LLC
A graduate of Spelman College, Gina Loring is the current Poet Laureate of the African American Policy Forum. She has served as Poet-in-Residence at UC Berkeley Law School and has performed in over ten countries through state department cultural programming. She was featured on Jane Fonda’s Fire Drill Fridays, Rosario Dawson’s The Assembly, two De La Soul albums, two seasons of HBO’s Def Poetry, and has been commissioned to write poems for Greenpeace, Susan and David Rockefeller, Mickalene Thomas, and Quincy Jones.
Gina Loring
SPEAKER
Poet Laureate, AAPF
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 Samuels
SPEAKER
Founder, HURU
FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2024 | 11:00 AM EST
Youth Leadership Summit: Girls & Women Reading and Leading Through Resistance
Hosted by AAPF’s Young Scholars Program, Her Dream Deferred will close with our Youth Leadership Summit: Girls & Women Reading and Leading Through Resistance. This program is a day of research, artivism, and fellowship for the next generation of feminist activists, scholars, and leaders. Leadership workshops, working groups, and data collection will help students build the background necessary for a youth-led reading circle that can be held in NYC schools, clubs, and universities. Our workshop leaders and discussants include AAPF Artists in Residence Abby Dobson, Gina Loring, and Dina Wright Joseph; author of American Street and Black Enough, Ibi Zoboi; and our own Young Scholars Program researchers. *Youth Leadership Summit participants will also be invited to a private screening and talk-back of the 2024 Sundance Award-winning film Daughters with co-director Angela Patton and Girls for A Change, which was recently procured by Netflix.
Guests include:
Venus E. Evans-Winters, Ph. D. is the Black Girls Initiatives Research Coordinator at the African American Policy Forum. She is also a Visiting Professor of Education at The Ohio State University. Her areas of research are educational policy analysis, Black girls’ and women’s onto-epistemologies, and critical race feminist methodologies. She 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 and co-author of Introduction to Intersectional Qualitative Research. 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. Dr. Evans-Winters is also a clinical psychotherapist in private practice and the founder of Planet Venus Institute.
Dr. Venus Evans-Winters
MODERATOR
Coordinator - Black Girls Initiatives Research, AAPF
Abby Dobson performs with Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber, an improvisational ensemble founded by Greg Tate, and recently founded the Freedom Now Sonic Ensemble, an acapella vocal ensemble. Abby received a Juris Doctorate degree from Georgetown University Law Center, a Master’s degree from The City University of New York- Graduate Center, and a Bachelor’s degree from Williams College. She currently serves on the Board of the National Organization for Women-NYC Chapter and as a Member of the National Organization for Women’s PAC. Abby is also a member of the North Star Fund’s Let Us Breathe Community Funding Committee, an activist-led grant making body that supports Black-led grassroots organizing. Abby’s essay “From Baldwin to Beyoncé: Exploring the Responsibility of the Artist in Society--- Re-envisioning the Black Female Sonic Artist as Citizen” appears in African American Arts: Activism, Aesthetics, and Futurity (The Griot Project Book Series) was published by Rutgers University Press in 2020. Abby Dobson is currently working on “Love in Times of War”, an album slated for release on LadyBraveBirdMusicWorks in 2025.
Abby Dobson
WORKSHOP LEADER
Aritst-In-Residence, AAPF
A graduate of Spelman College, Gina Loring is the current Poet Laureate of the African American Policy Forum. She has served as Poet-in-Residence at UC Berkeley Law School and has performed in over ten countries through state department cultural programming. She was featured on Jane Fonda’s Fire Drill Fridays, Rosario Dawson’s The Assembly, two De La Soul albums, two seasons of HBO’s Def Poetry, and has been commissioned to write poems for Greenpeace, Susan and David Rockefeller, Mickalene Thomas, and Quincy Jones.
Gina Loring
WORKSHOP LEADER
Poet Laureate, AAPF
Dina Wright Joseph is currently an artist-in-residence and "Artivist" with the African American Policy Forum. A trained dancer by profession, Dina currently dances with Asase Yaa African American Dance Theater and toured internationally as a principal dancer and dance captain with Forces of Nature Dance Theater Company. Alongside her artivism work, she sits on the faculty of the Professional Performing Arts School and Ailey/Fordham both in partnership with Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. Her performance work has been featured in the PBS documentary, "Free to Dance" and archived in the Smithsonian Museum's centennial installation entitled “Black Dance in the 20th Century".
Dina Wright Joseph
WORKSHOP LEADER
Artist-In-Residence & Artivist, AAPF
Ibi Zoboi was born in Haiti and immigrated to New York with her mother when she was four-years-old.
Ibi Zoboi is the New York Times Bestselling author of AMERICAN STREET, a National Book
Award Finalist; PRIDE, a contemporary remix of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice; and MY LIFE AS AN ICE CREAM SANDWICH, her middle-grade debut. She is also the co-author of the
Walter Award and L.A. Times Book Prize-winning PUNCHING THE AIR with prison reform activist Dr. Yusef Salaam of the Exonerated Five, which was also shortlisted for the U.K.’s Yoto
Carnegie Medal. Ibi is the editor of BLACK ENOUGH: STORIES OF BEING YOUNG & BLACK IN AMERICA. Her debut picture book, THE PEOPLE REMEMBER, received a Coretta Scott King Book Honor Award. Her most recent books are STAR CHILD: A BIOGRAPHICAL CONSTELLATION OF OCTAVIA ESTELLE BUTLER, and OKOYE TO THE PEOPLE: A BLACK PANTHER NOVEL for Marvel.
Ibi Zoboi
WORKSHOP LEADER
Author, American Street
FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2024 | 6:00 PM EST
Screening - Daughters (2024)
Daughters is a feature documentary co-directed by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae, that follows four young girls as they prepare for a daddy-daughter dance, which is a chance to reunite with their incarcerated fathers as part of a fatherhood program in a Washington, D.C., prison. Daughters took home the audience award in the documentary competition and earned the Festival Favorite and Audience Choice: U.S. Documentary Competition. Following the film screening, attendees will participate in a talkback with Angela Patton and several of the girls featured in the film.
Guests include:
As the leader of Girls For A Change (GFAC), Angela has been recognized in the local Richmond, VA press as Top 40 Under 40 (2010), by a coalition of girl serving groups in 2015, by President Obama as a White House Champion of Change (2016), has received the Nonprofit Partner of the Year (2018 & 2022) from the Metropolitan Business League, and Richmond Times-Dispatch 2019 Person of the Year Honoree. In 2022 Angela was recognized by The International Alliance for Women as a World of Difference Awards winners in the Non-Profit/NGO Awardees category. In 2023, she was honored with the Grace E. Harris Leadership Award from the Virginia Commonwealth University L. Douglas Wilder School of Government & Public Affairs.
Angela Patton
MODERATOR
Co-Director, Daughters
Ja’Ana Crudup
SPEAKER
Girls for A Change
Raziah Lewis
SPEAKER
Girls for A Change
Aubrey Smith
SPEAKER
Girls for A Change
Santana Stewart
SPEAKER
Girls for A Change