Keynote Speaker

Queen Quet Marquetta L. Goodwine is a published author, computer scientist, lecturer, mathematician, historian, columnist, preservationist, environmental justice advocate, environmentalist, and film consultant. She is the founder of the premiere advocacy organization for the continuation of Gullah/Geechee culture, the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition. She was also the first Gullah/Geechee person to speak on behalf of her people before the United Nations in Genevé, Switzerland.

In 2008, she was recorded at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France at a United Nations Conference in order to have the human rights story of the Gullah/Geechee people archived for the United Nations. In 2009, she was invited by the Office of the High Commissioner of the United Nations to come and present before the newly founded "Minority Forum" as a representative of the Gullah/Geechee Nation and the International Human Rights Association for American Minorities (IHRAAM) which is an NGO in consultative status with the United Nations. Queen Quet is a directorate member for IHRAAM and for the International Commission on Human Rights. She represented these bodies and the Gullah/ Geechee Nation at the "United Nations Forum on Minority Rights."

Queen Quet's accolades include the Jean Laney Folk Heritage Award for Gullah Advocacy from the state of South Carolina, the inaugural "Living Legacy Award" from the Association for the Study of African American Life & History (ASALH), the inaugural MaVynee Betsch Conservation Award, the National Black Herstory Award, and the Oceans Hero Award. She received the "Preserving Our Places in History Lifetime Achievement Award" from the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission. www.QueenQuet.com