8:00 am - 8:30 am

            Who was Josiah Henson? What is Josiah Henson Park Museum and Education Center?

 

Panel A:                              

8:30 am - 9:30 am

          Self-Determination, Collective Responsibility and Emancipation: Where are we heading on the 140th anniversary of Revered Henson's work: "Uncle Tom's Story of His Life: An Autobiography of the Rev. Josiah Henson (1876)" 

 

Panel B:

9:45 am - 10:45 am

          Language: How do we talk about the ripple effects of slavery, emancipation and race relations in the 21st Century.  

 

Closing:               

10:45 am - 11:00 am

       It's all about YOU: the Josiah Henson Park Museum and Education Center Campaign

 

After the panel's presentations are concluded, there will be a 10 minute question and answer from the audience.

Melanie Bates

 

Melanie E. Bates joined the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) in April 2016. She is responsible for all FPF communications requirements including website maintenance, media relations, internal member communications, and social media presence. She was previously the Director of Policy & Communications at the American Civil Liberties Union of the Nation's Capital (ACLU-DC). Prior to ACLU-DC, she was the Legislative Director for Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells at the Council of the District of Columbia. Melanie was the 2014-2015 President of the Greater Washington Area Chapter, Women's Lawyers Division, National Bar Association (GWAC). She also served on the National Bar Association's Board of Governors. Melanie is a graduate of the DC Bar Leadership Academy and the New Leaders Council Institute (NLC), Washington, DC Chapter. She is in Leadership Greater Washington's Rising Leaders Class of 2016. 

Maurice Jackson

Maurice Jackson teaches in the History Department and African American Studies Program and is Affiliated Professor of Music (Jazz). Before coming to academe he worked as a longshoreman, shipyard rigger, construction worker and community organizer. He is author of Let This Voice Be Heard: Anthony Benezet, (1713-1784) Father of Atlantic Abolitionism and co-editor of African-Americans and the Haitian Revolution and Quakers and Their Allies in the Abolitionist Cause, 1754-1808 (2015). Jackson has won many fellowships including at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars and the Smithsonian Institution and is at work on Halfway to Freedom: African Americans and the Struggle for Social Progress in Washington, D.C. Author of many articles, he is co-editor of a special issue on Jazz in D.C. in Washington History (April 2014) and his Washington, D.C.: From the Founding of a Slaveholding Capital to a Center of Abolitionism, appeared last year. 

Edward Reed

Edward Reed is the Great-Great Grandson of Jasper Rastus Nall, the author of the nationally acclaimed historical book, "Freeborn Slave: Diary of a Black Man in the South."  He is also the the CEO of Academic Management Group, LLC and a certified John C. Maxwell coach, trainer, and speaker. Edward is a highly-educated specialist with over 25 years of expertise in developing students, educators, and executives into global leaders. He has served on various academic advisory boards and has held leadership roles in secondary schools listed among the top 100 schools in America. 
He holds his Master's Degree in Counseling & Clinical Supervision from Johns Hopkins University.

Craig Rice

Craig Rice was first elected to the County Council in November 2010, becoming the youngest African American to ever serve on the nine-member Council and only the second African American man to serve in that role. 

Craig chairs the Council's Education Committee and serves on its Health and Human Services Committee. In addition, he serves as the Council's representative to the Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) in Annapolis and chairs MACo's Education Sub-Committee. 

Craig received the 2008 Maryland Association of Youth Services Bureau "Advocacy in Action Legislator of the Year" award for his tireless efforts on behalf of the youth and families in Maryland. He is active in numerous organizations that benefit from his tenacious support including Youth Achieve, the American Council of Young Political Leaders, the Young Elected Officials Network, the Germantown Alliance, the Civil Air Patrol, the Black Rock Center for the Arts Board of Directors and the NAACP.

Vernon H. Ricks, Jr.

 

Vernon H. Ricks, Jr. is a third generation Washingtonian.  He served in the United States Air Force. While managing at Xerox, he was the first black elected municipal official in Montgomery County, Maryland, serving as councilman and mayor pro-tem in the City of Takoma Park, Maryland from 1972 to 1982. He retired after 33 years with the Xerox Corporation. Vernon is a member of the Mount Zion United Methodist Church in Georgetown, the oldest African American congregation in Washington, DC, where he serves as Chairman of the Trustee Board.  He is a Golden Heritage Life Member of the NAACP and Parliamentarian of the Maryland State NAACP where he serves on the Executive Committee.

Adena Spingarn

 

Adena Spingarn received her PhD in English from Harvard University in May 2012.

Her dissertation, Uncle Tom in the American Imagination: A Cultural Biography,  examines Uncle Tom's transformation in American cultural understanding from a heroic Christ figure in Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, to a submissive race traitor.

A contributor to The Root,  Vogue, and Uncle Tom's Cabin in the National Era with an article forthcoming inTheatre Survey, her current writing and teaching focus on 19th- and 20th-century American literature and cultural history, with a special emphasis on African American literature and literary history. 

She is hosted by the English Department.