Jenise Miller is an Afro-Panamanian writer and urban planner from Compton, California. Her work explores art, archives, mapping, and intersectional history. She is a California Arts Council Artist Fellow, a recent PEN Emerging Voices and Women’s National Book Association Fellow, and a Tin House and Voices of Our Nations Arts (VONA) workshop alumna. She coordinates the Compton Arts Oral History Project and edits the KCET Artbound article series, “Compton: Art and Archives.” She curated “Magic in the Streets: The Black Arts Movement in Compton” in partnership with Cal State L.A. and co-curated the “L.A. Poets in Place” series with The Autry Museum of the American West. She has led community based research and GIS mapping projects for various organizations and was a research consultant on the recently published “South Central Dreams: Finding Home and Building Community in South L.A.” A Pushcart-nominated poet, her writing is published in her poetry chapbook, The Blvd, as well as High Country News, Boom California, Los Angeles Review of Books, Los Angeles Times, and the forthcoming anthology, Writing the Golden State: The New Literary Terrain of California.

Find her work at www.jenisemiller.com | Tw/IG: @jenisepalantecription

Historian, Publisher and Social Activist

Mr. Leon August Waters is a 73 year old native of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Mr. Waters finished Xavier University in Business Administration.

He and his wife of 48 years, Aleta Cornin Waters, have three children; and eighteen grandchildren.

He serves as the board chairperson of the Louisiana Museum of African American History (LMAAH). The museum began in 2002 on the second floor of St. Augustine Catholic Church hall in the Treme neighborhood. Katrina delivered a blow to many of the museum board members’ homes, and thus setback the museum. Today, the board is searching for a permanent physical facility for the museum.

As a licensed tour host where he has been directing tours on ‘hidden history’ for 28 years, he is also the manager of Hidden History, L.C.C. – a publishing, touring, and research company.

He has published one book titled: On To New Orleans: Louisiana’s Heroic 1811 Slave Revolt. (This 300 page book is the story of the largest slave revolt in the United States that happened in St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, and Orleans Parishes). Mr. Waters is currently authoring two books to be published soon.

“I have been working on the interface of social classes and mass resistance in a variety of forms. This includes an examination of social history that is “hidden history”, social inequality, and resistance; the hidden voice of the victim, particularly the voice of the buried former enslaved, and the political economic history of wars.”

As part of his day to day activities, Mr. Waters writes continuously numerous articles on history and is a frequent presenter at conferences here in the United States and the Caribbean including Martinique, Guadeloupe and Haiti.

Altagracia Jean Joseph es una abogada y activista de derechos humanos con una amplia experiencia en la lucha por la igualdad de género y los derechos de las mujeres. Su compromiso con la justicia social la ha llevado a participar en diversos procesos a nivel nacional e internacional, destacando su papel como directora ejecutiva de la Red de Derechos Humanos Jacques Viau en la República Dominicana. Bajo su liderazgo, ha trabajado incansablemente para promover la justicia social y la igualdad de derechos en la sociedad dominicana, abogando por la eliminación de la discriminación racial y de género. Además, Altagracia ha sido conferencista en reconocidas asociaciones y universidades, compartiendo su conocimiento y experiencia en foros como la Hatian Study Association, Caribbean Study Association, Smith College y Barnard College.

Nacida en una humilde comunidad de la región Este de la República Dominicana, Altagracia ha vivido en carne propia las desigualdades y las injusticias sociales desde temprana edad. Su experiencia personal la ha impulsado a dedicar su vida al activismo y la defensa de los derechos humanos. Altagracia ha sido una voz destacada en la lucha contra la corrupción y la impunidad en su país, formando parte del movimiento social Marcha Verde y exigiendo investigaciones sobre los sobornos aceptados por líderes dominicanos de la empresa Odebrecht. Además, es cofundadora y directora ejecutiva de la Fundación Código Humano (FUNCOHUM), una organización feminista que se enfoca en la educación en justicia racial, reproductiva, inequidad de género y conciencia cultural para niñas y adolescentes. También colabora con Diversidad Dominicana, una organización que busca poner fin a la violencia contra las comunidades LGBTQ y aborda temas como el uso de drogas y el embarazo en niñas y adolescentes.

En los últimos años, Altagracia ha desplegado una destacada labor como conferencista, compartiendo su experiencia y conocimientos en diversos escenarios a nivel nacional e internacional. Ha participado en eventos y organizaciones como la Hatian Study Association, Caribbean Study Association, Smith College, Barnard College, la misión en Colombia como parte de la coalición internacional ICPAD, y la comunidad organizada de descendientes de haitianos y haitianas en Nueva York, donde fue reconocida en marzo de 2022 como una de las mujeres valientes que contribuyen a un cambio positivo en la sociedad dominicana y la región. Además, ha formado parte del proyecto Erasmus Plus, que aborda la brecha de acceso a la literatura tecnológica para mujeres empobrecidas en Europa, Asia, América Latina y Cabo Verde. Actualmente, Altagracia ejerce como coordinadora de la articulación latinoamericana por el decenio afrodescendiente (ALDA), continuando su lucha por la igualdad y los derechos humanos en la región.

English Translation:

Altagracia Jean Joseph is a lawyer and human rights activist with extensive experience fighting for gender equality and women's rights. Her commitment to social justice has led her to participate in various processes at the national and international level, highlighting her role as executive director of the Jacques Viau Human Rights Network in the Dominican Republic. Under her leadership, she has worked tirelessly to promote social justice and equal rights in Dominican society, advocating for the elimination of racial and gender discrimination. In addition, Altagracia has been a speaker at renowned associations and universities, sharing her knowledge and experience in forums such as the Hatian Study Association, Caribbean Study Association, Smith College and Barnard College.

Born in a humble community in the eastern region of the Dominican Republic, Altagracia has experienced firsthand inequalities and social injustices from an early age. Her personal experience has prompted her to dedicate her life to activism and the defense of human rights. Altagracia has been a leading voice in the fight against corruption and impunity in her country, being part of the Green March social movement and demanding investigations into bribes accepted by Dominican leaders of the Odebrecht company. In addition, she is co-founder and executive director of Fundación Código Humano (FUNCOHUM), a feminist organization that focuses on education on racial and reproductive justice, gender inequality, and cultural awareness for girls and adolescents. She also collaborates with Diversidad Dominicana, an organization that seeks to end violence against LGBTQ communities and addresses issues such as drug use and pregnancy in girls and adolescents.

In recent years, Altagracia has carried out outstanding work as a speaker, sharing her experience and knowledge in various national and international settings. She has participated in events and organizations such as the Hatian Study Association, Caribbean Study Association, Smith College, Barnard College, the mission in Colombia as part of the international coalition ICPAD, and the organized community of Haitian descendants in New York, where she was recognized in March 2022 as one of the brave women who contribute to a positive change in Dominican society and the region. In addition, she has been part of the Erasmus Plus project, which addresses the access gap to technological literature for impoverished women in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Cape Verde. Currently, Altagracia is the coordinator of the Latin American organization for the Afro-descendant decade (ALDA), continuing her fight for equality and human rights in the region.

Julia Mallory is committed to being a good steward of, and vessel for, her ancestors’ stories. As a storyteller, she works across multiple genres with a range of mediums, from text to textiles. As a creative and grief guide, Julia is invested in cultivating care, creativity, and community through a robust workshop facilitation practice.

In 2022, as the recipient of the Black Art in America Foundation “The Next Big Idea” grant, Julia founded the Harrisburg Youth Arts Incubator, an experimental artmaking program for young people ages 12-17. She is also the founder of the creative container, Black Mermaids and the author of six books, including two children’s books. In addition, her short film, Grief is the Glitch debuted in 2022.

Julia is the mother of three children and is from the Southside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. For more information, visit www.thejuliamallory.com.

daniel johnson is a multidisciplinary artist/performer drawing considerations and methodologies from their background as a parent, organizer, museum educator, and public historian. johnson’s work emerges in relationship with others and, at its root, centers the relationship itself as a practice of sincerity, reciprocity, and curiosity. Artistic products of the relationship are reflections of a sustained commitment to each other and a shared path of inquiry. The scaffolding for relationships is ongoing work toward clarity in roles and agency, equitable access to information and decision-making, and direct discussion in the formation of agreements – and most importantly joy and vulnerability. Through cultivating friendships and working relationships across a community, johnson discovers alignment and intersections among stories, shared intentions, and perceived challenges which at times go on to seed collaborative projects.

As a 2023 Diaspora Solidarities Lab Community Fellow, johnson will expand on his recent work in Utica, MS which culminated in a collaborative series of roadside signs for the local public health clinic. The creation of the signs led to community discussion around possibilities for making visible the history of Utica through similar visual works in public space. Over the course of their DSL Fellowship, johnson will work with community to identify sites of memory and create visual markers imagining them as a wayfinding device for finding ourselves in history.

johnson’s work has been featured by PolicyLink, the Center for the Future of Museums, Georgetown University’s Gnovis Journal, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Community Development Innovation Review, and Mississippi Today.

Nairobi is a community member intent on uplifting networks of solidarity and our rematriation of the land. They believe our collective liberation is possible through community care and the decentralization of wealth. Their 2023 Diaspora Solidarities Lab project will invest in a local teaching garden, empowering folks as they learn to cultivate their own food in Los Angeles’ cityscape. Many people are restricted from nutritious produce due to very intentional financial and/or geographical barriers, so as we practice urban gardening skills together in community, we can share creative ways to incorporate fruits, vegetables and medicinal herbs into our lives, eating good food along the way. This project intends to co-create systems of food justice for our neighbors and reimagine strategies that contribute to our collective liberation.

M. Jacqui Alexander is a scholar, activist, teacher, an initiate and devotee of the ancient African descendant spiritual practices of Haitian Vodou, Lucumí and Ifá. Her pedagogic interests are rooted in a commitment to freedom, radical interdisciplinary praxis, and service to the sacred intelligence and healing signatures of plants. She has held teaching positions at several colleges and universities, including the New School for Social Research, Hamilton College where she served as Jane Watson Irwin Chair in Women’s Studies and at Connecticut College where she chaired the department of Women’s Studies while serving as Fuller-Maathai Chair. From there she joined the Institute for Women and Gender Studies at the University of Toronto. Among her numerous publications are two co-edited collections, Sing, Whisper, Shout, Pray: Feminist Visions for a Just World; Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures and her collection, Pedagogies of Crossing: Meditations on Feminism, Sexual Politics, Memory and the Sacred—all landmark interdisciplinary volumes which have left an indelible imprint on the fields of transnational feminism, queer theory and queer of color critique as well as critical race theory. She has served as reviewer for several university presses and professional journals; has been a featured speaker in transnational circuits; and co-created workshops on curriculum transformation with her decades-long interlocutor and friend Chandra Talpade Mohanty. She is a ‘fellow’ of the Guggenheim Foundation, a Canadian Social Science Research Council Grantee and most recently the recipient of the Brudner Prize in Gender and Sexuality Studies from Yale University, in recognition of a lifetime of accomplishments and scholarly contributions in LGBTQI+ Studies. She is Emerita Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of Toronto and co-creator and Founding Director of the Tobago Center for the Study and Practice of Indigenous Spirituality. Her current project is a co-authored memoir inspired by Kitsîmba, who, at 12, was abducted from Kôngo at the height of the theft of Africans from the Continent and brought to live in Trinidad via Martinique, about one mile from where M. Jacqui Alexander grew up.

Gloriann Sacha Antonetty-Lebrón quien es escritora, comunicadora y artivista afropuertorriqueña. Es la fundadora y editora de la Revista Étnica, la primera plataforma multimedios y revista en Puerto Rico para visibilizar y representar positivamente a las comunidades afrolatinas. Étnica es un movimiento de periodismo de artivismo antirracista y afrofeminista. Es la autora del poemario Hebras y del cuento infantil “Negro, negrito”. Sus escritos también han sido publicados en Caribe en Tránsito, The Sea Needs No Ornament, Revista Letras, Teen Vogue, Maraña y Palenque, entre otras. Gloriann Sacha posee un bachillerato de comunicación en publicidad y relaciones públicas, así como una maestría en periodismo investigativo de Florida International University. Su trabajo ha sido destacado en Oprah Magazine, Diversity Inc., A+J, Be Latina, Remezcla, LOUD de Spotify, mitú, Okay Africa, The Pulitzer Center y en el documental Afrolatinxs Revolution: Puerto Rico. En el 2017 recibió el premio de EnterPrize a étnica como Empresa Social. En el año 2022 fue una de las 16 recipientes del premio de justicia racial: Justice Rising Award de Open Society Foundation. En el 2023, Gloriann Sacha recibió una beca para residencia artística en Bellagio Italia de Rockefeller Foundation.

https://www.gloriannsacha.com/

Gloriann Sacha Antonetty Lebrón is an Afropuertorican writer, communication strategist and professor. She is the founder of Revista étnica. For more than 15 years she has been working in communications for non profits and in advertising/ public relations agencies.

As a writer, she has published the collection of poems: Hebras. In addition to having stories published in the anthologies: Cuentos de Huracán, Maraña of Tejedoras de Palabras, Palenque: Puerto Rican anthology of thematic “negrista”, antiracist, Africanist and afrodescendant. She has also published in the Academia magazine of EDP University, Boreales, Letras Magazine of the UMET, Afroféminas among others. She has been a communications professor at Universidad Sagrado Corazón (where she graduated from), and also at the Universidad del Turabo.

Gloriann Sacha won the social enterprise award of EnterPRize 2017. Have received recognition for her communication work with a Silver Anvil of PRSA, Gold award in SME Digital Awards and Honorable Mention of the Gautier Benítez Poetry Contest of 2014 for her poetry book Hebras.

She is a member of the Colectivo Las Ancestras, Poesía Afroversiva and Collective Ilé.

https://www.gloriannsacha.com/

Shana M. Griffin is a feminist activist, researcher, sociologist, artist, abolitionist, and mother whose work engages history and memory as sites of resistance, rupture, and protest. Shana’s practice is interdisciplinary, research-based, activist-centered, and decolonial—existing across the fields of sociology, geography, Black feminist thought, digital humanities, and land-use planning and within movements challenging urban displacement, carcerality, reproductive control, climate impacts, and gender-based violence.

Her work attends to the lived experiences of the Black Diaspora, centering the particular experiences of Black women most vulnerable to the violence of poverty, incarceration, polluted environments, reproductive legislation, economic exploitation, housing discrimination, and climate change.

Shana is the founder of PUNCTUATE, a feminist initiative integrating critical research methods with activism and art to address the intersecting forms of everyday violence and subjectivity Black women, their families, and communities experience, the creator of DISPLACED, a multimedia public history project tracing the geographies of Black displacement in New Orleans and the surrounding region, and co-founder of Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative, the first community land trust in New Orleans. Shana’s project Theirs Was a Movement Without Marches documents the narratives of low-income Black women organizing in public housing and the abolitionist strategies they employed to transform their communities. Her latest initiative, SOIL, interrogates the carceral spaces of what is left behind in and on the grounds of former and current sugarcane plantations lining the East and West Banks of the Mississippi River in southeast Louisiana through archival research, soil collection, and photography.

Shana is the recipient of several awards, including a 2022 Andy Warhol Curatorial Research Fellow, a 2022 New Orleans Center for the Gulf South Monroe Fellow, and a 2021 Creative Capital Awardee. Shana was part of the inaugural cohort of the 2020-2021 Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans Visual-Artists-Residency Program (2020-2021) and the initial 2020-21 John O’Neal Cultural Arts Fellow class sponsored by Junebug Productions.Shana recently exhibited her work ERASED//Geographies of Black Displacement at Fordham University’s Ildiko Butler Gallery (2023) and served as curatorial advisor of Prospect’s Artist of Public Memory Commission. She curated In the Spirit of Black (2023) and First Frame (2022) as part of SEEING BLACK's exhibition series and co-curated Insurgent Ecologies (2023) with Imani Jacqueline Brown, organized by the New Orleans Center for the Gulf South at Tulane University, Antenna, and PUNCTUATE. She is the co-produced of Sooner or Later, Somebody’s Gonna Fight Back, a documentary and multimedia project on the Louisiana State Chapter of the Black Panther Party, and is the creator of Assemblage, a pop-up collection of feminist-inspired t-shirts, totes, prints, books, vintage wares, and textiles. Shana holds a Master of Arts in Sociology and two Bachelor of Arts degrees in History and Sociology.

Amaryllis (ze/zir/they/them) is a multi-modal artist and folk practitioner based in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Ze is fond of rabbits, forests and being near the sea. Ze engages in an experimental practice that acknowledges the queer body as a site of self and collective liberation. Amaryllis's work has foundations in visual storytelling, media production, gender studies, and trauma-informed mindfulness + somatic meditation practices. Ze blends these learnings with the intention of identifying recollection as a process of reclamation. Memory and curiosity fuels their work, creating futures with marginalized experiences at the forefront. Choosing materials based on context and potential for expansion, zir practice unites research, imagination, and emotional alchemy.