PRESENTER BIOS

Michael Henry Adams was born in Akron, Ohio. He is a writer, lecturer, historian, tour guide, and activist, living in Harlem. A fine arts graduate of the University of Akron, Michael trained in Columbia University’s graduate historic preservation program, and studied English country houses at the Attingham Summer School. His books include Harlem, Lost and Found: An Architectural and Social History, 1765-1915. Currently he’s at work on the forthcoming, Homo Harlem, A Chronicle of Lesbian and Gay Life in the African-American Cultural Capital, 1915-1995.

Tia Allen, violist, has performed at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the Teatro Nacional in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. As a freelance artist in New York City, she has performed with Cee-Lo and Nikki Jean on the Late Night Show with David Letterman. She is a six-summer veteran of the Aspen Music Festival and school, where she performed Souvenir de Florence with Julia Fisher, in the Benedict Music Tent. She has also performed at festivals in Graz, Austria and Nice, France. Tia attended the University of Cincinnati College of Music, where she received her bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees in Music, graduating magna cum laude.

Sheila E. Anderson, whose moniker, “Queen of Hang,” is a mover and shaker in the world of art, most notably in jazz. In addition to being an on-air host she is an author, a writer, emcee, and moderator. In 1995, she was hired by WBGO, Newark, 88.3FM to host Sunday Morning Harmony, where she now hosts Weekend Jazz Overnight and Salon Sessions.Not one to rest on her laurels and looking to immerse herself further into jazz culture, that year, award-winner, Ms. Anderson created The Art of Jazz, a weekly 30-minute TV program for Time Warner Cable in New York City. The show earned her a Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) Award for Community Media. The Art of Jazz featured jazz luminaries like Ron Carter, Eric Reed, Russell Malone, Regina Carter, Javon Jackson, T. S. Monk, Monty Alexander, Benny Golson the late Leon Thomas, Mark Murphy, and Attila Zoller. Ms. Anderson's unique individual career path began in 1973 at the age of 16 when she was elected New York State Youth President of the NAACP, a position she held for four years under the regime of Roy Wilkins. 

Burnt Sugar Arkestra Chamber, founded by Village Voice icon Greg Tate and co-led with Dayton Ohio monster bassist Jared Michael Nickerson since 1999, is a sprawling band of musicians whose prodigious personnel allows them to freely juggle a wide swath of the experimental soul-jazz-hip hop spectrum.

Burnt Sugar was originally conceived as a forum for the New York area improvisational musician to compose, record and perform material which reflects the breadth and depth of American diasparan music in the 21st century. The intent of the Arkestra Chamber, through the deployment of Butch Morris’s conduction system, is to make every performance a fresh interpretation of its constituent parts.

This very accomplished crew has playing credits that range from Cecil Taylor, Charlie Musselwhite, Melvin Van Peebles, Lady Keir, Toshi Reagon, Vernon Reid, Arto Lindsey, DJ Logic, John Paul Bourelly, Gary Lucas, TV On The Radio, Tamar Kali, Mark Ribot, Phish, William Parker, Lizz Wright, The Holmes Brothers, Wadada Leo Smith,  The The, David Murray, Thurston Moore, and Joseph Bowie to let you know.

Playthell George Benjamin, noted blogger and journalist, is the producer of “Commentaries On the Times,” which he writes and delivers on WBAI. Playthell is an award-winning journalist, who has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in two different categories. His byline has also appeared in the Guardian Observer of London, the Sunday Times of London, High Times, the Village Voice, and others. He has been a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Samori Benjamin has been the sports editor at WBAI-FM, in New York. He is an on-air reporter and commentator, as well as the editor of the online website, wbai-sports.com. Samori studied Broadcast Journalism at SUNY, from which he holds a bachelor of science degree. He is completing a book, Where Did Our Love Go: The Disappearing Afro-American Athlete in Major League Baseball.

André Blake is a New York film and television veteran with over fifty film and television credits to his name. He has worked with Academy Award winners, Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts to name a few. Most recently, André played Dr. Claude Baptiste on the NBC hit show New Amsterdam. He is also a prominent figure in the voice-over world. He has been the voice of the BET Network, Church’s Chicken, Subway, Amtrak, AT&T, Ford, and many others. Born in Port Of Spain, Trinidad, and raised in Hempstead, Long Island, and Harlem, New York, this veteran is poised to make even more noise in the coming years. Keep your ears and eyes open, as you will see and hear more of Mr. Blake in the future.

Rich Blint is associate director of the Columbia University School of the Arts’ Office of Community Outreach and Education. Prior to joining Columbia, Rich held positions at New York University’s Institute of African American Affairs; and the Center for Labor, Community, and Policy Studies at the Murphy Institute. He holds a bachelor of arts in English and Honors from Hunter College, the City University of New York; and earned his PhD in the Program in American Studies at NYU. A frequent interlocutor with artists across the genres, Rich is research affiliate and adjunct assistant professor in the Masters Program in African American Studies at Columbia and has taught courses and guest lectured at Hunter College, Vassar College, and NYU.

Herb Boyd is a professor, journalist, and author, who has written or edited twenty-two books, including, Three Centuries of African American History as Told by Those Whole Lived It (oral histories); Civil Rights: Yesterday and Today; Baldwin’s Harlem, a biography of James Baldwin (finalist for NAACP Image Award); Brotherman—The Odyssey of Black Men in America (an anthology) (with Robert Allen, received American Book Award); We Shall Overcome (used in classrooms internationally); Autobiography of a People; and The Harlem Reader. He has scripted several documentaries on cold cases of martyrs from the Civil Rights era.

Duane “Cook” Broadnax was born in Philadelphia but now lives in Brooklyn, New York. He received his B.A. in jazz performance from Berklee College of Music in Boston. Cook was the drummer for the late great jazz vocalist Little Jimmy Scott for 14 years until he died in 2014. He has also played with Kevin Eubanks, Johnny Copeland, Savion Glover, Eartha Kitt, Rachell Ferrell, and saxophonist Illinois Jaquet. Mr. Broadnax has recorded with actress/model/singer Vanessa Williams.

Leroy Burgess is a vocalist, songwriter, arranger, and keyboardist, who is also known as the “Father of the Boogie.” Born and raised in Harlem, Leroy came into prominence as the lead singer of Black Ivory. He is steeped in the traditions of various manifestations of Black Music, from jazz to gospel, and received part of his musical education at the City College of New York with the likes of Herbie Jones, a colleague of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Leroy’s music has been recorded by Bobbi Humphrey, Rick James, and many other prominent artists.

David Caines Burnett is a Harlem-born violinist and violist of Antiguan and Kittitian parents. He began violin lessons with Galina Heifetz at the Third Street Music School Settlement, while a student at LaGuardia’s High School of Music and Art. David continued his studies at Oberlin Conservatory and the Boston Conservatory. He has performed with virtuoso violinist, Liana Iskadadze, at Carnegie Hall. Other performances include the Harlem Chamber Players and the New York Housing Authority Orchestra. His vast teaching experience includes the Harlem School of the Arts, the Langston Hughes Middle School, and Juilliard’s MAP Program.

Garnette Cadogan is a Martin Luther King, Jr. Visiting Scholar (2017-18) at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also a visiting fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, and a visiting scholar at the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. He is the editor-at-large of Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas (co-edited by Rebecca Solnit and Joshua Jelly- Schapiro), and is at work on a book on walking.

Daniel Carlton is an actor, writer, teacher, storyteller, and director who has appeared on New York, national, and international stages. He is a veteran of numerous Off- and Off-Off Broadway productions. His multi-character, solo show, Pig Foot Mary Says Goodbye To The Harlem Renaissance, produced by the Metropol itan Playhouse, has been seen both locally and nationally.

Terri Lyne Carrington is a GRAMMY-winning drummer, composer, and bandleader, who has toured with luminaries such as Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Al Jarreau, Stan Getz, David Sanborn, Joe Sample, Cassandra Wilson, Clark Terry, Dianne Reeves, and others. She is a professor at her alma mater, Berklee College of Music, from which she also received an honorary doctorate.

James Carter was born in Detroit, Michigan. On May 31, 1988, at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), Carter was a last-minute addition for guest artist Lester Bowie, which turned into an invitation to play with his new quintet. This was pivotal in Carter's career, putting him in musical contact with the world, and he moved to New York two years later. He has been prominent as a performer and recording artist on the jazz scene since the late 1980s, focusing on saxophones, flute, and clarinets. Carter has won DownBeat magazine's Critics and Readers Choice award for baritone saxophone several years in a row. He has performed, toured, and played on albums with Lester Bowie, Julius Hemphill, Kathleen Battle, the World Saxophone Quartet, Wynton Marsalis, and Dee Dee Bridgewater.

Charles David Carter is a bass-baritone, who has performed on both concert and operatic stages throughout the U.S. and abroad. He recently appeared in the Lyric Opera of Chica- go’s critically acclaimed production of Showboat. Other performances of note include appearances with Jessye Norman at Carnegie Hall for a presentation of Duke Ellington’s Sacred Works and the Emmy-nominated broadcast of Porgy and Bess, Live from Lincoln Center, conducted by John DeMain. He has performed the roles of “Scarpia” in Puccini’s Tosca and “Figaro” in Mozart’s the Marriage of Figaro. A graduate of the Harlem School of the Arts, Charles continued his musical education at Morgan State University. He was influenced by his mother who was classically trained mezzo. He aspires to continue in traditions set before him, using his talents to promote cultural awareness.

Marc Cary is a jazz pianist, keyboardist, producer, and composer. He has worked with Betty Carter, Roy Hargrove, Dizzy Gillespie, Erykah Badu, Shirley Horn, Stefon Harris, Q-Tip, Abbey Lincoln, Arthur Taylor, Mickey Bass, and all of the major figures from jazz’s mid-century heyday. He has also worked with Q-Tip, members of the Wu Tang Clan, and other prominent hip-hop musicians.

Sheila Evans is an independently contracted licensed New York City tourist guide. Evans founded Sheila’s Tours, an established local and international tour consultancy. She has led tours in twenty-two cities on five continents. Evans is the author of Cathedral Parkway Towers at Harlem’s Gate and several audiobooks. A lifetime member of the Actors Studio, Evans worked on stage, film, and television, including recording children’s books for Troll Books. Evans is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and Actors Equity. Sheila’s stage and union name is spelled SHELA Evans. She holds a master of science in education with honors from CCNY. She has taught Acting for Animators for fourteen years at the School of Visual Arts. She is on the board of directors of the CCNY Black Alumni Group and the chairperson of the United Tenants Association of Cathedral Parkway Towers Inc. 

Ife Felix is a renowned quilt artist. She is the founding member of Harlem Girls Quilting Circle. As a group they have exhibited at many venues in New York City including the Caribbean Cultural Center. Her works have appeared in international exhibits, such as “Conscience of the Human Spirit: The life of Nelson Mandela,” in Johannesburg” and “Commemorating His Purple Reign: A Textural Tribute to Prince,” at the Textile Center in Minneapolis. Ife lives in Harlem with her husband.

Nelson George is an established author and filmmaker with a passion for telling stories of the black experience in America. George is the author of several ground breaking histories of African American music, including Where Did Our Love Go: the Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound, The Death of Rhythm & Blues and Hip Hop America. He has published two collections of music journalism, Buppies, BBoys, Baps & Bohos: Notes on Post-Soul America and the The Nelson George Mixtape, which is available through Pacific Books. www.pacificpacific.pub.

As a novelist he has written several popular novels with music themes (The Accidental Hunter, The Plot Against Hip Hop, The Lost Treasures of R&B, To Funk and Die in LA). The fifth book in the D Hunter music noir series, The Darkest Hearts, was published by Akashic Books in August 2020.

In television, George was a producer on the Emmy Award winning The Chris Rock Show (HBO), a producer on Hip Hop Honors (VH1), executive producer of the high rated American Gangster crime series (BET) and a writer on A Grammy Salute to The Sounds of Change (CBS) in 2021. 

Joan P. Gibbs is a long-time activist, writer, and attorney. She was born in Harlem, but spent most of her growing years in a small town on the coast of North Carolina. Her writings, poems, essays, and short stories have appeared in a number of publications, including the Iowa Review and Azalea, the first magazine published by and for lesbians of color in the United States. Joan was also the founding editor. She was also a founding member of Dykes Against Racism Everywhere (DARE). Joan has worked for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College from which she retired in 2015.

David F. Gibson toured extensively and recorded with the Count Basie Orchestra under the direction of Frank Foster. David has also performed with a host of artists and ensembles, including Joe Williams, Clark Terry, the Sun Ra Arkestra, the Diane Schuur Trio, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and the Woody Herman Orchestra. Music critic, Chip Deffa (the New York Post) says that “Gibson’s drumming is strong and fluid and as satisfying as any drummer I heard in years.” He is also featured on recordings that include Diane Schuur’s Music is My Life and Harry Sweets Edison’s Live at the Iridium and the Odean Pope’s Saxophone Choir’s Saxophone Shop. He is an adjunct faculty member at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. He earned a bachelor of music degree from Temple University.

Eon Grey has been acting for over three decades and has previously appeared in a plethora of works, including Grandma Sylvia’s Funeral off-Broadway, at the Soho Playhouse, and Billie’s Blues at the French Theatre Festival. Recent credits include feature films My Last Best Friend, starring Eric Roberts; Made in Dublin, which premiered last month at the Galway Film Festival; and the dark comedy Double Blinded. He just completed filming for the Irish TV series, The Dry, starring Ciarán Hinds. He has appeared in commercial work for Sony, Coca-Cola in the United States, Otterbox in Ireland, and the Sunday World newspaper. A graduate of New York University, Eon was a co-founder of the American Theatre of Harlem. He currently splits his time between Ireland and New York City. 

David Hajdu is the music critic for The Nation and a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Before joining The Nation in January 2015, he served for more than ten years as the music critic for the New Republic. He is currently at work on a fictional work of non- fiction, a biography of a nonexistent songwriter. He is also completing the libretto for a music-performance piece about Orson Welles. David is the author of four books of nonfiction and one collection of essays: Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn, Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña and Richard Fariña, The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America, Heroes and Villains: Essays on Music, Movies, Comics, and Culture, and Love for Sale: Pop Music in America.

LaShawn Harris is a native New Yorker. She is an associate professor of History at Michigan State University and assistant editor for The Journal of African American History. Her area of expertise includes twentieth century United States and African American histories. Dr. Harris’s scholarly articles have appeared in The Journal of African American History, Journal of Social History, Journal of Urban History, and the Journal for the Study of Radicalism. Her first monograph Sex Workers, Psychics, and Numbers Runners: Black Women in New York City’s Underground Economy, which explores how a diverse group of African American women carved out unique niches for themselves within New York City's expansive underground economy. In 2017, Sex Workers, Psychics, and Numbers Runners won the Organization of American Historians’ Darlene Clark Hine Book Award for the best book in African American women's history, and the Philip Taft Labor Prize in Labor and Working-Class History for the best book in labor history.

Her recent publication, which appears in SOULS: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, examines the less familiar life of 1984 police shooting victim and Bronx resident Eleanor Bumpurs.

Josh Henderson is a cross-genre violinist, violist, and composer. As a classical soloist, he has performed with companies worldwide. Josh has carved a reputation in jazz, rock, hip-hop, and country-fiddle for his dynamic performances. He has served as music director for the Emmy award-winning Damien Escobar (of Nuttin’ But Stringz), where he performed at several events across the globe, including a performance at the 2013 Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball hosted by Russell Simmons and honoring Barack Obama. He also served as music director to pop singer, Zahra Universe, on her South Korean tour, and to the spoken word artist LikWUid Stylez. Josh has also performed, recorded, and collaborated with artists such as Chris Brown, Michael Bublé, Bilal, Solange, the Sugar Hill Gang, and Paul McCartney—to name a few. As a founding member of the ensemble, Warp Trio, he has led the group on hundreds of concerts and University residencies. He is currently on the artist faculty at NYU and the Longy School of Music in Cambridge.

Jessica McJunkins, violinist, is known for her “dynamic playing” and “fearless artistry.” As a classical musician, she has had concert engagements with the Charlotte Symphony, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Harlem Chamber Players, and Soulful Symphony. As a recording artist, she has collaborated with noted artists Sufjan Stevens, Frankie Rose, and more. She has performed with UK pop sensation Bastille, and at noted venues such as Carnegie Hall, Trinity Wall Street, Symphony Space, and the DR2 Theater. Jessica was a featured soloist for Broadway’s Becoming Chaplin. She is a faculty member of the St. Ignatius Loyola School and Sage Music School of Brooklyn.

Terrance McKnight is the weekday evening host for WQXR 105.9 FM, New York’s only all-classical music station. He’s also the host and producer of the station’s audio documentaries on Langston Hughes, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Hazel Scott, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, and Florence Beatrice Price. In 2010, his program All Ears with Terrance McKnight, a show about musical discovery, was honored with an ASCAP Deems Taylor Radio Broadcast Award. As a speaker, Terrance has worked with Chamber Music America, the Mellon Foundation, American Opera Projects, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the Museum of Modern Art, among others.

Rosemari Mealy has taught as an adjunct professor at several City University of New York (CUNY) schools. Over the years she taught numerous courses including “The Color Line,” “Labor History,” and “Women In International Liberation Movements.” She is the author of Fidel and Malcolm X: Memories of a Meeting. Rosemari holds a Ph.D. from Capella University and a Juris Doctorate from the City University of New York School of Law.

Mark Naison is a professor of History and African American Studies at Fordham University, and was a collaborator on the Bronx African-American History Project. He conducted more than 150 interviews with African American professionals, community activists, and musicians who grew up in the Bronx. The first product of this research, It Takes a Village to Raise a Child: Growing Up in the Patterson Houses in the 1950s was published in the Bronx County Historical Journal. He is also the author of the award-winning Communists In Harlem During the Depression. Mark earned a PhD in American History from Columbia University, and a bachelor of arts and master of arts—both in American History—also from Columbia University.

Angela Owens, soprano, has been recognized by the London Times for her “beautifully musical” performances. She began and ended the 2015-16 season in concert: first atthe American Church in Paris with chef de chant à l’Opéra national de Paris, Morgane Fauchois-Prado, and later at the Harris Arts Center, presented by the Roland Hayes Museum. Angela’s experience on the concert stage includes the following repertoire: Handel’s Messiah and “Dettingen Te Deum,” Schubert’s Stabat Mater and Mass in G, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Faure’s Requiem, Brahms’s Liebeslieder Walzer, and Mozart’s Coronation Mass.

Carl Hancock Rux is an American poet, playwright, novelist, essayist, recording artist, actor, theater director, radio journalist, as well as a frequent collaborator in the fields of film, modern dance, and contemporary art. He is the author of several books including the Village Voice Literary Prize-winning collection of poetry, Pagan Operetta, the novel, Asphalt, and the Obie Award-winning play, Talk. His music has been released internationally on several labels including Sony/550, Thirsty Ear, and Giant Step. Mr. Rux is also co-Artistic Director of Mabou Mines and Associate Artistic Director/Curator In Residence at Harlem Stage. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Doris Duke Award for New Works, the Doris Duke Charitable Fund, the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Prize, the Bessie Award and the Alpert Award in the Arts, and a 2019 Global Change Maker award by WeMakeChange.Org. Mr. Rux's archives are housed at the Billy Rose Theater Division of the New York Public Library, the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution as well as the Film and Video/Theater and Dance Library of the California Institute of the Arts.

William Seraile is professor emeritus of Lehman College. He joined Lehman’s faculty in 1971 and was one of the nation’s pioneers in teaching African American history in an academic department. He received a bachelor of arts degree from Central Washington University; a master of education from Teachers College, Columbia University; and a doctorate from the City University of New York. Bill’s honors include the Unsung Historian Award from the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History; and the William Leo Hansberry Award for Contributions in History. He is the author of many articles, monographs, and books, including Angels of Mercy: White Women and the History of New York’s Colored Orphan Asylum; and Bruce Grit: The Black Nationalist Writings of John Edward Bruce.

Esmeralda Simmons is the founder and executive director of the Center for Law and Social Justice (the Center), small but effective community-based legal advocacy and research institution that is a unit of Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York. Prior to founding the Center, Esmeralda was an accomplished attorney, who was the first deputy commissioner for human rights for New York State, a Civil Rights attorney for the United States Department of Education, a New York State assistant attorney general, and a New York City assistant corporation counsel. She is a deeply spiritual woman who is grounded in African culture. She finds constant inspiration from the vision of her ancestors, her belief in peace, and her respect for life and cultural diversity.

Wayne Smith, cellist, made his recital debut at the Kennedy Center in 1996, and has appeared as soloist and chamber musician in countries that include Italy, Hungary, and China. He has played with the New Jersey Chamber Music Society, the National Chamber Orchestra, the Heidelberg Castle Festival Orchestra in Heidelberg, Germany, among other groups, and was a featured soloist on the PBS series Musical Encounters. He has recorded and performed with artists such as Joe, Richard Smallwood, the Spin Doctors’ Anthony Krizan, and the Moody Blues. He competed his undergraduate studies at the Eastman School of Music, and his graduate studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Damien Sneed is a pianist, vocalist, organist, composer, conductor, arranger, producer, and arts educator whose work spans multiple genres. He has worked with jazz, classical, pop, and R&B legends, including the late Aretha Franklin and Jessye Norman, Wynton Marsalis, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, J’Nai Bridges, Lawrence Brownlee, the Clark Sisters, and many others. Sneed is a 2014 Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient. Some of the faculties he has served on include the Juilliard School of Music, Manhattan School of Music, Berklee College of Music, and NYU. In 2020, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater commissioned Sneed to create an original score for Testament. The Opera Theatre of Saint Louis commissioned him to compose The Tongue & Lash, an opera imagining a post-debate conversation between James Baldwin, which premiered in May 2021, and a reimagined adaptation of Scott Joplin’s opera, Treemonisha, which premiered on May 20, 2023.

Benja K. Thomas originated the role of “Rabby” in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fat Ham, directed by Saheem Ali, both on Broadway and at The Public Theater. Also on Broadway, Thomas stood by for Phylicia Rashad in Skeleton Crew, directed by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Select theatre credits include Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Stephen Adly Gurgis, directed by John Ortiz (Atlantic Theater Cmpany); Miller, Mississippi by Boo Killebrew (Long Wharf Theatre); Booty Candy and Barbecue by Robert O’Hara (Playwrights Horizons). She is a two-time Obie Award winner and a recipient of an AUDELCO Award.

Kendall Thomas is a scholar of comparative constitutional law and human rights whose teaching and research focus on critical race theory, legal philosophy, feminist legal theory, and law and sexuality. Thomas has taught at Columbia Law since 1986. He has been a visiting professor at Stanford Law School and a visiting professor in American studies and Afro-American studies at Princeton University.
 

Gordon Thompson has had a laudable career spanning more than two decades of teaching and service at the City College of New York (CCNY), Louisiana State University, and Stanford University. As a scholar, he has a demonstrated record of peer-reviewed publications and is a frequent participant at national and international conferences. He is also an editor and co-editor of several books. Selected publications are The Assimilationist Impulse in Representative African American Narratives; and Black Music, Black Poetry: Genre, Performance, and Authenticity. Gordon has also had articles that appeared in refereed journals. Titles include “Methodism and the Consolation of Heavenly Bliss in Phillis Wheatley’s Funeral Elegies” (CLA Journal). Gordon received a PhD in American Studies from Yale University; and holds an master of arts in American Studies and a master of arts in Afro-American Studies, also from Yale University. He received a bachelor of arts in English from City College. Among his other professional responsibilities, Gordon is the creator, principal investigator, and director of the RAP-SI project of the Black Male Initiative.

Michael Tyner produced The Last Days of Hustling, which was featured in the Cannes Film Festival (2015). Tyner has produced, directed, and/ or edited over ten films including  Malcolmology (2011), a six-part, web-series featuring the late Dr. Manning Mar- able, discussing his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention. Tyneris currently developing several feature-length projects,  both  fiction and nonfiction, including Lefty Changes and the Revolution, a docu mentary about brothers McCoy and Jarvis Tyner, and their work as jazz legend and political activist, respectively.