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.

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.

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.

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.

Rudel Drears is a jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, who received his formal musical education from the Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music and Art, the Manhattan School of Music, and through the jam-session scene of New York City. A member of a musical family, he is the son of pianist, actor, and playwright, Marjorie Eliot, and drummer, Al Drears.

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.

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.

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.

David Levering Lewis is a scholar, whose field is comparative history, with special focus on twentieth-century United States social history, imperialism in nineteenth-century Africa, twentieth-century France, and Muslim Iberia. In 2003, Mr. Lewis was named Julius Silver University Professor and professor of History at New York University. He holds graduate degrees in History from Columbia (MS) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (PhD). He has taught at the University of Notre Dame, Howard University, University of California-San Diego; Rutgers-New Brunswick; and Harvard. He has authored eight books, including W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868-1919 and W.E.B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century, 1919-1963. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1994 and 2001. In 2010, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama at the White House. The Society of American Historians awarded him with its Arthur Meier Schlesinger Distinguished Service Award in May 2015. He retired from New York University in 2013.

Loira “DJ Lay-lo” Limbal is also a filmmaker, activist, and mother, who serves as vice-president for the award-winning Firelight Media. For the past decade, she has dedicated herself to fusing arts and activism. She has worked at various community-based organizations in New York City including the Point Community Development Corporation, the Dominican Women’s Development Center, and Sista II Sista. In 2006, she founded the Reel X Project, a social justice and creative filmmaking space for young women of color in the Bronx. Limbal received a bachelor of arts in History from Brown University and is a graduate of the Third World Newsreel’s Film and Video Production Training Program.

Felipe Luciano is a news reporter and anchor, poet, writer, activist, lecturer, and radio personality. He was the first Puerto Rican news anchor of a major media network in the United States and is a two-time Emmy recipient. In 1966, he enrolled in Queens College, where he immediately became involved in the student activism of the 1960s. Felipe soon became known within activist circles for his membership in the Last Poets, the group of Black Power era artists mentored by Amiri Baraka, whose politically charged live-music and spoken-word poetry performances in the 1960s prefigured the emergence of hip hop and rap in the 1970s and 1980s. Felipe was chairman of the Young Lords Party, which became one of the most influential Puerto Rican organizations of the 1960s. His radio broadcasting experiences includes influential stints for WRVR, WBLS, WLIB, and WBAI. He is currently a lecturer on the speakers’ circuit.

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.

Marcus Persiani has performed with artists that include Jerry Gonzalez, the Impressions, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Cecil McBee, Tito Puente, Charlie Persip’s Supersound, Vanessa Rubin, and the Apollo Theater Showtime Band. He’s toured and recorded with Mario Bauza, Joseph Bowie’s Defunkt, Willie Colon, and others throughout Europe, Japan, and the United States. His compositions and arrangements are featured on the brilliant trilogy of albums recorded by Bauza’s legendary Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra, one of which—944 Columbus—was nominated for a Grammy. He received a bachelor of music degree from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago.

Stephen Robinson is a physician and community advocate, with extensive experience in academic medicine and public health. His clinical career includes positions in the City University of New York Medical School and Operation Cross-Roads Africa, founded by the late Reverend James H. Robinson, a former resident of 409 Edgecombe Avenue. Stephen received his medical degree from the School of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington and an MPH with a concentration in international health from the School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University. As a resident of 409 since 1980, he worked with the Tenants’ Association to organize and prevent the building from being sold to real estate developers. Stephen was president of the 409 Tenants Association when it purchased this landmark building from the city in 1995.

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.

The Sugar Hill Quartet is the longest-running house band in New York City, having performed for more than two decades at St. Nick’s Pub, Minton’s, Lenox Lounge, and Smoke. The members of the quartet kept the Harlem jam-session tradition alive, and have laid down the musical foundation for the likes of Stevie Wonder, Wynton Marsalis, and Bono. (See separate bios for Patience Higgins, Marcus Persiani, and David F. Gibson.) As of this writing the bass chair is rotating.

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. Tyner

is 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.

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.

Melanie Edwards, granddaughter of J. Rosamond Johnson, worked for forty years at The Modern School, which was founded by her mother, Mildred Johnson, where she served in many roles. Following the closing of The Modern School, she has worked at Fordham University, the Schomburg, and the East Harlem Council for Community Improvement. Throughout her career in education, she has maintained an interest in photography and local New York history. She holds a bachelor of science in mass communications from Emerson College. She is currently seeking a publisher for her grandfather’s unpublished autobiography. 

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. 

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.

Keith Edward Johnston is a Renaissance man (actor, director, musician, writer, visual artist, and teacher). He is also co-founder of Back-A-Yard Theatre, artistic director of American Theatre of Harlem, and senior director/teaching artist for CUNY Creative Arts Team (CAT). He received an AUDELCO nomination for outstanding music director/composer 2022 (Lambs To Slaughter). Singin Wid A Sword In Ma Han won an Audience Favorite Award at the Fringe Festival in 2009. Keith served as director, dramaturg, and performer for BET’s 30th Anniversary Upfront. For the Pulitzer prize-winning play, Ruined he was music director, composer, and performer. Keith has shared his distinguished talents in dozens of productions over the past thirty years.

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.