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Carl B. Westmoreland
Historian & Civic Leader Carl B. Westmoreland is Senior Historian for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr. Westmoreland is a Cincinnati native, raised in Lincoln Heights. Beginning with the neighborhood in which he lived, he has provided technical assistance to more than one hundred communities across America that have restored historic properties for people of all incomes and races. Carl Westmoreland is a civic leader. He has served as the President of the Mt. Auburn Good Housing Foundation, he is Trustee Emeritus and the first African American to serve on the National Trust for Historic Preservation and President Emeritus of the Ohio Preservation Alliance. Westmoreland also served as a member of the technical team that laid the groundwork for the current cultural exchange program between the United States and Mainland China. He is one of the founding staff of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, he has been involved in researching the history of the Internal Slave Trade and its impact on society today. He has also placed a major focus of his civic work on brining awareness to the cross cultural importance of the physical preservation of the African American church. In addition to having overseen millions of dollars in community restoration projects, he has taught as an Adjunct at the University of Cincinnati (graduate School of Community Planning), traveled, studied and lectured in Poland, Italy, Germany and Mexico. He lectures to a wide audience from neighborhood groups, churches, leaders of the U.S. and Mexican governments, and to executives of major American corporations in America on issues ranging from self-empowerment to the value of multi-cultural contributions to corporate goals. |
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Dr. Cornel West Professor * Philosopher * Author * Activist Cornel West is a prominent and provocative democratic intellectual. He is Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University and holds the title of Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He has also taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard, and the University of Paris. Cornel West graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard in three years and obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy at Princeton. He has written 20 books and has edited 13. He is best known for his classics, Race Matters and Democracy Matters, and for his memoir, Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud. His most recent book, Black Prophetic Fire, offers an unflinching look at nineteenth and twentieth-century African American leaders and their visionary legacies. Dr. West is a frequent guest on the Bill Maher Show, CNN, C-Span and Democracy Now. He made his film debut in the Matrix – and was the commentator (with Ken Wilbur) on the official trilogy released in 2004. He also has appeared in over 25 documentaries and films including Examined Life, Call & Response, Sidewalk and Stand. He has produced three spoken word albums including Never Forget, collaborating with Prince, Jill Scott, Andre 3000, Talib Kweli, KRS-One and the late Gerald Levert. His spoken word interludes are featured on productions by Terence Blanchard, The Cornel West Theory, Raheem DeVaughn, and Bootsy Collins. In short, Cornel West has a passion to communicate to a vast variety of publics in order to keep alive the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. – a legacy of telling the truth and bearing witness to love and justice. Find out more about Dr. West at www.cornelwest.com |
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Nina Turner
Former Ohio State Senator, Activist, Public Speaker & Professor Most recently a progressive leader in the Ohio Senate, Nina Turner is a college professor, motivational speaker, frequent media commentator, and author. She has worked in leadership at the Ohio Democratic Party and as an elected member of the Cleveland City Council—both opportunities that demonstrated her ability to unify opposing ideologies in critical circumstances. Turner is also a highly sought after public speaker who has traveled across North America to inspire action and instill hope in crowds of more than 20,000 for bold causes like labor, women’s reproductive health, voting rights, and income inequality. Her gifted speech-making and commitment to progressive ideals led her to be the Democratic candidate for Ohio’s Secretary of State in 2014 and more recently a national surrogate for Senator Bernie Sanders during the tumultuous 2016 Democratic presidential primary. Today she appears regularly as a political analyst on national television and radio networks. Turner’s passion and achievements as a political figure have been recognized by The Nation magazine, which in 2011 named her “Most Valuable State Senator,” by The Root, which listed her as one of the top 100 most influential African-Americans in the U.S. in 2014, and by Cleveland’s Inside Business Magazine as one of the Top 25 most powerful people in Northeast Ohio for 2015. Find out more about Nina at ninaturner.net |
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Roland Martin
Best-Selling Author, Journalist, Host of TV One's News One Now For our 2nd Annual Black History Month Community Lecture Series featuring Roland S. Martin. Roland presented on the importance and impact of leveraging the Black vote to elect public officials who support the issues of the Black Community. He helped us understand that the most influential decisions are made locally and empower us to support our community in getting out to vote! During the month of February honor African American History, we realized it to be important to examine our roles in the voting process and understand the decisions that have to be made in regard to the Black Community. The event was sponsored by the Black Agenda Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Herald. Roland Martin is an American journalist, syndicated columnist, author, a commentator for TV One and the host for News One Now. For more information on Roland Martin please visit his site: http://rolandsmartin.com/ |
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Michael Eric Dyson
Best-Selling Author and Scholar Hailed as one of the nation’s most inspiring African Americans, Dr. Michael Eric Dyson has been credited with revitalizing the role of the public intellectual with the fervor of an ordained Baptist minister. Infusing intellectual thought with popular culture, Dyson focuses on topics of interest to the public. He eloquently melds scholarly insight with the phenomena of contemporary culture, emphasizing their interconnectedness and force in shaping our society. Most recently, he can be heard doing just that on his hour-long radio show on NPR, “The Michael Eric Dyson Show.” His books provide some of the most significant commentary on modern social and intellectual thought, interwoven with a combination of cultural criticism, race theory, religion, philosophical reflection, and gender studies. Works such as Making Malcolm X; I May Not Get There with You; Holler if You Hear Me; Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves and Demons of Marvin Gaye; Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind? Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster; and the recent Can You Hear Me Now? The Inspiration, Wisdom, and Insight of Michael Eric Dyson, deeply probes social themes and cultural politics. Dr. Dyson is a popular University professor of sociology at Georgetown University; he bridges gaps between generations, connecting civil rights identity to hip-hop culture while forging links between older and younger Americans, and especially black Americans. As a cutting edge historian, he educates the general public on the significance of hip hop, not only in understanding black culture, but American cultural as well. With his powerful voice, Dyson reaches beyond race, addressing the universal commonality of American concern. Dyson was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Addie Mae Leonard, who was from Alabama. He was adopted by his stepfather, Everett Dyson. He became an ordained Baptist minister at 19 years of age. Having worked in factories in Detroit to support his family, he entered Knoxville College as a freshman at age 21. Dyson received his bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Carson–Newman College in 1985. He obtained his master's and Ph.D. in religion, from Princeton University. Dyson serves on the board of directors of the Common Ground Foundation, a project dedicated to empowering urban youth in the United States. Dyson is married to Marcia L. Dyson, writer and ordained minister, together they lecture on many college campuses. |