Healing Collective Trauma: Navigating Shared Histories and Pathways to Restoration
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Jeanine Ntihirageza, PhD
Director, Genocide and Human Rights Research in Africa and the Diaspora, Northeastern Illinois University
Dr. Jeanine Ntihirageza holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Chicago. While on a Fulbright, she obtained an M.A. in Linguistics from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. Her BA, with distinction, in English Language and Literature, is from the University of Burundi. Ntihirageza’s three theses are on African linguistics. For 10 years she chaired the combined Department of Anthropology, English Language Program, Global Studies, Philosophy, TESOL & the School for the Advancement of the English Language Learning at Northeastern Illinois University. For more than 20 years, she has been highly engaged in teacher training and curriculum development. Her research interests are in linguistics, language teaching, refugee studies, genocide, and human rights in Africa.
Since 2013, Ntihirageza has served as Chair of the Genocide and Human Rights Research Group at NEIU, an interdisciplinary team which has been organizing annual symposia on this topic. Her publications include "Critical Perspectives on African Genocide: Memory, Silence, and Anti-Black Political Violence," co-edited with Alfred Frankowski and Chielozona Eze (Rowman and Littlefield, 2021), and numerous journal articles and refereed book chapters. In 2016-2017, she served on the Local Arrangements Committee for the 2017 African Studies Association Annual Meeting.
A speaker of Kirundi, English and French, Dr. Ntihirageza has supported African refugee communities in Chicago for the last 20 years. Between 2005 and 2013 she coordinated the African Summer Institute, and today remains one of its consultants. From 2017 to 2020, Dr. Ntihirageza served as the founding Director of the Multilingual Learning Center and was the Principal Investigator on two grants: a 2018-2019 NSA/Startalk to run an Arabic Language instruction and teacher training and a 2019 National Endowment for Humanities grant of $100,000 to create Kurdish Language and Culture Studies and organize an International Kurdish Studies Conference at Northeastern Illinois University. She is the founding Director of the Genocide and Human Rights Research in Africa and the Diaspora (GHRAD) Center.
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Akua Brown, MD
Prescriber, Alchemy Community Therapy Center
Dr. Akua Brown is a Physician of Internal Medicine and Prescriber with Alchemy Community Therapy Center. Born and raised in the Bay Area, she got her Bachelor’s from San Fransisco State University, and studied medicine in Havana, Cuba. She later completed her residency in Brooklyn, New York. She is fluent in Spanish and English, is queer, a nature lover, a Black feminist, and an abolitionist.
Dr. Brown is currently working as a prescriber, collaborator, and coconspirator in the psychedelic space, with the aim of increasing accessibility, education, and safety for people who look like her.
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Reverand Tonya (Mama Adejoke) Butler-Truesdale Esq.
Reverand and Founder, AlaAse.net, HoodChaplain.com, HooDooChaplain.com, InternationalCorporateChaplain.com
Rev. Tonya (Mama Adejoke) Butler-Truesdale Esq., a fifth generation native Washingtonian, was always certain of life’s requirement that she become a community servant and promoter of community healing through justice, mindful governance and spiritual transparency Through ancestor veneration and African traditional decision sciences, she has evolved to become an accomplished spiritual activist, public speaker, and real estate law and municipal governance attorney. She is the founder of AlaAse.net, the organizational home of HoodChaplain.com, HooDooChaplain.com and the InternationalCorporateChaplain.com.
Adejoke is scheduled to complete her ACPE Pastoral/Spiritual Counseling Certification in February of 2025. She is an aborisha and onifa of Ase Ire Ile and the spiritual godchild of Iya Funlayo Wood, PhD and Babalawo Oluwole A. Ifakunle Adetutu Alagbede. She is a ritual assistant with Ile Imole and serves as prayer warrior/chaplain for the Adura Circle. She is an entrusted custodian of many ifa shrines and has, to date, maintained her ordination in Christian ministry to facilitate mentorship of others seeking to understand the indigenous traditions of their African ancestry.
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John Kemp Esq.
President & CEO, Lakeshore Foundation
John D. Kemp, Esq., is an accomplished executive widely respected for his many achievements in the corporate and nonprofit worlds. He has decades of experience in the disability movement as a disabled leader. His previous leadership roles include serving as the National Executive Director of United Cerebral Palsy Associations, President and CEO of VSA Arts and VSA Arts International, and as General Counsel and Vice President of Development for the National Easter Seal Society, among others. In 1995, he co-founded the American Association of People with Disabilities opens a new website. He recently served as president and CEO of the Viscardi Center and Henry Viscardi School opens a new website.
John is a recipient of the Henry B. Betts Award, widely regarded as America’s highest honor for disability leadership and service, and the Dole Leadership Prize from the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas, whose recipients include Nelson Mandela and former U.S. Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
As board chair/member or partner, John has supported numerous leading disability and nonprofit organizations. In 2001, he became a partner in the Washington, DC law firm of Powers, Pyles, Sutter & Verville, P.C., where he developed an active federal legislative and lobbying practice. A much sought-after global speaker, in 2019 John spoke at the inaugural Symposium on Disability Rights, co-sponsored by Lakeshore and the UAB Institute for Human Rights.
His latest book, Disability Friendly: How to Move from Clueless to Inclusive opens a new website, is a clarion call to businesses around the world to realize the opportunities presented by employing people with disabilities. It explains the potential of disabled employees, how to create a culture of inclusion, and, in the process, help people with disabilities become proud contributors.
John graduated from Georgetown University and Washburn University School of Law. He has received two Honorary Doctorate degrees, the first an Honorary Doctorate of Law from Washburn University School of Law, and the second, an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Connecticut, while serving as the Graduate School Commencement Speaker.
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Barry McNealy
BCRI Historical Content Expert, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
Mr. Barry McNealy was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. Barry is a proud product of Birmingham City Schools. He has special insight into the Civil Rights Movement in both the city and surrounding areas. Barry has served in various capacities at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute for most of his professional career. He loves this magnificent city with all its diversity emerging from its industrial past. In addition to introducing visitors to world famous historical sites of Birmingham as a lecturer guide, he leads walking tours and takes visitors to the city’s historical neighborhoods and brings them along on a historical path of the American Civil Rights Movement. Mr. McNealy is also an experienced educator teaching locally in the Birmingham City School System and as an adjunct professor with University of Alabama at Birmingham.
As a historian Barry has been featured on local television and radio stations. Mr. McNealy has also appeared nationally on Lifetime Television’s “The Balancing Act” and C-SPAN’s American History Television.
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Ann Mollengarden
Applied Researcher, Alabama Holocaust Education Center
Ann works as an Applied Researcher with the Alabama Holocaust Education Center (AHEC), developing the testimonies and archiving the histories of the almost 180 Holocaust survivors who made their home in Alabama. By reaching out to surviving family members and exploring national and international Holocaust archives, Ann tries to uncover histories that have long been forgotten so that they may be used as teaching tools by the AHEC. As the daughter of Alabama Holocaust survivor Robert May, Ann is also dedicated to sharing her father's personal Holocaust history.
Having previously served as the Education Director of the Alabama Holocaust Education Center (AHEC) for 20 years and as a Commissioner with theAlabama Holocaust Commission since 2009, Ann has had the honor of working with many of Alabama’s Holocaust survivors and their children to comprehend their difficult histories
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Rev. Bridget Piggue, ThD
Director of Spiritual Health, EUHM, Emory University
Bridget L. Piggue, Th.D. is a leader and educator in the field of Pastoral Theology, Care & Counseling. Her focus and passion have centered on accompanying spiritual leaders in the development of greater self-awareness and mental health. Through the disciplines of psychology, theology, spirituality and the sciences she has devoted her vocational call to educating and empowering those committed to growth and transformative healing.
Dr. Piggue earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from the University of Texas at Austin; her Master of Divinity in Pastoral Care & Counseling from the Interdenominational Theological Center; and her Doctor of Theology in Pastoral Care and Counseling from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, where she also serves as adjunct professor.
Dr. Piggue is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and an ACPE Clinical Pastoral Educator. With over twenty-six years of tenure at Emory she serves as the Director of Spiritual Health at Emory University Hospital Midtown where she leads a staff of chaplains in the spiritual care of those who encounter trauma and crisis within and beyond the clinical setting. Dr. Piggue also serves as Director of Operations for the Spiritual Health Department system wide.
Her book, Our Bodies Are Alive: Self-Literacy as an Embodied Healing and Liberative Practice is on track for publication this Spring 2025.
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Chadra Pittman, MA
Founder & Director, The Sankofa Projects, 4 E.V.E.R.
A native of the Bronx, New York, Chadra Pittman is a graduate of the Master of Arts in Anthropology of Peace and Human Rights program at the University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB) where she worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Institute for Human Rights (IHR). As an Intersectional, Anti-colonial Feminist and Womanist, with bloodlines of African, Seminole and Choctaw Ancestors, Pittman works to obliterate all forms of oppression and creates safe spaces for the marginalized and underrepresented voices to be heard.
Pittman is the Founder and Executive Director of The Sankofa Projects and 4 E.V.E.R. (End Violence End Rape), and centers LGBTQIA+ and deaf inclusion. She is a Social Justice Expert for the City of Hampton, Virginia’s UNITY Commission, and an International Remembrance Expert, where she created a template to honor enslaved African Ancestors in 175 countries worldwide. As a former Public Educator & Media Coordinator for the world-renowned 17th century New York African Burial Ground to Creator of Sankofa’s International Day of Remembrance, the only Middle Passage ceremony in Coastal Virginia now in its 12th year.
Pittman’s sacred and scholarly work is rooted in resurrecting collective memory, honoring whom she refers to as “the Africans the world forgot“ and ensuring that their contributions are reflected in the annals of history. Pittman serves on the Norfolk Botanical Gardens President's Council for Inclusion and Diversity, and the Southeast CARE Coalition for Environmental Justice. She lectures nationally and is published under the American Anthropological Association, The Feminist Wire, and the IHR blog. Pittman’s work has been featured in the World Archaeological Congress, Scalawag Magazine, and notable mentions in several publications. Appearing on C-SPAN Books, Good Morning America, and MTV, Pittman has worked with NASA Pioneer Dr. Katherine G. Johnson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and Nicole Hannah-Jones of the 1619 Project.
She is the recipient of numerous Distinguished Service awards and most recently, UAB’s Dean Alumni Scholarship Award and ASWAD 2023 Presidential Award, presented in Accra, Ghana. Pittman adheres to the Great Law of the Iroquois to ensure that her life’s work, personal and professional decisions benefit and are sustainable for the next seven generations; she is the proud mother of two amazing sons.
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Nicholas Sherwood, PhD
Mental Health & Psychosocial Support Expert Advisor, Think Peace Learning & Support Hub
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Stephanie Michael Stewart, MD
Psychiatrist, Worldwide Wellness
Dr. Stephanie Michael Stewart is a holistic psychiatrist who brings a spiritual, environmental, and social justice perspective to her work.
After serving as Chief Resident of Psychiatry at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Dr. Stewart led the West Central Wellness Center for Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, where she developed innovative programs for communities of color that integrated evidence-based psychiatric treatments with complementary therapies and ecological medicine. She then founded Worldwide Wellness, where she expanded her approach to incorporate travel, immersion in nature, Indigenous wisdom and, more recently, Ketamine-assisted therapy.
Dr. Stewart is currently developing a psychedelic-assisted therapy training program for psychiatric residents at historically black colleges and universities in the United States and does work with community organizing for psychedelic medicine in Canada. She has spoken on Racial equity and access and Queering Psychedelics as well as Ecological Medicine and Psychedelics use in community. The inclusion of Indigenous Wisdom and Reciprocity in Psychedelic Science. She is also an advocate for women’s health and speaks about psychedelic journeys informing childbirth.
Dr. Stewart holds a BS in Biology from Spelman College and an MD from Morehouse School of Medicine. She is certified through MAPS in MDMA assisted Psychotherapy and in Psychedelic Therapies and Research through California Institute of Integral Studies. Dr Stewart is on the board of directors for Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines and a member of their Racial Equity and Access Committee. She is part of the Ecological Medicine and Psychedelic Studies initiative at UCLA as a speaker and symposium planning committee member. She is an advisor for Café Scientifique on Psychedelics and Health Equity through Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Dr. Stewart is of Black, White, and Native American descent.
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John Paul Taylor
Senior Campaign Strategy Associate- Rights Restoration, Advancement Project
John Paul Taylor, father of two daughters and a native of Birmingham, Alabama, embodies the concept “be the change you want to see in the world.” John Paul is the Senior Campaign Strategy Associate-Rights Restoration at the Advancement Project to build their National Rights Restoration campaign.
In September of 2024, JP, as he is known, coordinated Advancement Project’s Our Voice is Our Power: Rights Restoration Virtual Gathering. He brought together for a two-day virtual gathering of directly impacted led, grassroots, grasstops, advocacy, and legal organizations from across 29 states to be in the community and build power-real power to fight felony disenfranchisement in the 2024 elections and beyond.
In August 2024, John Paul served as moderator for the short film presentation and panel discussion for Until We All Count at the Sentencing Project’s Civic Power: Unlocking our Democracy.
. In June of 2024, John Paul completed his Fellowship with the National Collaborative for Health Equity’s Culture of Health Leadership Institute for Racial Healing sponsored by the Robert J Woodson Foundation. Also in June 2024, JP was a panelist for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s National Racial Equity Initiative (NREI) for Social Justice Atlanta Community Conversation entitled: Empowering Equality: Voting Rights and Representation in America.
Taylor served as the 1st Rights Restoration Field Director for the Southern Poverty Law, covering Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida. He began this work as the North Region Outreach Fellow, Alabama Voting Rights Project (AVRP), a collaboration between the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Campaign Legal Center in Washington, D.C. AVRP strives to fulfill the promise of a new Alabama law passed in 2017 that restores voting rights to ex-offenders with felony convictions. John Paul traveled the northern counties of Alabama spreading the word about the new law, convening meetings of community stakeholders, training volunteers, and, most importantly, working with impacted citizens to register them to vote or to help them with the process of restoring their voting rights.
John Paul is co-founder of Real Life Poets, a 501-(c)3 non-profit community service organization that mentors young people and encourages good communication and oratorical skills using spoken word poetry and the arts. His passion for empowering young people and using the arts inspires youth of all ages.
Taylor appreciates all the opportunities to connect with many community leaders and organizations. He works directly with groups of young people from elementary school children to young adults encompassing at-risk kids before problems begin to youthful offenders in the Family Court setting to drug offenders in diversionary programs as coordinator of the Hip Hop is Life program for the youth from UAB Juvenile TASC/ASAP program. Always pursuing new goals, Taylor organized the first Alabama youth poetry slam team to be invited to the Brave New Voices International Teen Poetry Festival in 2013—they finished in the Top 20 in the world.
In 2016, John Paul pushed this youth poetry initiative to international scope by launching Real Global Poets, a poetry project in Kenya that produced Your Voice Is JOHN PAUL TAYLOR Your Power, a book of poetry, and by conducting a Real Life Poets Spoken Word Empowerment Summit in Ghana in partnership with Awuni Tours. In 2018, John Paul and Real Life Poets appeared on HBO’s Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas discussing over policing and injustice in Birmingham. His work on behalf of young people and the formerly incarcerated reaches beyond poetry and the arts. Taylor has been vice president on the Board of Directors for Youth Towers, a non-profit aimed to help fight youth and young adult homelessness. Traveling the United States with Shelley Stewart’s Mattie C. Stewart Foundation Choice Bus, John Paul talked with young students about the power of education and the importance of staying in school.
Always learning and growing, Taylor graduated in 2017 in the inaugural classes of both Youth Speaks Institute for Emerging Organizations and the UAB/Gulf State Community Research Fellows Program. In 2016, he launched the Genius Is Common Initiative in partnership with HBO’s DEF Poetry Jam co-founder Bruce George. In 2014, John Paul presented a TedxBirmingham Salon Talk: “Your Voice is Your Power,” and in 2008, one of his poems was featured in the Emmy-winning film Mr. Dial Has Something to Say. Taylor has been honored with the following awards: "Angela Y. Davis" Vital Award (2019), League of Women Voters of Alabama’s Jane Katz Public Service Award (2019), City of Birmingham Mayor’s Office Division of Youth Services Humble Hero Award (2017), the City of Birmingham’s 1st Ever Fusion Award for community service using the arts (2014), the Jefferson County Public Library Association’s Library Champion Award (2012), Southern Poverty Law Center Hidden Community Asset (2012) and Urban League Multicultural Friendship Award (2010).