Black History Month (U - Diversity & Inclusion)

<p>Praised by <em>Entertainment Weekly</em> for her “deft exploration” of character, Dominique Thorne shares stories from her inspiring career on stage and screen.</p><p>Most recently seen in the Sundance 2024 hit <em>Freaky Tales</em> alongside Pedro Pascal, Tom Hanks, and Ben Mendelsohn, Dominique Thorne is a rising star of her generation.

A futurist poet, artist, and astronaut-explorer, Dr. Sian Leo Proctor shares her extraordinary story of breaking barriers and reaching for the stars.

Dr. Sian Leo Proctor is a visionary artist, futurist, and explorer who made history as the first artist officially selected to go to space with the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission—also becoming the first African-American woman to pilot a spaceship. 

<p>A social media star known as “The Moody Foody,” Toni Chapman loves traveling and sharing her culinary secrets and experiences with audiences. </p><p>Toni Chapman draws her inspirations for recipes from her Afro-Latina heritage and homestyle foods she grew up with. When she’s not in the kitchen, Toni loves to travel and experience new cultures.

<p>A renowned cultural critic who coined the term “Know-Your-Place Aggression,” Koritha Mitchell created the C19 Podcast episode, <em>The N-Word in the Classroom: Just Say No!</em> </p><p>In 2013, Koritha published <em>Love in Action: Noting Similarities Between Lynching Then and Anti-LGBT Violence Now</em>. She found that what lynching and anti-LGBT violence most have in common is the targeted group’s success.

<p>Tyler James Williams is the 2023 Golden Globe Winner for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical, Comedy or Drama for his role of ‘Gregory Eddie’ in the hit award-winning series <em>Abbott Elementary.</em></p><p>After hitting it off with Quinta Brunson on <em>A Black Lady Sketch Show</em>, she specifically wrote the Abbott Elementary substitute teacher character with Williams in mind.

<p>American history is in Gayle Jessup White’s blood. A direct descendant of both Thomas Jefferson and those enslaved at his famous Monticello estate, her story is a real-life version of <i>Roots</i> – a 40-year struggle to prove that her family’s belief about its links to the author of the Declaration of Independence were true. Along the way, she unearthed not only a fascinating family saga, but sharp and searing insights into America’s conflicted past and the unsettled future.

<p>Autumn Rose *Miskweminanocsqua (Raspberry Star Woman)* Williams was born and raised on the Shinnecock Reservation in Southampton, New York. She graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications and a Minor in Business.

<p>Dr. Bernice Albertine King is the youngest daughter to the late civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. She was five years old when her father was assassinated in 1968. </p><p>King answered the call to ministry at the age of seventeen when she gave an address advocating against the South African apartheid to the United Nations General Assembly in New York. In 1985 and again in 1986, she was arrested with her siblings while protesting against apartheid.

<p>An award-winning actor, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author, and philanthropist, Hill Harper is a celebrity role model with empowering messages of achievement, defining success, effective communication and how to take control of one’s future.</p><p>With seven NAACP Image awards for his work, Harper has appeared in a variety of television and film roles, including Universal Pictures’ 2015 release, <i>The Boy Next Door</i>, on USA Network’s <i>Covert Affairs</i>, and previously, from 2004 to 2013, on the CBS TV drama <i>CSI:

<p>Cliff Albright is a 2020 Soros Equality Fellow and co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund (and BVM Capacity Building Institute) which builds community and organizational capacity related to Black voting power. </p><p>BVM received national attention in 2017 when they helped mobilize Black voters during the U.S. Senate race between Doug Jones and Roy Moore.