Black History Month (U - Diversity & Inclusion)

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Black History Month

Koritha Mitchell, PhD

<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.

Melissa M. Proctor

<p>From “ball girl to CMO,” Melissa Proctor shares stories from her trailblazing career journey, providing powerful strategies to help audiences navigate high-stakes decisions and achieve success. </p><p>Though Melissa Proctor never played basketball herself, it was her passion—in fact, her childhood dream was to be the first female coach in the NBA.

Tyler James Williams

<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.

Princess Sarah Culberson

<p>After discovering she was related to African royalty, Princess Sarah’s story has captured the attention of audiences around the world—a powerful message of diversity, inclusion and the transformative power of living a fearless life.</p><p>Raised in West Virginia by her adoptive white parents, Sarah Culberson had little knowledge of her ancestry. She grew up in a loving family, but she had questions about her identity and biracial heritage that led her to hire a private investigator in 2004.

Rosemary Saal

<p>Rosemary Saal helped make history as a member of the Full Circle Everest Expedition, the first all-Black team to climb Mount Everest. </p><p>One of three women on the Full Circle Everest Expedition team, Saal understands the value of diversity for leaders and teams, and the importance of focus in high-stakes environments.

Sherrilyn Ifill

<p>Sherrilyn Ifill is a civil rights lawyer and scholar. From 2013-2022, she served as the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the nation’s premier civil rights law organization fighting for racial justice and equality. She recently served as a Ford Foundation Fellow and as the Klinsky Visiting Professor for Leadership & Progress at Howard Law School.

Daryl Davis

<p>Daryl Davis is committed to helping people ignite positive change—using conversation to build bridges.</p><p>His jaw-dropping experiences speak for themselves. For nearly 40 years, he’s engaged leaders of the KKK and White supremacist groups face to face to find the answer to a question: “How can you hate me when you don’t even know me?” </p><p>That question stemmed from his first encounter with racism at age ten when he was pelted with rocks, bottles, and soda cans by a handful of White spectators while marching in a parade.

Caitlin Dickerson

<p>Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Peabody Award, and Edward R. Murrow Award, Caitlin Dickerson engages audiences on the power of journalism as a check against systemic inequality, telling stories of remarkable resilience and hope from the front lines of the world’s refugee crisis.</p><p>From Ukraine to Romania to Guatemala, Caitlin Dickerson has spent years covering people forced to live on the move for some of the nation’s foremost news outlets.

Gayle Jessup White

<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.