Speakers:

Brian Sheehy

Brian Sheehy is the History Department Coordinator at North Andover High School in North Andover, MA, where he teaches AP European History, AP United States History, Sports of the Past, and Sports in American Culture. He is the 2020 Organization of American Historians: Mary K. Bonsteel Tachau Teacher of the Year Award 2020 and Williams College: Olmstead Secondary Teacher of the Year Award 2020. In 2018 he created the North Andover High History Learning Lab, which focuses on enriching and enhancing the history curriculum through object based learning. Brian is also a sports historian who has traveled all over the country giving presentations at conferences, symposiums, historical societies, and museums. He has designed and created professional development for other teachers so that they can incorporate sports-related themes and topics into their everyday history classrooms. Brian is the president of the Essex Base Ball Organization, a nonprofit group that plays base ball as it was played in the 19th century.

Kabria Baumgartner

Dr. Baumgartner is the Dean's Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies and Associate Director of Public History, Northeastern University. She is a principal investigator of African Americans in Essex County, Massachusetts: An Annotated Guide and author of In Pursuit of Knowledge: Black Women and Educational Activism in Antebellum America.

Her research and writing interests focus on African American history, literature, and culture in nineteenth-century New England. In addition to her award-winning book "In Pursuit of Knowledge: Black Women and Educational Activism in Antebellum America" (New York University Press, 2019), she has published numerous scholarly articles and book chapters, and her op-eds and other popular writing have been featured in the "Washington Post," WBUR’s blog "Cognoscenti," and "Historic New England Magazine."

Kerri Greenidge

Dr. Greenidge received her Doctorate in American Studies from Boston University, where her specialty included African-American history, American political history, and African-American and African diasporic literature in the post-emancipation and early modern era. Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter (Liveright 2019) is the first biography of Boston Guardian editor and post-bellum / pre-Harlem activist, William Monroe Trotter, in over forty five years. Black Radical explores the history of racial thought and African American political radicalism in New England at the turn of the century. She is currently co-director of the African American Trail Project through Tufts’ Center for the Study of Race and Democracy (CSRD). She also serves as Interim Director of the American Studies Program through Tufts’ Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora. Her scholarship explores the role of African-American literature in the creation of radical Black political consciousness, particularly as it relates to the African diaspora during the early twentieth century, African American elections in the urban north, and Democratic populism during the Progressive Era. She has taught at Boston University, the University of Massachusetts, and Tufts University. Her work includes historical research for the Wiley-Blackwell Anthology of African-American Literature, the Oxford African American Studies Center, and PBS.

Edward Carson

Edward Carson is an independent historian, residential faculty member, and Dean at The Governor's Academy, in Byfield, Massachusetts. He is the current Dean of Multicultural Education and member of the History Department. After graduating from Alabama Christian Academy in his hometown of Montgomery, Alabama, Carson earned a B.A. in History and Biblical Christianity, as well as a graduate degree from Harding University. He teaches two honor seminar courses: Climate Justice and Race, Class, and Gender. Carson is a former national leader in the College Board AP community -- serving on the Development Committee and as a Table Leader for the National Exam Reading. He has published and presented papers that focus on Black identity, diversity, equity, and inclusion, religion, Du Bois, and the nature of history teaching. He is currently working on a book chapter entitled, W.E.B. Du Bois: A Reluctant Communist. He edits for The Christian Century Magazine Then and Now, and sits on the Christian Scholars’ Conference committee. He has presented papers, workshops, and has sat on panels at leading diversity, equity, and inclusion conferences regarding race and inclusive policies in independent schools. Moreover, his exploration into the power dynamics of white male heterosexual institutions and how such promotes abject privilege at the expense of cultural changes is a focal point of his work.

Doneeca Thurston

Ms. Thurston is the Executive Director of Lynn Museum/LynnArts and primarily focuses on mission fulfillment, strategic planning, financial management, education and programming, marketing/branding, and day to day operations, with emphasis on community-centered initiatives, committed to making our spaces more inclusive, accessible, and visible to all.

She currently serves as a board member for the New England Museum Association, Greater Lynn Senior Services, and the North of Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau. I also serve on several committees, such as the Essex County Community Foundation's Creative County Initiative, Lynn Education District, Essex National Heritage Area, Salem Arts Festival, and others.

Zobeida Chaffee-Valdez

Ms. Chaffee-Valdes is a graduate student pursuing a masters degree in Public History with a certificate in Digital Humanities at Northeastern University. She is currently working at Northeastern University's Archives and Special Collections as a reference assistant, and in the past worked as a college access advisor in St Paul, MN. She is passionate about improving community access to information and education.

Moderator:

Brad Austin

Brad Austin is an Associate Professor of History at Salem State University, where he teaches modern U.S. history, sports history, the history of New England and slavery, and history education courses. He has served as the chairperson of American Historical Association’s Teaching Prize Committee. He is the author of Democratic Sports: Men’s and Women’s College Sports During the Great Depression (University of Arkansas Press, 2015) and the co-editor of Understanding and Teaching the Vietnam War (University of Wisconsin Press, 2013). He is also co-editor for the University of Wisconsin Press’s Harvey Goldberg Series for Understanding and Teaching History. In 2012, he won the Graduate Studies Teaching Award from the Northeastern Council of Graduate Studies, an organization representing more than 200 universities in the eastern United States and Canada.

Contact:

Beth Beringer

Director of Education Programs, Essex Heritage, can be reached at bethb@essexheritage.org