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Meet our Panelists
Meet our Panelists
Samiat Ajibola
Samiat Ajibola is a dedicated and passionate 3rd year student at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Serving as the Vice President of the Black Student Union, Ajibola strives for the inclusion and celebration of Black Students on her campus. Her visionary perspective has earned her opportunities to work in the Minnesota Student Association and speak on behalf of students to administration and media. Along with her fellow board members, Ajibola has raised over $30,000 for the Black Minneapolis community. At the age of 19, Ajibola has established herself as an innovative leader. She is happiest when advocating for her community and demanding accountability of those in power.
Dr. Horace Huntley
Horace Huntley is a retired professor from the University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB) in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Huntley has worked extensively as a historian in the fields of Civil Rights, Labor History, Black History and African American Studies. He was the inaugural Director of the Oral History Project of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Huntley worked at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute researching and interpreting oral histories for a book, Black Workers' Struggle for Equality in Birmingham,.The book, which was published in 2004 cataloged the relationships between African-American workers and labor unions in the post-Civil Rights American South. He also authored A Master Option Trader's Journey From Pipe Shop To Wall Street - The Life and Times of Terry Harris in 2005 which tells the story of a young black man, born in Bessemer, Alabama who teaches himself the art of option trading on Wall Street and then develops a system to teach other poor people the same. In 2006, he co-authored Nerve Juice And The Ivory Tower - Confrontation in Minnesota - The True Story Of The Morrill Hall Takeover which tells the story of a black student's quest at the University of Minnesota for a Black Studies Department. The co-authors are Marie Braddock Williamsand Rose Freeman Massey who were part of a small group of black students occupied the University of Minnesota's administration building demanding African American Studies, open admissions and increased financial and academic resources for black and non-white students. Huntley also co-authored Footsoldiers for Democracy
Dr. August Nimtz Jr
August H. Nimtz, came of age in Jim Crow New Orleans and was politically forged by the Freedom Now, or Civil Rights Movement, Black nationalism, the Cuban Revolution and the other Third World revolutionary upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s. He is Professor of Political Science and African American and African Studies and member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers at the University of Minnesota. Among his recent articles is "Why There Are No George Floyds in Cuba." His most recent book (2019) is Marxism versus Liberalism: Comparative Real-Time Political Analysis.
Olamide Fagbamiye
Olamide Fagbamiye is a junior sociology major/public health minor from Douglasville,Georgia byway of Nigeria. Growing up, Olamide was very active in his high school andcommunity. Through his participation in extracurricular activities, he gained many skills such as leadership, collaboration, and organization. As he transitioned into Morehouse College, he took those same skills and grew them through his involvement and service. He serves in organizations such as the Student Government Association (serving as an executive board member), the Student Ambassador Team, and many others. He has made the Dean’s list, the Honor Roll, and isa member of numerous academic honor societies. Olamide is committed to working in the health profession and was inducted into the Undergraduate Health Science Academy, a med/grad prep program funded by Kaiser Permanente. He also recently became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Through his journey, he has found his niche and aspires to work in Public Health as a health administrator and advocate. He dreams to dispel the disparities that are seen in the lack of access to quality healthcare for minority groups and impoverished communities. His leadership, collaboration, and organization skills are demonstrations of his growth and his commitment to making the world a better place.
Charles Black
Is the Chair of the Advisory Board of Freedom University. A native of Miami, Florida, Charles is an alumnus of Morehouse College, where he was a member of the varsity debate team, editor of the college newspaper, president of the senior class, and chairman of The Atlanta Student Movement (1960’s Civil Rights organization). Charles was one of only eight students taught by Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr. at Morehouse. Mr. Black is a veteran actor in various media, Chairman of the Board of Illien Adoptions International, Inc., a member of the board of Freedom University, past Editor of The Atlanta Inquirer Newspaper, Inc. and past CEO of a national consulting firm Frontiers Unlimited, Inc. He has also been an advisor for numerous civic and political campaigns. A life-long member of the Church of Christ, Charles is an active member of the Camp Creek congregation in South Fulton County. He has starred in a series of faith-based films, accompanied by training guides, being used in more than 1,000 churches across the nation. The faith-based films have been in more than 3,000 churches, and seen by more than 300,000 people. He regularly mentors younger generations of community and political activists. And, is in demand as a speaker or panelist on matters of Civil and Human Rights.
Dr. Clarissa Myrick-Harris
Dr. Clarissa Myrick-Harris is currently Chair of the Humanities Division of Morehouse College and Professor of Africana Studies. She is also the convener of the Committee to Commemorate the Atlanta Student Movement, which has developed the Atlanta Student Movement Initiative to share the stories and lessons of student activism of the 1960s with young activists fighting against social injustices of today. Dr. Myrick-Harris’ scholarship focuses on African American leadership and institution building. Her publications include Perspectives on Exemplary Transformational Leadership Among Presidents at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, (2014); “Call the Women: The Tradition of African American Female Activism in Georgia During the Civil Rights Movement,” in the book Southern Black Women in the Modern Civil Rights Movement, (2013); and “Behind the Scenes: Two Women of the Free Southern Theater,” a chapter in the groundbreaking volume Women of the Civil Rights Movement: Trailblazers & Torchbearers, 1941-1965 (1995). She recently completed a study for the National Park Service entitled How They Lived, which focuses on the last home of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr. and the childhood home of Maynard H. Jackson, Jr., the first black mayor of Atlanta, GA. She earned a Ph.D. in American Studies (African American Studies Emphasis) from Emory University, Master’s degree in News-Editorial Journalism from The Ohio State University, and B.A. degree in English from Morris Brown College.
Dr. Ruby M. Gourdine
Dr. Ruby M. Gourdine is a member of the School of Social Work faculty at Howard University, and has worked has a clinician, administrator, consultant and researcher in the areas of juvenile justice, foster care and adoption( child welfare), medical social work, school social work, and most recently in social work history. Her publications include refereed journal articles and book chapters on topics such as child welfare, teenage pregnancy, transracial adoption, females and violence, school social work, and disability content in social work curricula. These are areas in which she has both practice and academic experience. Since her tenure at Howard she has been principal investigator or co- principal investigator on research grants examining school social work in collaboration with the school of education, welfare reform focusing on teen mothers/ child well-being; disproportionality in the child welfare system among children of color (focusing on African American children); older youth in child welfare; domestic and family violence.
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