Speakers
PJ Andrews
PJ Andrews co-coordinates the U.S. Bahá’í Office of Public Affairs collaboration with individuals, organizations, and agencies in the U.S. engaged in public discourses and policy advocacy directed toward racial justice and racial unity. Prior to joining the office in 2017, PJ worked in ethical culture development for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), in government relations for national service programs with the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), as a case manager for U.S. Congressman Chris Van Hollen, and supported the work of the International Teaching Centre at the World Center of the Bahá’í Faith in Haifa, Israel. PJ holds a M.Ed in Human Development and Psychology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a BA in American Studies from Tufts University.
Panel: Justice and Truth: Restorative Justice, Repair, Reparations (Tuesday, May 18; 11:30am ET - 1pm ET)
Shadi Anello
Shadi Anello has been involved in educational processes promoted by the Baháʼí community aimed at building capacity to contribute to social transformation for over a decade. She currently serves as a coordinator for the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program that assists young people to apply relevant scientific, moral, and spiritual concepts to their analysis of the world and to contribute to its betterment. Shadi is also associated with the Center for Studies in Community Progress (CSCP), a non-profit organization that facilitates grassroots processes aimed towards the generation, application and diffusion of knowledge and the development of diverse patterns of social and economic activity at a local level. Shadi is currently pursuing her Masters in Social Development through Nur University in partnership with FUNDAEC.
Panel: Lessons from the Grassroots: Fostering Nuclei of Transformative Change (Thursday, May 20; 2:30pm ET - 4pm ET)
Matt Birkhold
Matt Birkhold is the founder of Visionary Organizing Lab. He takes seriously his responsibility for contributing to transforming the world around him. After almost two decades of participating in social movements, he thinks of his work as organizing around people's desire to become more fully human. He lives in Washington, DC.
Panel: Co-liberation, Dignity Affirmation, and Social Transformation (Wednesday, May 19; 3:30pm ET - 5pm ET)
Nanabah Bulman
Nanabah Foguth is a member of the Diné Tribe residing on the Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona. She has been offering the better part of the last decade to advancing the Bahá’í educational programs offered by the Training Institute, with a focus on the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program. Nanabah has worked at the Native American Bahá’í Institute, located in Houck Arizona, as its Program Coordinator, fostering the participation of entire Native families in a program designed for families to have elevated conversations about the material and spiritual aspects of their lives. Social Action stirrings stemming from the Junior Youth Program have been a a particular highlight. Nanabah is married to David Bulman. They are raising two children, ages 5 and 10 years old.
Panel: Lessons from the Grassroots: Fostering Nuclei of Transformative Change (Thursday, May 20; 2:30pm ET - 4pm ET)
Charles Chavis
Dr. Chavis is the Founding Director of the John Mitchell, Jr. Program for History, Justice, and Race at George Mason University’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, where he is also an Assistant Professor of Conflict Analysis, Resolution and History. He serves as the Vice Chair for the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission. A historian and museum educator by training, Dr. Chavis’s scholarship centers on the legacy of racial violence, interracial activism, and social justice in the United States. He is the co-editor of For the Sake of Peace: Africana Perspectives on Racism, Justice, and Peace in America (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020) and the author of the forthcoming book, The Silent Shore: The Lynching of Matthew Williams and the Politics of Racism in the Free State (JHU Press, 2021). In addition to being the recipient of grants from the 400 Years of African-American History Commission, Virginia Humanities, and the U.S. Department of Justice, his practice and commentary has been featured in the Afro-American, Baltimore Sun, Washington Post, and on NPR’s "All Things Considered."
Panel: Models of Truth, Healing and Transformation (Tuesday, May 18; 2:30pm ET - 4pm ET)
Elizabeth De Souza
Elizabeth de Souza writes about art created by Black people. She has a special interest in the link between art, culture, and mental health. In 2020 she was awarded the Rona-Jaffe Fellowship at Hedgebrook and the Barbara Smith Residency at Twelve Literary Arts. She is a MacDowell Fellow and a Creative Capital Award Finalist, and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from George Mason University. Elizabeth lives with her husband and two young children in the Pittsburgh area.
Panel: Seeking Coherence Between the Means and Ends of Social Change (Thursday, May 20; 11:30am ET - 1pm ET)
Barbara Fields
Barbara J. Fields, is a professor of History at Columbia University, specializing in southern history and 19th-century social history. She received her B.A. from Harvard University (1968) and her Ph.D. from Yale University (1978). She is the author of Slavery and Freedom on the Middle Ground: Maryland During the Nineteenth Century (1985) and coauthor of The Destruction of Slavery (1985), Slaves No More: Three Essays on Emancipation and the Civil War (1992), and Free at Last: A Documentary History of Slavery, Freedom, and the Civil War (1992).
Panel: Solidarity: A Path to a More Just and Inclusive Society (Wednesday, May 19; 11:30am ET - 1pm ET)
Jodie Geddes
Jodie Geddes is the Community Organizing Coordinator at Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY). Jodie serves as Vice President of the Board of Managers of Coming to the Table. She received her M.A in Conflict Transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, where she recently co-taught a course titled, "Restorative Justice Organizing for Communities;" at its Summer Peacebuilding Institute. She lives in Oakland, California.
Panel: Justice and Truth: Restorative Justice, Repair, Reparations (Tuesday, May 18; 11:30am ET - 1pm ET)
Ted Johnson
Theodore R. Johnson is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Fellows Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. His research and writing focus on black voting behavior and electoral politics, as well as the role of multiracial solidarity in addressing racial inequality. Prior to joining the Brennan Center, Dr. Johnson was a national fellow at the New America. He is a retired Commander from the United States Navy.
His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic, among other national publications. His forthcoming book When the Stars Begin to Fall: Overcoming Racism and Renewing the Promise of America explores how to create national solidarity and will be published by Grove Atlantic in June.
Panel: Solidarity: A Path to a More Just and Inclusive Society (Wednesday, May 19; 11:30am ET - 1pm ET)
Michael Karlberg
Michael Karlberg is a Professor of Communication Studies at Western Washington University. His research and activism focus on the need to move beyond the prevailing culture of conflict and competition in order to establish a more just and sustainable social order based on recognition of the organic oneness of humanity. He authored the books Beyond the Culture of Contest and Constructing Social Reality, and his current research is on the relationship between ends and means in movements for social change.
Panel: Seeking Coherence Between the Means and Ends of Social Change (Thursday, May 20; 11:30am ET - 1pm ET)
May Lample
May Lample co-coordinates the U.S. Bahá’í Office of Public Affairs collaboration with individuals, organizations, and agencies in the U.S. engaged in public discourses and policy advocacy directed toward racial justice and racial unity. Prior to joining the Bahá’í Office of Public Affairs in 2017, May worked in health education and community mobilization for Southeastern Health, in maternal health research for Kimanya Ngeyo in Uganda, and in global discourse on the equality of women and men for the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity in Israel. May has a Master’s Degree in Public Health, specializing in Maternal and Child Health from University of California, Berkeley, and a BA in Political Science from Haverford College.
Panel: Models of Truth, Healing and Transformation (Tuesday, May 18; 2:30pm ET - 4pm ET)
Nwandi Lawson
Nwandi is a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors for the Americas, a senior institution of the Bahá’í Faith that encourages action, fosters initiative, and promotes learning among individuals, communities and institutions. She earned an MBA from Emory University and an undergraduate degree in journalism from Howard University. She is an entrepreneur who also has experience hosting, writing and producing for commercial and public broadcasters, including CNN, TBS, Public Broadcasting Atlanta, Georgia Public Broadcasting, and WCLK radio. Currently, Nwandi guides organizations to elevate communications strategies through her consulting company, The Virtues Collective.
Panel: Lessons from the Grassroots: Fostering Nuclei of Transformative Change (Thursday, May 20; 2:30pm ET - 4pm ET)
June Manning Thomas
June Manning Thomas, Ph.D., Professor of Urban and Regional Planning Emerita at the University of Michigan, specializes in social equity and racial justice, with a focus on the planning and development of older industrial U. S. cities, such as Detroit. She also has written about spiritual teachings concerning racial unity and social progress.
Her books include Struggling to Learn: An Intimate History of School Desegregation in S. C. . . (forthcoming, Univ. of South Carolina Press); Planning Progress: Lessons from Shoghi Effendi (1999); Redevelopment and Race: Planning a Finer
City in Postwar Detroit (2013); and the co-edited The City after Abandonment (2013), among other work.
Panel: Seeking Coherence Between the Means and Ends of Social Change (Thursday, May 20; 11:30am ET - 1pm ET)
Michael Penn
Dr. Michael Penn is the Department Chair and Professor of Psychology at Franklin Marshall College. His research interests and publications explore the application of psychological research theory to human rights, the interpenetration of psychology and philosophy, and the relationship between culture and mental health. In addition to numerous academic papers and chapters, he is the author or co-author of four books, including: Our Common Humanity: Reflections on the Reclamation of the Human Spirit, currently in press; Overcoming Violence against Women and Girls: The International Campaign to Eradicate a Worldwide Problem (2003); Moral Trauma: An Analysis of Akrasia and Mental Health (2016); and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Human Rights and Human Dignity (2020).
Panel: Seeking Coherence Between the Means and Ends of Social Change (Thursday, May 20; 11:30am ET - 1pm ET)
David Ragland
Dr. David Ragland is one of the co-founders and co-executive director of the Truth Telling Project and the director of the Grassroots Reparations Campaign. David is a writer, scholar and activist. He recently published a series on reparations in Yes Magazine and he recently taught at Pacifica Graduate Institute. David was inducted into Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College. He served as the Senior Bayard Rustin Fellow at Fellowship of Reconciliation and as a board member for the Peace and Justice Studies Association.
Panel: Justice and Truth: Restorative Justice, Repair, Reparations (Tuesday, May 18; 11:30am ET - 1pm ET)
Erica Reyes
Erica has been a part of the grassroots community building endeavors of the Baha’i community for over a decade. She worked for several years as a coordinator of the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program in the metro Phoenix area—a program which aims to empower the younger generations to spearhead the spiritual and social development of their communities. Erica collaborates with the Institute for Studies in Global Prosperity in offering a seminar series for undergraduate students to increase their capacity to contribute to public discourse directed toward the betterment of society. She established a special chapter of the seminars in order to provide accessibility to the unique populations of the southwestern United States. Erica lives with her husband and two young children in Tempe, Arizona.
Panel: Lessons from the Grassroots: Fostering Nuclei of Transformative Change (Thursday, May 20; 2:30pm ET - 4pm ET)
Adam Rothman
Adam Rothman is a Professor in the History Department at Georgetown University. Adam studies the history of the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War, and the history of slavery and abolition in the Atlantic world. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Atlantic history, 19th century U.S history, and the history of slavery. Adam served on Georgetown's Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation in 2015-2016, and is currently the principal curator of the Georgetown Slavery Archive.
Panel: Solidarity: A Path to a More Just and Inclusive Society (Wednesday, May 19; 11:30am ET - 1pm ET)
Shahrzad Sabet
Shahrzad Sabet is a Fellow at New York University’s Institute for Public Knowledge and Co-Director of the Center on Modernity in Transition. Her research and training span political science, philosophy, economics, and psychology. Her current book project explores how a reimagined universalism can resolve the social and philosophical tensions around collective identity. She has held positions at Princeton University, the University of Maryland, and Harvard University, where she received her PhD from the Department of Government. Her work has been featured in outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Panel: Solidarity: A Path to a More Just and Inclusive Society (Wednesday, May 19; 11:30am ET - 1pm ET)
Billy Silva
Billy Silva currently lives in the Franklin Park neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and two children. He currently serves on the Continental Board of Counselors, a senior Institution of the Bahá’í Faith. For the past 20 years he has worked in financial services and financial-technology. Past experiences include founding two Silicon Valley based start-ups with services in the US, Africa, and Latin America. Billy earned graduate degrees in education from the University of San Francisco and Stanford University.
Panel: Seeking Coherence Between the Means and Ends of Social Change (Thursday, May 20; 11:30am ET - 1pm ET)
Derik Smith
Derik Smith is a professor in the Department of Literature at Claremont McKenna College, and he is chair of the Intercollegiate Department of Africana Studies at the Claremont Colleges. He writes about American literary culture, with a particular interest in poetry. His current scholarship addresses the poetics of rap, and the rise of the genre during the final decades of the twentieth century, as well as the connection between critical race studies and the Bahá’í Faith. Smith also teaches courses in and about American prisons. He is the author of Robert Hayden In Verse: New Histories of African American Poetry and the Black Arts Era.
Panel: Seeking Coherence Between the Means and Ends of Social Change (Thursday, May 20; 11:30am ET - 1pm ET)
Myrtle Thompson Curtis
Myrtle Thompson Curtis is the founder of Feedom Freedom Growers. She is a mother, grandmother, visionary organizer and thinker on the east side of Detroit. Myrtle is a life-long Detroiter, urban farmer and member of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center. Myrtle's theme is grow a garden and thus grow a community.
Panel: Co-liberation, Dignity Affirmation, and Social Transformation (Wednesday, May 19; 3:30pm ET - 5pm ET)
Stephen Ward
Stephen Ward is a board member of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership in Detroit, a historian, and an associate professor in the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies and the Residential College at the University of Michigan. He is the author of In Love and Struggle: The Revolutionary Lives of James and Grace Lee Boggs, and the editor of Pages from a Black Radical's Notebook: A James Boggs Reader.
Panel: Co-liberation, Dignity Affirmation, and Social Transformation (Wednesday, May 19; 3:30pm ET - 5pm ET)
Sandy White Hawk
Sandra White Hawk is a Sicangu Lakota adoptee from the Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota. She is the founder and Director of First Nations Repatriation Institute, the first organization of its kind whose goal it is to create a resource for First Nations people impacted by foster care or adoption to return home, reconnect, and reclaim their identity. The Institute also serves as a resource to enhance the knowledge and skills of practitioners who serve First Nations people. Sandra organizes Truth Healing Reconciliation Community Forums that bring together adoptees/fostered individuals and their families and professionals with the goal to identify post adoption issues and to identify strategies that will prevent removal of First Nations children. She has also initiated an ongoing support group for adoptees and birth relatives in the Twin Cities Area. Sandra is the Elder in Residence at the Indian Child Welfare Law Office, Minneapolis, MN and is a consultant for the Capacity Building Center for Tribes, Center for Regional and Tribal Child Welfare Studies at the University of Duluth, Minnesota.
Panel: Models of Truth, Healing and Transformation (Tuesday, May 18; 2:30pm ET - 4pm ET)