Executive Director of the Center for Social Concern at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Jasmine L. Blanks Jones is a dynamic theatre nonprofit leader, award-winning educator, and holds a dual PhD in Education and Africana Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research on theatrical performance as a civic engagement praxis illuminates global race-based inequities in education and health, lifting the potential of knowledge co-creation through the arts and digital cultural production. As founder of Burning Barriers Building Bridges Youth Theatre (B4YT), a cultural performance company dedicated to community empowerment through the arts, she has more than twenty years of experience in youth development in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America. Having developed a track record of leadership in arts and advocacy in communities of color globally, in 2018 Jasmine extended the scope of B4YT to include a consulting practice, Creating Brave Stages, which provides support and guidance for advocacy organizations looking to integrate the arts into their movements and artists aspiring to create positive change through their performances. She holds a Masters of Public Policy degree from the University of Minnesota and Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Florida A&M University. She is an Assistant Research Scholar in the Program in Racism, Immigration and Citizenship at Johns Hopkins University where she conducted research and public scholarship as an inaugural Postdoctoral Fellow with Inheritance Baltimore. 

Bio sourced from: https://studentaffairs.jhu.edu/socialconcern/staff/executive-director/ 

Janice Curtis Greene is an award-winning Author, Master Storyteller and Historical Reenactor, an American Griot, keeping the stories and history of the African Diaspora alive.  She has been telling African, African American and Multicultural stories for over 30 years.  She is Past President and Life Member of both the Griots' Circle of Maryland, Inc. and the National Association of Black Storytellers, Inc, (NABS).  In 2017, Maryland Governor, Lawrence Hogan appointed Mrs. Greene to serve as a Commissioner on the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture, representing Baltimore County and on September 19, 2022 proclaimed Mrs. Greene the “Official Griot for the State of Maryland”. 

Janice the Griot has delighted adult and student audiences at schools, colleges, libraries, hospitals, churches, festivals and various gatherings nationally and internationally.  Mrs. Greene mesmerizes her audiences with folktales, song, dance, audience participation, original stories and personal stories and Bible Stories set to syncopated Rap rhythms.

Her historical Underground Railroad tales and motivational Fly with Eagles are some of her most popular programs.  Janice has narrated with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and is also known for her portrayals of historical African American women such as Harriett Tubman, Rosa Parks, Phillis Wheatley and more.  Her original healing stories and poems have been inspirational to many.

Her Awards include, several Maryland Gubernatorial and Mayoral Citations, Harriet Tubman Lifetime Achievement Award, Zeta Phi Beta 2015 Women of the Year in the Cultural Arts, NABS’ Zora Neale Hurston Award, Continentals Service Award and many more.

Mrs. Greene lives in Windsor Mill, Maryland with her husband of 49 years.

Website: www.janicethegriot.com Email: janicethegriot@aol.com

Dr. Joanne Mitchell Martin, Ph.D is the co-founder of the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum and the current President and CEO of The Great Blacks In Wax Museum, Inc. 

The  National Great Blacks In Wax Museum is among the United States’ most dynamic cultural and educational institutions.  This unique museum, the first one of wax in Baltimore Maryland and the first wax museum of African-American history in the nation, is the brainchild of the late Dr. Elmer P. Martin and Joanne Mitchell Martin.  They established the museum in 1983 with several objectives in mind; one, to stimulate and interest in African-American history by revealing the little-know, often-neglected facts of history; and two, to use great leaders as role models to motivate youth to achieve; three, to improve race relation by dispelling myths of racial inferiority and superiority; and four, to support and work in conjunction with other nonprofit charitable organizations seeking to improve the social and economic status of African-Americans.  

The Great Blacks In Wax Museum’s story has been heralded by news media around the world.  These include CBS: The Early Show, CNN, The Daily Record, The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, The Dallas Morning News, Kulturwelt, USA/Africa, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Crisis, Essence Magazine and Ebony Magazine.   In 2001 nearly, 300,000 people visited America’s first black history wax museum.