SEEING OURSELVES IN THE RIVER, IN THE MIRROR, IN THE WORLD

From January 29, 2024 - February 5, 2024, Ms. Afrika Abney promoted the panel discussion entitled:SEEING OURSELVES IN THE RIVER, IN THE MIRROR, IN THE WORLD: Illustrators and Authors Talk About The Challenge of Creating Images That Bring Books Written by Black Authors Alive via email and on social media.

12:45 pm SEEING OURSELVES IN THE RIVER, IN THE MIRROR, IN THE WORLD: Illustrators and Authors Talk About The Challenge of Creating Images That Bring Books Written by Black Authors Alive. PRESENTERS: Jennifer Lawson, Justin Johnson, Keesha Ceran and Joy Jones

"Jennifer Lawson first marched for civil rights in 1963 as a 16-year-old in what became known as the Children’s Crusade, in support of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who had been jailed in Birmingham, AL.  She attended Tuskegee University and eventually left to work full-time with SNCC in Lowndes County, Alabama where she drew billboards, comics, booklets, and leaflets in support of the Lowndes County Freedom Organization, publicizing the work of the people of Lowndes County and their political party's symbol, the black panther.  She is featured in an award-winning 2022 film about this subject, Lowndes County and the Road to Black Power. In 1968, she helped establish Drum and Spear Bookstore and Drum and Spear Press. She illustrated and co-authored the book Children of Africa and oversaw the translation and publication of a Kiswahili version, Watoto wa Afrikain Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Jennifer later became the first chief programming executive at PBS. In the 1990s she was named one of the “101 Most Influential People in Entertainment Today,” by Entertainment Weekly. In 2016, she was honored with the Ralph Lowell Award, public television’s highest award. Currently, she is a board member of the SNCC Legacy Project and has been actively working in its partnership at Duke University to create the SNCC Digital Gateway."

"Justin Johnson is a budding children’s book illustrator, gif animator, and aspiring art teacher. A recent graduate of Rhode Island School of Design with a major in illustration, he studied children’s book illustration as well as animation. Justin is a native Washingtonian (DC) who is interested in historical and nonfiction stories. He is a scratchboard artist, but also loves to draw and paint. He credits his mother and grandmother, both teachers, with inspiring his love of picture books and storytelling."

"Keesha Ceran is the Associate Director of Teaching for Change, a nonprofit that strives to build social justice starting in the classroom by providing professional development, publications, and family engagement programs to help support teachers, other school staff, and parents. The Center for Public and Nonprofit Leadership spoke with Keesha about her experience in the  world of education, her time within the Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program, and her recent acceptance of the 2023 American University MLK Jr. Visionary Award."

“Joy Jones is a trainer, performance poet, playwright and author of several books including Private Lessons: A Book of Meditations for Teachers; Tambourine Moon, which was selected as one of the best books for children by the black caucus of the ALA and featured on the Bernie Mac Show; and Fearless Public Speaking. She has won awards for her writing from the D. C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, and the Colonial Players Promising Playwrights Competition, plus awards from both the D. C. Department of Recreation & Parks and the D. C. Commission on National & Community Service for outstanding community service.

Joy Jones’ provocative op-ed on marriage trends for The Washington Post, “Marriage is for White People”, went viral. She is the director of the arts organization, The Spoken Word, and the founder of the Double Dutch team, DC Retro Jumpers, which has led exhibitions and classes throughout metropolitan Washington and abroad. Joy often leads workshops on creative writing, communications and black history.”