preservation projects

 2025: It is my pleasure to serve as the new National Director of the Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH). I attended my first ABWH session in 2000 and became a life member in 2003.  

 ABWH was conceived in 1977 when three Black women historians, Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, Eleanor Smith, and Eleanor Parker, recognized the need for a specially focused organization within their profession. The organization was formally established in 1979. ABWH is a network of scholars representing every region of the country. 

Click on the link below to meet the ABWH 2025-2026 leadership team!   

 2025: The radio station 91.9 WCLK recently celebrated 50 years as a community center of music in Atlanta, naming itself  “the jazz of the city.” This collection will gather historical and scholarly research as well as community narratives about the history and culture of jazz in Atlanta, Georgia. The Jazz of the City will combine academic research and oral history to offer both historical outlines and vivid narrative color. 

We invite scholars to shine a light on the details of jazz in Atlanta in all forms and fashions. 

We also invite individuals central to creating and honoring jazz culture to contribute their stories via oral history interview. DEADLINE: AUGUST 1, 2025

 2024: I spent one week at the Spelman College Women's Research & Resource Center beginning discussions about how to honor Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall's career-long commitment to the Center and to the Institution. 

There were three parts to my WORDS OF FIRE FELLOWSHIP: 1) sitting in the Spelman archives, perusing Sage journals, Messenger, and other documents; 2) in discussion with WRRC/Spelman Archive faculty, staff, and students; 3) in conversation with THE BGS herself! The discussion with Professor Guy-Sheftall was recorded and will be available soon along with details about the planned Spring 2025 celebration of her BLACK! FEMINIST! FREE! book release.

 2024: I had the honor of facilitating Georgia State University's Fuller E. Callaway Professor Dr. Asa G. Hilliard III's private library donation to the Atlanta University Center Woodruff Library. 

With guidance of the Hilliard family, Dr. Melissa Speight-Vaughn and I cataloged and assessed the entire collection of 5,154 books for donation--to accompany Dr. Hilliard's papers at AUC. 

Formal announcements will be forthcoming in 2025 about the collection dedication event. The Hilliard library is a breathtaking (and life-giving) living archive of Black history, politics, education, religion, and culture.  

 2015: Peace benches were dedicated to Clark Atlanta University in honor of Sonia Sanchez's lifetime commitment to peace activism and her book, Peace is a Haiku Song. As chair of the AWH Department, I hosted a panel on the co-edited book S.O.S. Calling All Black People, featuring John H. Bracey Jr, Sonia Sanchez, and James Smethurst. 

To coincide with the benches and dedication, I taught a graduate seminar in Africana Women's Studies on the work of Professor Sonia Sanchez. This project was part of the five-year CAU Du Bois Legacy Project that included a Keynote lecture by Amiri Baraka.

 2013: As chair of the Department of African American Studies, Africana Women's Studies, and History (AWH), I initiated the Du Bois Legacy Project. With support from CAU President Carlton E. Brown and the participation of a broad-based coalition of Clark Atlanta University students, staff, administrators, and faculty we hosted a multi-year project to honor his 23 years on campus.

THE PROJECT INCLUDED

• 2012 Year-Long Seminars
• 2013 Conference & Bust 
• 2014 Phylon Journal
• 2015 Sonia Sanchez Peace Benches
• 2016 Afrofuturism Panel