BLACK HISTORY & CULTURE

Jasmine Brown began writing TWICE AS HARD when she was twenty-two. A 2018 recipient of the Rhodes Scholarship, she used her time at the University of Oxford to complete the in-depth research and oral histories synthesized in this book. She graduated from Oxford with Merit, earning an M.Phil. in History of Science, Medicine, and Technology. Brown leverages her connection to her topic to create a work that is both immensely well-researched and personal.

Anthony R. Keith, Jr., Ph.D. (Tony) is a Black, gay spoken word artist, poet, and Hip-Hop educator. His debut, How the Boogeyman Became a Poet, is a powerful YA memoir in verse, tracing his journey from being a closeted gay Black teen battling poverty, racism, and homophobia to becoming an openly gay first-generation college student who finds freedom in poetry.

An award-winning illustrator and scholar of black comics, John is a Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of California at Riverside; he is also the publisher of Megascope, an imprint of Abrams ComicArts dedicated to publishing works exploring the experiences of people of color. He speaks widely on the subjects of Afrofuturism and Black Comix.

Joel Christian Gill is the Inaugural Chair of Boston University’s Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Narrative and Associate Professor in the CFA School of Visual Arts. He is also a cartoonist and historian who speaks nationally on the importance of sharing stories. He is the author of the acclaimed memoir Fights: One Boy's Triumph Over Violence, cited as one of the best graphic novels of 2020 by The New York Times and for which he was awarded the 2021 Cartoonist Studio Prize.

Kai Harris is the author of the acclaimed debut novel What the Fireflies Knew (Tiny Reparations, 2022), a Silicon Valley 2023 Read, A Marie Claire Book Club pick as well as being an NAACP Image Award nominee and longlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize. She is a writer and educator from Detroit, Michigan, who uses her voice to uplift the Black community through realistic fiction centered on the Black experience.

Award-winning journalist Danyel Smith is author of the critically-acclaimed Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop (One World / Penguin Random House, April 2022). Danyel is also creator/host of the popular Black Girl Songbook, a podcast that centers the sounds and stories of black women (Spotify Original).

Amrita is an award-winning historian, journalist, activist and commentator whose work examines the intersections of race, gender, power, and freedom, specifically focusing on the lives of enslaved and free black women.

Hafizah Augustus Geter is a Nigerian-American poet, writer, and literary agent born in Zaria, Nigeria, and raised in Akron, Ohio, and Columbia, South Carolina. Her debut memoir, The Black Period: On Personhood, Race & Origin, won the 2023 PEN Open Book Award. Hafizah is also the author of the debut poetry collection Un-American, nominated for a 2021 NAACP Image Award, a finalist for the 2021 PEN Open Book Award, and longlisted for the 2021 Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize.

Bridgett is the author of the critically-acclaimed memoir The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother’s Life in the Detroit Numbers, a New York Times Book Review “Editor’s Pick” and an Entertainment Weekly “Must Read.” She has been invited to speak at numerous venues about her memoir and its historical context. She teaches creative and film writing at Baruch College, CUNY.

Faylita Hicks (she/they) is a queer Afro-Latinx writer, spoken word artist, and cultural strategist. With an appreciation for powerful narratives that lead to cultural shifts and community safety, Hicks works with justice-focused nonprofits, arts and literary organizations, and performance venues throughout the US to actively engage in anti-carceral liberation efforts through dynamic storytelling. Hicks is also the author of the critically-acclaimed debut poetry collection HoodWitch, a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award.

Allissa V. Richardson, PhD is an assistant professor of journalism at USC Annenberg. She researches how African Americans use mobile and social media to produce innovative forms of journalism — especially in times of crisis. Richardson is the author of Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones and the New Protest #Journalism (Oxford University Press, 2020). Richardson’s research is informed by her award-winning work as a journalism innovator. She is considered a pioneer in mobile journalism (MOJO), having launched the world’s first smartphone-only college newsrooms in 2010, in the U.S., Morocco and South Africa.

Nicholas Buccola is a writer, lecturer, and teacher who specializes in the area of American political thought. He is the author of The Fire Is upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America (Princeton University, 2019) and The Political Thought of Frederick Douglass: In Pursuit of American Liberty (New York University Press, 2012).