Akinyele Umoja

December 1996: Ph.D. Institute of Liberal Arts, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia Supervising professor: Robin D.G. Kelley, Dissertation topic: “Eye for an Eye: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement.”
August 1990: Masters of Arts, Institute of Liberal Arts, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
June 1986: Bachelor of Arts, Afro-American Studies, California State University, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.

19th and 20th century African American History
African-American and African Diaspora Social Movements
Black Radical Tradition
African-American Political Thought
African and African derived religions
Research Interests
Civil Rights Movement
Black Power Movement
Black Radical Tradition
Black Nationalism

Akinyele Umoja is a Professor of African-American Studies. Umoja is the author of We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance and the Mississippi Freedom Movement, named the 2014 Anna Julia Cooper/ C.L.R. James Award for the best book in Africana Studies by the National Council of Black Studies. We Will Shoot Back also earned the 2014 PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature. He is also co-editor of Greenwood Press Black Power Encyclopedia (2018), which was named on the Reference and User Services Association’s (a division of the American Library Association) 2019 List of Outstanding References for Adults. Umoja also the editor of a special issue of The Black Scholar (2018) on the legacy of his comrade; revolutionary activist, attorney, and late Mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, the Honorable Chokwe Lumumba. Umoja’s research has also been featured in several other journals and anthologies.

Professor Umoja is also very engaged in social justice advocacy. Along with his wife Aminata and other comrades, Umoja organized Atlanta’s Malcolm X Festival in 1989, which is now attended by thousands annually. Umoja received acknowledgement from the National Conference of Black Political Scientists (1998) and the National Council of Black Studies (2008) for his activism. Due to his civic engagement and scholar-activism, he was inducted into Selma, Alabama’s Hall of Resistance in the Enslavement and Civil War Museum during the annual Bridge Crossing and Jubilee Celebration. Other inductees into the Hall of Resistance include author Sonia Sanchez, and scholar-activists Asa Hilliard, Maulana Karenga, and legendary Hip Hop artist Tupac Shakur.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Spring 2015-Present: Professor, Department of African-American Studies,

Georgia State University

Spring 2003-Spring 2015: Associate Professor, Department of African-American Studies ,

Georgia State University

Fall 1996-Spring 2003: Assistant Professor, Department of African-American Studies

Georgia State University

Areas of Instruction:  Introduction to African-American Studies, African and African-American History, African Diaspora, African-Americans in Georgia, African-American Social Movements, Enslavement and Resistance in North America, Enslavement in the Americas, Religions of the African World, Oral History and the Africana Experience, Politics of the Civil Rights Movement, African-American Political Thought.

July 1997: Visiting Professor, Summer Institute, Department of African-American Studies, University of New Mexico

Areas of Instruction: African-American Experience

1995-1996: Lecturer, Department of History, Clark Atlanta University

Areas of Instruction: World History, History of the African Diaspora,

U.S. History, African-American History

1991-1995: Instructor (Adjunct), Department of History, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia

Areas of Instruction: World History, United States History, African-American History

1992, 1993: Instructor (Adjunct), Department History, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia

Area of Instruction: African-American History

1986-1991: Instructor, Upward Bound, Atlanta Metropolitan College, Atlanta, Georgia

Area of Instruction: African-American History

1987-1989: Teacher, Social Studies, Secondary, Atlanta Public Schools, Atlanta, Georgia

Areas of Instruction: World History, U.S. History, Black Studies, Political Behavior, Economics

1983-1984: Teacher, Social Studies, Secondary, Mid-City Alternative, Los Angeles Unified Schools, Los Angeles, California

Area of Instruction: Multicultural Studies

AWARDS, GRANTS  and FELLOWSHIPS

2017    faculty, National Endowment for Humanities, Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi, Fannie Lou Hamer Institute, June 2017.

2016    faculty, National Endowment for Humanities, Atlanta Landmarks on the Color Line and Civil Rights History, Timothy Crimmins (principal investigator), July 2016.

2016    inductee, Hall of Resistance, Ancient Africa, Enslavement and Civil War Museum, 51^st Jubilee Celebration, Selma, Alabama.

2015    faculty, National Endowment for Humanities, Atlanta Landmarks on the Color Line and Civil Rights History, Timothy Crimmins (principal investigator), July 2015.

2014    principal investigator, National Council of Black Studies/ National Black United

Federated Charities grant, Empowering Ourselves Beyond Ferguson conference.

2014    PEN Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature

2014    inducted, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Morehouse College Collegium of Scholars

2014    Anna Julia Cooper/ CLR James Award for Outstanding Book in Africana Studies, National Council of Black Studies

2013    President’s Award for Outstanding contribution to the discipline of Africana Studies, National Council of Black Studies

2012    faculty, National Endowment for Humanities, Atlanta Landmarks on the Color Line and Civil Rights History, Timothy Crimmins (principal investigator), July 2012

2010    faculty, National Endowment for Humanities, Atlanta Landmarks on the Color Line and Civil Rights History, Timothy Crimmins (principal investigator), July 2010.

2010    principal investigator, National Council of Black Studies/ National Black United Federated Charities grant, Building People to People Contact with Haiti, February 2010 to December 2010.

2008    Mary McLeod Bethune and Carter G. Woodson Award for Community Service,

National Council of Black Studies

2007    faculty, National Endowment for Humanities, Atlanta Landmarks on the Color Line and Civil Rights History, Timothy Crimmins (principal investigator), July 2007.

2007    principal investigator, National Council of Black Studies/ National Black United Federated Charities grant, Atlanta Student Involvement in Katrina Commemoration, August 2007 to December 2008.

2006    Torch of Peace Award for the Promotion of Intercultural Relations, Office of Student

Life and Leadership, Georgia State University

2006    principal investigator, National Council of Black Studies/ National Black United Federated Charities grant, Lifeline Prison Project, July 2006 to February 2007.

2005    consultant, Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society, Inc. (SICARS) Grant Application Overview: NEH Interpreting America’s Historic Places Consultation Grant.       

2005    researcher, Leadership for a Changing World Ethnography Grant, New York University

1999   Writing Across the Curriculum, Georgia State University.

1999    Strategic Initiative in African-American Studies, Georgia State University.

1998    National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities.

1998    Fannie Lou Hamer Award for Community Service, National Conference of Black Political Scientist.

1998    African-American Research and Development Grant, Georgia State University.

1998    Who's Who in America's Teachers.

1997    Marcus Garvey/Fannie Lou Hamer Award for Community Service, Office of African -American Student Services and Programs, Georgia State University.

1997    African-American Research and Development Grant, Georgia State University.

1995    National Golden Key Honor Society, Honorary Member.

1994    Who's Who in America's Teachers.

1994    National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for Faculty at Historically Black Colleges.

1990-1993 Patricia Harris Fellowship, Emory University.

PUBLICATIONS

Akinyele O. Umoja, Karin Stanford, Jasmin Young (editors), Black Power Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2018.

Akinyele O. Umoja, Special Issue on Chokwe Lumumba, (editor) The Black Scholar, ( August 2018)

Akinyele O. Umoja, “‘The People Will Decide’: Chokwe Lumumba, Participatory Democracy and 21^st Century Black Power.” The Black Scholar ( August 2018)

Akinyele O. Umoja, excerpts from We Will Shoot Back in Chad Williams, Kidada Williams, and Keisha Blain, Charleston Syllabus: Readings on Race, Racism, and Racial Violence. (Athens, GA: University of Georgia, 2016), 262-268.

Akinyele O. Umoja, “Repression Breeds Resistance: The Black Liberation Army and the Legacy of the Black Panther Party,” in Michael Ferschke, Black Panther. (Hamburg, Germany: Laika Verlag, 2016) (reprint German translation)

Akinyele O. Umoja, “Maroon: Kuwasi Balagoon and the evolution of revolutionary New Afrikan anarchism” Science and Society, 79, 2, (April 2015), 196-220.

Akinyele K. Umoja, “Black Power: The Struggle Continues,” Passing it On: Moving Stories from Activists, 1960-2000. Bloomington, IN: Archway, 2015.

Akinyele O. Umoja, “From One Generation to the Next: Armed Self defense, Revolutionary Nationalism, and the southern Black freedom struggle,” Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society.  15, 3-4, Fall 2013, 218-240.

Akinyele O. Umoja, “‘Time for Black Men….’: The Deacons for Defense and the Mississippi Movement.” In Ted Ownby (editor), The Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi. (Oxford, MS: University of Mississippi, 2013), 204-229.

 Akinyele O. Umoja, We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement. (New York: New York University, 2013)

Akinyele O. Umoja, “From Malcolm X to Omowale Malik Shabazz: The Transformation and Its Impact on the Black Liberation Struggle” in James Conyers and Andrew Smallwood, Malcolm X: Historical Reader, (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2008).

Akinyele Umoja, in Dan Moore and Michelle Mitchell (ed), “Foreword,” Black Codes in Georgia. (Atlanta, GA: APEX Museum, 2006), vii-viii.

Akinyele Umoja, “Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers: An Ethnographic Study,” Leadership for a Changing World, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York, University, (April 2007). http://wagner.nyu.edu/leadership/reports/files/Aid_to_Children.pdf.

Akinyele O. Umoja, “From Dahomey to Haiti: The Vodun Paradigm and Pan-Africanism,” in James Conyers, Reevaluating the Pan-Africanism of W.E.B. Dubois and Marcus Garvey: Escapist Fantasy or Relevant Reality. (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen, 2006), 257-72.

Akinyele O. Umoja, “Repression Breeds Resistance: The Black Liberation Army and the Legacy of the Black Panther Party,” in Lance J. Jeffries, Black Power in the Belly of the Beast. (University of Illinois, 2006). (reprint)

Charles E. Jones, Patricia Dixon, Akinyele O. Umoja, “Return to the Source: The Role of Service-Learning in Recapturing the Empowerment Mission of African-American Studies,” The Black Scholar, 35, 2 (Summer 2005), 25-36 (reprint)

Akinyele O. Umoja, “Searching for Place: Nationalism, Separatism, and Pan-Africanism,” in Alton Hornsby (editor), Blackwell Companion to African-American History. (2005)

Charles E. Jones, Patricia Dixon, Akinyele O. Umoja, “Return to the Source: The Role of Service-Learning in Recapturing the Empowerment Mission of African-American Studies,”
The Western Journal of Black Studies, 27, 2003.

Akinyele O. Umoja, “1964: the Beginning of the End of Nonviolence in the Mississippi Freedom Movement,” Radical History Review, (January 2003).

Akinyele O. Umoja, “From Dahomey to Haiti: The Vodun Paradigm and Pan-Africanism,” International Journal of Africana Studies, 7, 1, (Fall 2002).

Akinyele O. Umoja, “‘We Will Shoot Back’: The Natchez Model and Para-Military Organization in the Mississippi Freedom Movement,” Journal of Black Studies, 32, 3, (January 2002), 267-290.

Akinyele O. Umoja, “Repression Breeds Resistance: The Black Liberation Army and the Radical Legacy of the Black Panther Party,” in Kathleen Cleaver and George Katsiaficus, Liberation, Imagination, and the Black Panther Party. (New York: Routledge, 2001), 3-19. (reprint).

Akinyele O. Umoja, review of Enemies of the State by Marilyn Buck, David Gilbert, and Laura Whitehorn in Socialism and Democracy (2000).

Akinyele O. Umoja, “Ballots and Bullets: A Comparative Analysis of Armed Resistance in the Civil Rights Movement,” Journal of Black Studies, 29, 4, (March 1999), 558-578.

Akinyele O. Umoja, “Repression Breeds Resistance: The Black Liberation Army and the Legacy of the Black Panther Party,” New Political Science, 21, 2, (June 1999), 131-155.

Akinyele O. Umoja, “Set Our Warriors Free: The Legacy of Political Prisoners and the Black Panther Party,” in Charles E. Jones (editor), The Black Panther Party Reconsidered (Baltimore: Black Classic Press, 1998), 417-442.

Works in Progress

 “Soulbook and the Radical intellectual tradition of Black Power.”  (accepted for book The Revolution in Print Black Print Culture in the Era of Black Power).

“From Hubert Brown to H. Rap: The ‘Movement’ Background of Jamil Al-Amin”.

“Black Power Rivals: Exploring the Revolutionary and Cultural Nationalist Conflict” (essay)

“Every Negro is a potential Black man”: The theory and practice of Kwame Ture and the United Front

PRESENTATIONS

Conference Presentations

“State of the Field: 50^th Anniversary of the Black Power Movement, (roundtable), Association of the Study of African-American Life and History, Richmond, VA, October 2016.

"Reflections on the Promise & Power of Black Power: 50 Years Later," (roundtable), National Council of Black Studies, March 2016.

“Chokwe Lumumba: The People’s Assembly, 21^st Century Black Power and Peoples Power in Mississippi,” National Council of Black Studies, Los Angeles, March 2015

“Chokwe Lumumba: The People’s Assembly, New Black Power and Participatory Democracy”, Southern Conference of African-American Studies, Inc., Montgomery, Alabama, February 2015

“Challenging the Sambo Myth: Collective Armed Resistance in 19^th Century Mississippi,” national meeting of the Association of the African-American Life and History, Jacksonville, FL, October 2013.

“The 1965 Natchez Boycott and Its Impact on the Mississippi Freedom Movement,” Historic Natchez Conference, Natchez, MS, April 2013

"Black Liberation Movement and Cointelpro,” Cointelpro 101 roundtable, American Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico, November 2012.

“Cointelpro and Truth and Reconciliation in the United States,” National Council of Black Studies, Atlanta, GA, March 2012

“Natchez Model and the Mississippi Deacons for Defense,” National Council of Black Studies, Cincinnati, OH, March 2011

“From Dahomey to Haiti: The Vodun Paradigm as a model of Pan-Africanism,” national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, New Orleans, March 2010.

“The Meredith March, the Deacons for Defense and the growing debate on armed resistance,” national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, New Orleans, March 2010.

“‘It’s time for Black Men…’ The Deacons for Defense and the Mississippi Movement,” (invited presentation), Porter Fortune, Jr. History Symposium, University of Mississippi, February 2010

“ ‘Can’t Give Up My Stuff’: Nonviolence Meets Armed Resistance in Mississippi Freedom Movement,” national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, Atlanta, GA, March 2009.

“Mutulu Shakur, Hip Hop and the Transformation of Incarcerated Afrikan Youth,” national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, Atlanta, GA, March 2009.

“Negroes with Guns in 1950s Mississippi,” national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, Atlanta, GA, March 2008.

“The same thing I want: Malcolm X and the Southern Black Freedom Movement,” national meeting of Association of Social and Behavioral Scientists, Atlanta, GA, March 2007.

“‘The world goin’ one way, people another Yo’: The Wire and the Choice between Two Cultures,” national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, San Diego, CA, March 2007.

“The Thought of Malcolm X in the Age of Terror,” Black Thought in the Age of Terror Symposium, University of California at Irvine, May 2006, (keynote presentation)

“Black Power Rivalries: Exploring the Revolutionary and Cultural Nationalist Conflict,” Race, Roots and Resistance: Revisiting the Legacies of Black Power, University of Illinois, April 2006 (co-authored with Charles E. Jones)

“Malcolm X and the Southern Black Freedom Movement,” national meeting of the National Council for Black Studies, Houston, Texas, March 2006

“‘From Civil Rights to Black Nationalism’: The Republic of New Afrika in Mississippi 1970-1,” national meeting of the Association of African-American Life and History, October 2005.

“Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers and its application of the Nguzo Saba (Seven principles),” Nguzo Saba Conference, Los Angeles, California, September 2005. (invited presentation)

“The History of the Black Power Movement,” Black Radical Roundtable, Sonya Haynes Black Cultural Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, April 2005. (invited presentation)

“‘Free the Land’: The Republic of New Afrika in Mississippi, 1970-3,” national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 2005.

“Developing a Guide for African-centered Rites of Passage Programs,” Nsaka Sumsum Education Conference, Jegna Collective, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA , May 2004.

“ ‘By the Grace of Malcolm, I am a New Afrikan’: The Role of Omowale Malik Shabazz in the Founding of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika,” national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, Atlanta, Georgia, March 2004.

“Reparations: The Human Rights Issue of the Twenty First Century,” Minority Faculty Lecture, Central Missouri University, October 2003.

“Local People Carry the Day: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement,” National meeting of the Organization of American Historians, Memphis, Tennessee, April 2003.

“Hip Hop Reflections on the War on Terrorism,” roundtable of the Radical History Review, National meeting of the American Historical Association, January 2003 (invited presentation).

“Ballots and Bullets: A Comparative Analysis of Armed Resistance in the Civil Rights Movement,” African-American Studies Colloquium, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, May 2002 (invited presentation).

“ ‘Fighting for Life and Death’: The Black Panther Movement in the Alabama Black Belt,” national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, San Diego, California, March 2002.

“Reparations, Terrorism, and Social Justice,” national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, San Diego, California, March 2002 (plenary presentation).

“New African Kilombos: A New Look at Eugene Genovese’s “‘Black Maroons in War and Peace’,” Roundtable, National Meeting of the American Historical Association, San Francisco, January 2002.

“From Dahomey to Haiti: The Vodun Paradigm and Pan-Africanism,” (invited presentation), Black Studies Symposium on Pan-Africanism, University of Nebraska Omaha, May 2001.

“‘When a White Man Shoots a Black Man in Mississippi, We Will Shoot Back’: The Natchez Model and Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Movement,” (invited presentation) Freedom Struggles in the Atlantic World: Tulane/ Cambridge Conference, April 2001.

“‘Passing the Akoben’: the Continuation of a Military Tradition from West Africa to North America,” Inaugural Conference of the Association of the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD), September 2000.

“‘Passing the Akoben’: the Continuation of a Military Tradition from West Africa to North America,” Annual meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, Atlanta, Georgia, March 2000.

“‘Set Our Warriors Free’: The Black Panther Party and the Legacy of Political Prisoners,” Annual meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, Atlanta, Georgia, March 2000.

“Repression Breeds Resistance: The Black Liberation Army and the Radical Legacy of the Black Panther Party,” Annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Atlanta, Georgia, September 1999.

“Ifa, Identity, and National Consciousness,” (invited presentation) Conference on Yoruba Culture and Ethics, University of California, Los Angeles, February 1999.

“Para-Military Organization and the Mississippi Freedom Movement,” national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, Los Angeles, California, April 1998.

“The Boycott Strategy and the Defense of the Movement,” national meeting of the

National Conference of Black Political Scientists Atlanta, Georgia, April 1998.

“The Black Panther Party Reconsidered,”(invited presentation) Ujamaa Graduate Political Science Roundtable, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia, April 1998.

“Eye for an Eye: The Role of Armed Resistance in the Civil Rights Movement,”

(invited presentation) Crown Forum, Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia

April 1998.

“Armed Self-Defense in the Mississippi Freedom Movement,” (invited presentation), Midlo-Hall Lecture, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 1997.

“Carrying on the Tradition: A Study of Twentieth Century Black Radicalism,” national meeting of the Southern Conference on African-American Studies, Inc., Atlanta, Georgia

February 1997.

“From Nonviolence to Armed Self-defense,” national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, Washington, D.C., November 1996.

“Uncage the Panthers: The Legacy of Political Prisoners and the Black Panther Party,”

Black Panther Party Revisited Conference Georgia State University Atlanta, Georgia,

October 1996.

“1964: The Beginning of End of Nonviolence in the Mississippi Freedom Movement,”

(invited presentation) Clark Atlanta University Political Science Seminar Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia, October 1996.

“Black Nationalist Identity in U.S.,” “Negro Problem” Conference: African-American Studies Graduate Student Conference Princeton University, March 1995.

“American Dream or American Nightmare,” Third Conference of North American and Cuban Philosophers, Havana, Cuba, June 1991.

“The Impact of Malcolm X on the Civil Rights Movement in the Southern United States,”

Malcolm X Conference Borough of Manhattan Community College New York City, New York, November 1990.

“From Malcolm X to Omowale Malik Shabazz:  The Transformation and its Impact on the Struggle of People of African Descent in the U.S.A.,” Malcolm X Symposium

Center of American Studies Havana, Cuba, May 1990.

Other Professional Activity

Community Engagement in Ninth Ward, project coordinator, National Council of Black Studies, New Orleans, March 2010

“Haiti, the Haitian Revolution, and Vodou: New Currents of Scholarship.” (chair), national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, New Orleans, March 2010

“Undergraduate Research in Africana Studies,” national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, San Diego, CA, March 2007. (chair)

“Negroes with Guns: Robert Williams and Black Power,” Race, Roots and Resistance: Revisiting the Legacies of Black Power, University of Illinois, April 2006. (facilitated discussion of film.)

National Student Essay committee, national meeting of the National Council for Black Studies, Houston, Texas, March 2006

“Education and Africana Studies,” (chair) at national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, March 2005.

“Paradigmatic Considerations in Africana Studies,” (chair) Tenth Anniversary Celebration and Conference, Department of African-American Studies, September 2004.

“Gun Rights,” (chair), 2004 Policy History Conference, Institute for Political History and the Journal of Policy History, May 2004.

“Lifeline II: Reparation Perspectives from Behind the Walls,” (chair), national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, Atlanta, Georgia, March 2004.

“Lifeline: Liberation Voices from Behind the Walls,” (chair), national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, Atlanta, Georgia March 2003.

“Gender and Africana Development, ” (chair), national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, San Diego, California, March 2002

“Student Presentations” (commentator), National Reparations Symposium, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, February 2002.

“Robert F. Williams and the Struggle for Black Liberation,” (chair), national meeting of the National Council of Black Studies, Charlotte, North Carolina, March 2001.

“Scholarship on the Black Panther Party,” (chair and commentator) National Convention of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History Atlanta, Georgia,

October 1994.

“South Africa and the American South:  Comparative Freedom Struggles,” (chair)

National Convention of the Organization of American Historians, Atlanta, Georgia

April 1994.

Other Presentations

“Education by Any Means Necessary,” 11^th Annual Banquet, Kilombo Academic and Cultural Institute, Interdenominational Theological Center, November 2016

“Urban Rebellions and Black Resistance,” The Road to Rebellion Series: Understanding 1967 Detroit, The Charles Wright Museum of African-American History, Detroit, Michigan, November 2016.

“We Will Shoot Back,” book presentation, Sources of Urban Education, Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence, October 2016.

“The Political Vision of Chokwe Lumumba; New Black Power and Participatory Democracy in the 21^st Century,” Fall 2016 Political Science Seminar, Clark Atlanta University, September 2016.

“Repression and Resistance: Liberation Struggles in Communities of Color,” (panel discussion), National Lawyers Guild, Georgia State University College of Law, August 2016.

“Robert F. Williams, Cointelpro and other topics,” (panel discussion), The Charles Wright Museum of African-American History, Detroit, Michigan, August 2016.

“March against Fear in Yazoo, MS,” 50^th Anniversary re-enactment of the March Against Fear, Yazoo City, MS, June 2016.

“Black Power and the March against Fear in the Mississippi Delta,” 50^th Anniversary celebration of the March Against Fear, Indianola, MS, June 2016.

“Building Family and Community: Prerequisites for Black Power,” Atlanta Chapter of the National Association of Black Social Workers, Community Achievement Center, Decatur, GA, February 2016.

“We Will Shoot Back,” presentation and book signing, Eso Won Bookstore, Los Angeles, CA, January 2016.

“From Black Codes to 2016,” Liberation Film Series, Charles Wright Museum of African-American History, Detroit, Michigan, January 2016.

“Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution,” (panel discussion), Mississippi National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Jackson, Mississippi, October 2015.

“We Will Shoot Back,” presentation and book signing, Truth and Transformation Church, Atlanta, GA, October 2015.

“Tribute to Chokwe Lumumba,” Tribute to the Ancestors, Schomburg Center for Black Culture, New York Public Library, Harlem, New York, September 2015.

“Haiti: Crisis of History,” Saint Louis Community College-Forest Park campus, St. Louis, MO. November 2010

“The Census and African-American Empowerment,” Ward 2 People’s Assembly, Jackson, MS. December, 2009.

“The Ballot and the Bullet: Armed Resistance and Voting Rights in Movement” (invited presentation), African-American Studies lecture series, College of Charleston, March 2009.

“How we’ve come so far: From the Civil Rights Movement to the Presidency,” Atlanta Metropolitan College Upward Bound, March 2009.

“How we’ve come so far: From the Civil Rights Movement to the Presidency,” Southeastern Region of the Drug Enforcement Agency, Atlanta, GA. January 2009.

“African manhood,” Kwanzaa, First African Presbyterian Church, Lithonia, GA, December 2008.

“Eyewitness to Haiti,” Community Forum, Democratic Socialist of America-Atlanta Chapter, September 2008.

“Solidarity with the people of Haiti,” Malcolm X Grassroots Movement-Atlanta Chapter, Atlanta, GA, February 2008.

“‘Nap Boule’: Haitian Resistance from Slavery to Occupation,” African-American Studies Seminar presentation, University of Houston, February 2008.

“Haiti 2007,” Haiti Action Committee, Berkeley, CA, November 2007.

“Necessity of Functional Unity,” Awards Dinner of African Community Centers for Unity and Self-Determination, October 2007.

“Significance of Grassroots Reconstruction in the Gulf Coast,” Ujamaa Society, Political Science Department, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA, October 2007.

“W.E.B. DuBois and Atlanta University: On the Wings of Atalanta,” National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks of American History and Culture, Atlanta, GA, July 2007.

“Booker Washington’s Atlanta Exposition Speech: Wisdom or Sell Out?” National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks of American History and Culture, Atlanta, GA, July 2007.

“Meaning of Diaspora,” Diaspora Festival, Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society, Sapelo Island, GA, June 2007.

“The Maroon Factor: African Resistance in Georgia and the U.S,” Lecture Series for exhibit “Creativity & Resistance: Maroon Cultures in the Americas,” APEX Museum, Atlanta, GA, February 2007.

“Male-Female Relationships,” Black History Month, United States Penitentiary II, Federal Correctional Complex Coleman, Coleman, Florida, February 2007.

“Developing Constituent Assemblies,” Let Us Make Man Conference, Atlanta Area Tech, Atlanta, GA, February 2007.

“Living the Nguzo Saba,” Sankofa United Church of Christ, Atlanta, Georgia, December 2006

“The Symbols of Kwanzaa,” Federal Corrections Complex, Coleman, Florida, December 2006.

Kwanzaa Workshop, Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers, Atlanta, Georgia, December 2006

Kwanzaa Workshop, Frederick Douglass High School, Atlanta, Georgia, December 2006.

Kwanzaa Workshop, Parent Teacher Student Association, Ben Carson Academy, Atlanta, Georgia, December 2006

Kwanzaa Workshop, Office of Multicultural Affairs, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia, December 2006

“Exploring Kwanzaa: Origins, Rituals, Symbols,” Teacher’s Workshop, Georgia State University, November 2006

“The Black Liberation Movement and United States Left,” Socialist Student Union, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, South Carolina, April 2006

“The Spirituality of Reparations,” Camp Taifa, Center for African Biblical Studies, First African Church, July 2005.

“Conversation with African Spirit,” Center for African Biblical Studies, First African Church, June 2005.

“Significance of African-American Heritage,” Georgia Sea Island Festival, Saint Simon’s Island, June 2005. (keynote address)

“African-Americans in the American Revolution,” Capitol View Elementary School, Atlanta, Georgia, October 2003.

“Armed Resistance in the Civil Rights Movement,” Central Missouri University, October 2003.

“The Matrix and Your Future,” Mary Lin Elementary, Atlanta, Georgia, May 2003. (commencement speech)

“The Civil Rights Movement and Young People,” Mary Lin Elementary, Atlanta, Georgia, February 2003.

“Slavery and Resistance,” Jean Young Middle School, Atlanta, Georgia, February 2003.

“Swamp Negro: The Presence of African Fugitive Communities in United States,” (invited presentation), Maroon Journey Series, Sankofa Video and Bookstore, Washington D.C., March 2002.

“Significance of African Heritage,” Hands Across Atlanta Black History Month Quiz Bowl, Douglass High School, Atlanta Georgia, February 2002.

“Role of Black Soldiers in the Fight for Freedom,” Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps, Douglass High School, Atlanta, Georgia, February 2002.

“Kwanzaa: Its Symbols and Rituals,” Lutheran Towers (Senior Residence), December 2001.

“Kwanzaa: Its Symbols and Rituals,” Spotlight Programs, Black Life and Culture, Georgia State University, December 2001.

“Preparation for Graduate School,” GRE Preparation and Graduate School Workshop II, Sankofa Society, Georgia State University, November 2001.

“Let the Circle Be Unbroken,” (keynote address) Black Student Survival and Success Assembly, Office of African-American Student Services and Programs, Georgia State University, March 2001.

“Civil Rights and Social Change,” Georgia State University Affirmative Action trip to Civil Right Museum, Birmingham, Alabama, February 2001.

“Deacons for Defense and Justice,” Visitors Center at the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic District, Atlanta, Georgia, February 2001.

“African Oral Tradition and Spirituality,” African Heritage Program, First African Presbyterian Church, Lithonia, Georgia, February 2001.

“Enslavement and Resistance,” Stone Mountain Charter School, Stone Mountain, Georgia, February 2001.

“Enslavement and Resistance,” Scottdale Child Development and Family Resource Center, Scottdale, Georgia, February 2001.

“Enslavement and Resistance,” Upward Bound Program, Atlanta Metropolitan College, Atlanta, Georgia, February 2001.

“Folklore of Africa,” Inman Middle School, Atlanta, Georgia, February 2001.

“Enslavement and Resistance,” Inman Middle School, Atlanta, Georgia, February 2001.

“Indigenous African Religion,” Inman Middle School, Atlanta, Georgia, February 2001.

“What’s African about being African-American?” Kimberly-Clark, Roswell, Georgia, February 2001.

“The Saga of Geronimo ji Jaga,” Ujamaa Society, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia, February 2001.

“The Civil Rights Movement,” Guice Elementary, Atlanta, Georgia, February 2001.

“Kwanzaa and Its Principles,” United State Penitentiary-Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, December 2000.

“Kwanzaa: Its Symbols and Meanings,” Kimberly-Clark, Roswell, Georgia, December 2000.

“Kwanzaa: Its Symbols and Songs,” Georgia State University Child Care Center, Atlanta, Georgia, November 2000.

“Kwanzaa: Its Symbols and Meanings,” Georgia State University, Spotlight Programs: Black Life and Culture, Atlanta, Georgia, November 2000.

“Fugitive African Rebels during Slavery,” Camp Pumziko, Community Aid and Development, Inc., Pine Mountain, Georgia, July 2000.

“Enslavement and Resistance,” Southside Comprehensive High School, Atlanta, Georgia, February 2000.

“Slavery in Georgia,” Salem Middle School, Lithonia, Georgia, February 2000.

“African-Americans in Early Georgia History,” Salem Middle School, Lithonia, Georgia, February 2000.

“African and Native American Alliances for Freedom,” G.A. Townes Elementary School, Atlanta, Georgia, January 2000.

“The Maroon Factor in African/Native American Relations,” African/ Native American Relations Series, Auburn Avenue African-American Research Library, September 1999.

“African Spiritual and Cultural Resistance in the New World,” Carribean Forum, Carribean Students Association, Georgia State University, April 1999.

“Sankofa: Remembering Slavery in the Americas,” African-American History Month (keynote presentation), Galloway School, Atlanta, Georgia, February 1999.

“The Civil Rights Movement in the South,” African-American History Month, Paideia School, Atlanta, Georgia,  February 1999.

“What Life Was Like in the 1960's,” Stanton Elementary School, Atlanta, Georgia, February 1999.

“Enslavement and Resistance,” African-American History Month (keynote address), Veteran Affairs Hospital, Decatur, Georgia, February 1999.

“The Meaning of Kwanzaa,” Eastlake Elementary School Atlanta, Georgia, December 1998.

“Kwanzaa and New African Identity in North America,” Kwanzaa Celebration, Spotlight: Black Life and Culture Committee, Georgia State University, December 1998.

“Significance of Grassroots African-American Historical Preservation”(keynote address)

Tribute to Sankofa, African-American History Alliance of Louisiana New Orleans, Louisiana, September 1998.

“Heritage and African-American Parenting” African-American History and Culture Workshop African-American Child Care Providers, Scottdale Child Development and Family Resource Center, Scottdale, Georgia, April 1998.

“From Captivity to Freedom: Slavery and Africans in America,” African-American History Month United States Prison-Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia February, March 1998.

“Slavery and its impact on African-American Life,” African-American History Month

East Lake Elementary School Atlanta, Georgia, February 1998.

“Hip Hop and African-American Political Consciousness,” African-American History

Riverwood High School Atlanta, Georgia, February 1998.

“African Resistance in the Great Dismal Swamp,” Slave Revolts: The Struggle for Freedom Auburn Avenue Research Library Atlanta, Georgia, January 1998.

“Kwanzaa: Its Symbols and Significance,” Georgia Southwestern College, Americus, Georgia, November 1997.

“African Traditional religions,” North Atlanta High School, Atlanta, Georgia, November 1997.

“Aspects of traditional African religion,” Pacesetter English class, Columbia High School, Decatur, Georgia. October 1997.

“An Eye for an Eye: Armed Struggle in Black Freedom Movement of Mississippi-1964,” Society of MAAT, Morris Brown College, Atlanta, Georgia, February 1997.

“Negroes with Guns: Robert Williams and the Black Freedom Movement,” African-American History Georgia State University Atlanta, Georgia, February 1997.

“Ebonics: Truth about Language, Dialects, and Education,” Black Life and Culture Committee, Spotlight Programs Board, Georgia State University, February 1997.

“Success and Service,” Black Student Survival and Success Assembly, Office of African-American Student Services and Programs, Georgia State University, January 1997.

“The Significance of Unity in the African-American Community,” Metropolitan Atlanta Kwanzaa Association City-wide Atlanta Kwanzaa Celebration, Atlanta, Georgia, December 1996.

“The Importance of African-American History in Public School Instruction,” Southern Association of Black Educators, McDonough, Georgia, May 1991.

“Kwanzaa, its Symbol and Significance for Families of African Descent in the U.S.A,”

Black Family Conference Clark Atlanta University Atlanta, Georgia, October 1988.

RESEARCH EXPERIENCES

“African-American History in Morgan County, GA,” Morgan County African-American Museum, Georgia Humanities Council, 2007.

“‘Bridging the Generation Gap’: An Ethnographic Study of Aid to Children of Imprisoned Mothers,” Leadership for a Changing World, New York University, 2005-6.

“A Maroon Journey” Negod Gwad Productions and John D. and Catherine McArthur Foundations, 2001-Present.

Sapelo Island Oral History Project, Department of African-American Studies, Georgia State University and African-American Studies Program, Savannah State University, 1999- Present

“Native Sons:  Culture, Society and the Black Urban Poor in Chicago and Birmingham 1914-1990,”  Research Assistant, sponsored by the University of Wisconsin, Institute for Research on Poverty, directed by Dr. Robin D.G. Kelley - Fall 1990, Spring 1991

“An Economic History of Black Atlanta,” Research Assistant, sponsored by the Journal of Negro History, directed by Dr. Alton Hornsby - Fall 1989.

“A Brief History of Black Atlanta:  From Slavery Until the 1906 Riot,” Research Fellow, sponsored by the Atlanta Historical Society – Spring, Summer 1989.