Feb 06

First Person: Writing Activist Lives from the Inside

Description

Our Spring 2025 season begins with an online event, First Person: Writing Activist Lives from the Inside. Four life-long activists will discuss their lives in the movement and the process and politics of writing personal histories of Black freedom struggles. Millicent Brown will present on Another Sojourner Looking for Truth, illuminating her long life in the movement beyond her role in the desegregation of schools in South Carolina. Mike Africa Jr. will discuss On A Move: Philadelphia's Notorious Bombing and a Native Son's Lifelong Battle for Justice, a story of ongoing resistance in the face of extreme state violence. David J. Dennis Jr. and David J. Dennis Sr. will share about their intergenerational legacy in the movement from Freedom Summer to the Algebra Project, which they write about in The Movement Made Us: A Father, a Son, and the Legacy of a Freedom Ride.

Speakers

  • Millicent E. Brown

    Claflin University

    Millicent E. Brown is a retired associate professor of history from Claflin University, having taught at several other institutions of higher education. She is a lifelong community advocate and spokesperson for improvements in historically and currently exploited neighborhoods and communities of color. Currently she consults with museums, historical sites, and organizations seeking more accurate analyses of social justice initiatives.

  • Mike Africa Jr.

    Mike Africa, Jr. is a member of The MOVE Organization. He is a conscious hip hop artist and a motivational resilience speaker. He pushes his revolutionary message with his dynamic stage performances mixing music with speeches.

    Mike is the son of 2 political prisoners who were sentenced to 100 years in prison. Mike was secretly born in a Philadelphia prison following a police raid on his family’s home. As an infant, he was taken from his mother and placed in an orphanage where he was physically and mentally abused. At age 6, he witnessed the smoke in the air from a police bomb that was dropped on his family’s home killing 11 of his family members including 5 of the children he was in the orphanage with. At age 13, Mike began using his music to raise awareness about his experiences in the hopes of gaining justice for his family. On June 16th, 2018, after 40 years in prison, Mike finally got his mother released. Four months later on October 23rd, 2018, he was successful in gaining his father’s release.

    Currently, Mike travels the country as a public speaker telling his incredible story and inspiring others with his powerful message, tackling issues such as mass incarceration, police brutality, and climate change.

  • David J. Dennis Sr.

    DAVID J. DENNIS SR. is a civil rights veteran and one of the original Freedom Riders who rode from Montgomery to Jackson in 1961. He served as field secretary for the Congress of Racial Equality in Louisiana and Mississippi (1961–65) and as co-director with Bob Moses of the Voter Education Committee of the Council of Federated Organizations. He helped organize the Mississippi Freedom Summer, the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, and the challenge to the National Democratic Party in 1964. He attended Dillard University and earned his law degree at the University of Michigan. In 1972, he co-directed the challenge to the Louisiana Democratic structure that resulted in an African American chairman and a majority African American delegation being sent to the national convention, the first time since Reconstruction. He is the executive director of the Southern Initiative Algebra Project, Inc., a nonprofit organization that works to ensure a quality education for all children, especially children of color and the chronically underserved.

  • David J. Dennis Jr.

    DAVID J. DENNIS JR. is a senior writer at ESPN's Andscape. His work has been featured in Atlanta magazine, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, and the New York Times, among other publications. Dennis is the recipient of the 2021 American Mosaic Journalism Prize, is a National Association of Black Journalist Salute to Excellence award winner, and was named one of The Root’s 100 Most Influential African Americans of 2020. He lives in Georgia with his wife and two children and is a graduate of Davidson College.

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