Bishop William J. Barber II is President of Repairers of the Breach and Director and Professor in the Practice at the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School.

He serves as Bishop with The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, Executive Board Member of the Christian Church Disciples of Christ, Co-Chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival, a Kettering Foundation Senior Fellow, and a Steering Committee Member for the Save America Movement. A moment of a dedicated group of Americans fighting for right vs. wrong, not left vs. right.  

Bishop Barber earned a bachelor’s degree from North Carolina Central University, a Master of Divinity from Duke University, and a Doctorate from Drew University, with a concentration in Public Policy and Pastoral Care. He has received twelve honorary doctorates.

Bishop Barber is the author of five books - the most recent, White Poverty: How Exposing Myths About Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy. He publishes the Substack newsletter “Our Moral Moment” with Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove.

As a moral leader, Bishop Barber has been arrested more than 15 times in various states for engaging in civil disobedience with those who have been marginalized by systematic racism, poverty, and injustice. A highly sought-after speaker, he has given keynote addresses at hundreds of gatherings, from the 2016 Democratic National Convention to the Vatican.

Bishop Barber preaches regularly in pulpits across the US, including the National Cathedral, where he delivered the homily for President Biden’s Inaugural Prayer Service. He is regularly featured as a commentator on national TV and radio and is the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius Award,” the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award, and the Puffin Award

Activist, Author, Producer, Creator of #1000BlackGirlBooks

Marley Dias is an insightful, dynamic, purpose-driven changemaker who launched the viral #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign and authored Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You! At just 13, she became the youngest person ever named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list (2018), and her campaign has since collected over 15,000 books, transforming the conversation around representation in children’s literature.

Marley launched #1000BlackGirlBooks in November of 2015, at age 11,  with support from the GrassROOTS Community Foundation.  Frustrated by the lack of Black girl protagonists in her school’s reading lists, she turned a personal frustration into a global movement. Her story quickly went viral, gaining more than 10 billion media impressions and coverage from outlets like The Ellen Show, BBC, CBS This Morning, The Today Show, The View, and NPR. Books have been donated across the U.S. and internationally, including in Jamaica, her mother’s birthplace.

Her bold advocacy earned her invitations to speak on major stages, including the White House’s United State of Women Summit (alongside Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey), the Forbes Women’s Summit, the United Nations’ Girl Up initiative, and the Social Innovation Summit. In 2017, Marley received the Smithsonian Ingenuity Award in the Youth Category for her groundbreaking work on literary representation. TIME recognized her as one of the 25 Most Influential Teens of 2018.

As Editor-in-Residence at ELLE, Marley interviewed notable figures such as  Ava DuVernay, Misty Copeland, and Hillary Clinton.  She has also been featured in a Microsoft Commercial, a Disney World Resorts digital campaign, and a Walmart Black History Month campaign, to name a few of her partnerships.  Her voice has appeared across outlets like Teen Vogue, Refinery29 Unbothered, Glamour, and more. Marley also sits on the first youth board of directors for Hello Sunshine, founded by Reese Witherspoon, and has sat on the Glamour Women of the Year awards advisory board for many years. 

In 2020, Marley became Executive Producer and host of the Netflix series Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices, featuring celebrities reading books by Black authors. The series earned a 2021 NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Children’s Program, expanding her influence in children’s media and storytelling.

In April 2022, Marley was invited to the White House for a policy briefing hosted by Gender Policy Council Director Jen Klein and Ambassador Susan Rice, where she joined a select group of young women to advise on addressing the national mental health crisis. 

Her work would not be possible without the GrassROOTS Community Foundation (GCF), co-founded by her mother, Dr. Janice Johnson Dias. GCF is a public health and social action organization that funds, supports, and scales wellness programs for women and girls. Marley and fellow “Super Girls” from GCF launched Green Ribbon Week, a youth-led initiative to raise awareness about teen mental health.

Currently, Marley is a student at Harvard University, where she writes for The Harvard Crimson. She continues to serve as the National Education Association’s (NEA) National Ambassador for their Read Across America campaign. Additionally, Marley recently joined the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s National Racial Equity Initiative (NREI)  Advisory Board. 

In 2024, Marley was honored as a Youth Laureate by the United Nations Young Activist Summit, where she was the only American recognized that year, solidifying her place as a global leader in youth advocacy and social justice. Additionally, Marley was named a 2024-2026 Voyager Scholar and was awarded the Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service.

That same year, students at View Park Prep K-8 Elementary School in Los Angeles established a new library and chose to name the space after Marley in recognition of her impact on literacy, education, and representation. Marley considers the naming of the Marley Dias Library one of her greatest honors.

In 2025, Marley launched Third Space, a weekly newsletter that serves as an ode to storytelling and the spaces it creates. Third Space is not a creative studio nor a forum, but the beginning of a long-term vision, one that invites readers to explore culture, identity, and imagination through Marley’s evolving lens as a young leader and writer.

On June 2, 2026, Scholastic will release Marley’s latest book, I Am The Dream Come True.From viral campaigns to global platforms, Marley Dias is not just amplifying voices; she’s shaping the future of storytelling, leadership, and equity in the 21st century.

Her #1000blackgirlbooks resource guide can be found here. 

Notable Coverage

• Versace Icons
• Essence Gu 
• Rolling Stone 
• MSR
• Pretty Smart Podcast Interview
• Natalie Manuel Lee Interview
• Do Something
• Forbes Power Women's Summit
• Gayle King Interview 
• CBS
• Teen Vogue 
• OUT100 List 

Award-winning writer, sociologist, and cultural critic Tressie McMillan Cottom is celebrated for her profound yet personal ideas and the dynamic accessibility of her analysis. Dr. Cottom’s first book, Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy, led to appearances on The Daily Show, NPR’s Marketplace and Fresh Air, and has been name-checked by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and activists like The Debt Strike Collective. Since the release of her second book, Thick: And Other Essays, Dr. Cottom’s career has skyrocketed. Thick became a Finalist for the 2019 National Book Award, and the following year Dr. Cottom received a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship – known as the ‘genius grant’. Her work is prolific – beyond her books and celebrated New York Times opinion column, she has written a Substack newsletter “Essaying,” is a contributor for Vanity Fair, co-hosted the Black feminist podcast Hear to Slay with Roxane Gay, and has sat in as a guest host for The Ezra Klein Show. Her books have become modern classics, and her commentary is in demand on a wide range of topics like inclusive marketing, creating policy narratives, technology, the future of democracy, and the cultural zeitgeist.

Dr. Cottom is a public academic whose work is as impactful on Twitter as it is in groundbreaking research, and continually reimagines how our society might function better on behalf of the most marginalized. She has a devoted fanbase for her essays (Tressays, as her fans call them), which defy the form – she explores the intersections of race, class, and gender, in the same breath as incisive pop culture critique and personal history. Dr. Cottom is currently a professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and is sought after as a consultant for both global brands and on Capitol Hill.  In her writing, as well as in luminous keynotes and moderated conversations, Dr. Cottom tells creative stories of her research and herself – taking theory into real-world understanding for audiences of all kinds.

’A:ñi ’añ hab ce:gig Alex Soto. ’A:ñi ’añ ’ab ’amjeḍ Komkcʼeḍ ʼe-Wa:ʼosidk. Ñ-o:g ’o hab ce:cig Joseph Charles. Ñ-woskbaḍ c ñ-ka:abaḍ ’o hab cecgig Romero c Mary Charles. Ñ-je’e ’o hab ce:gig Matilda Miguel. Ñ-bababaḍ c ñ-hu’lbaḍ ’o hab cecgig Andrew c Rachel Miguel.

Alexander Soto (Tohono O’odham) is the Director of the Labriola National American Indian Data Center at ASU Library. Under his leadership, the Labriola Center has implemented culturally informed  research support services and has Indigenized ASU’s community-driven archives initiative for Tribal communities. Alex’s journey to librarianship comes after years of success as a touring hip-hop musician/educator and activist. During graduate school, Alex realized the importance of information literacy within Tribal communities and the role of reparative archives in strengthening Indigenous sovereignty. Alex co-authored ASU Library’s first land acknowledgement statement. He received his M.A. in Library and Information Science from the University of Arizona and received his B.S. in American Indian Studies from Arizona State University.

Anaya Newbill is a senior at Carrboro High School from Carrboro, North Carolina and a participant in the Bridge Builders Program. She is passionate about helping others elevate and thrive in life. She believes that education is important to everyone in different ways, and it important to keep your peers educated on all history.

Bakari Craft is a sophomore at J. D. Clement Early College High School from Durham, North Carolina and a participant in the Bridge Builders Program. He enjoys fencing, occasional reading, researching computer components, and spending time with his friends and family. He hopes that the future of education will include more black involvement in STEM, STEAM, and leadership programs.

"Dr. Hinnant-Crawford is a leading national scholar in improvement science, one of our Ed.D. program’s signature pedagogies,” wrote Kim Winter, dean of the CEAP. “She is a dynamic and engaging teacher who will be able to positively support our doctoral students. Dr. Hinnant-Crawford’s experiences in educational leadership at the state and national levels, in addition to her passion for policy-to-practice articulation (e.g., work that leads to action) are invaluable assets to our college and this university.”

Over the course of her career, Hinnant-Crawford has chaired dozens of academic committees, including 35 dissertation committees, 10 of which were WCU disquisition committees. She has published six books, including “Improvement Science in Education: A Primer,” which was awarded the 2026 Gloria J. Ladson-Billings Outstanding Book Award from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. She was also selected as a keynote speaker for the 2024 Improvement Conference, the largest meeting of education leaders of its kind in the country.

Danita Mason-Hogans is a native of Chapel Hill NC for seven generations of “movement people” on both sides of her family. She is a Public Memory Specialist, local historian and curriculum specialist who has been an education activist for over thirty years.  She collaborates with today's activists and SNCC veterans at Duke for the Critical Oral Histories Component which she helped to adapt. Danita is a 2022/23 NEH fellow with the Oral History Association. She works with school systems, universities, activists and historians to document local and national history from the “inside out” and from the “bottom up”. Her current advocation is for a no cost education program and cost-free college tuition for the descendants of the enslaved laborers at UNC. 

Local stories connect us to national struggle. Chapel Hill History from the inside out and bottom up. 

Dr. Darian C. Jones, PhD, MBA, LCMHC, ACC, is a North Carolina native, internationally recognized speaker, educator, executive coach, mental health practitioner, author, and racial justice advocate whose three-decade career sits at the intersection of education, systems change, racial justice, leadership, and healing.

Dr. Jones began his career as a North Carolina teacher and spent 20 years leading high schools before serving as a district leader, charter school founder and board member, and senior leader with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. A former Racial Equity Institute trainer, he has spent decades helping educators and organizational leaders interrogate systemic racism, redesign inequitable systems, and move beyond performative equity toward structural change.

His work brings a decolonized mental health and wellness lens to systems change, examining racial battle fatigue, grief, identity, belonging, psychological safety, and the human cost of continuously navigating—and resisting—oppressive systems.

Dr. Jones is currently headlining and presenting at national conferences on Systemic Racism & Systems Design and Strong Men Bleed in Silence, his work examining the psychological safety and emotional survival of Black boys and men. He is also an invited panelist with the New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NJCASA) for a national conversation on Media, Culture, & Harmful Norms, examining how culture, narrative, masculinity, identity, and systems normalize harm.

His first two books extend this body of work. First Phone Calls, forthcoming Fall 2026, explores Black boyhood, Black male grief, loss, love, and the complicated inheritance of learning to survive what we were rarely taught how to mourn. His second book, forthcoming Spring 2027, STOLEN HARVEST: New Cotton in the Apartheid Promiseland and the Seeds of Liberation, interrogates the systemic harvesting of Black possibility while reclaiming the ancestral, educational, and liberatory seeds necessary to imagine something different.

Across classrooms, principalships, state departments, boardrooms, counseling spaces, and national stages, Dr. Jones has spent his career asking systems to become more human. His current work asks those fighting to transform those systems an equally urgent question:

How do we fight for liberation without sacrificing ourselves in the process?

We inherited a struggle. We do not have to inherit the exhaustion. The revolution needs us alive.

Dr. Deanna Townsend-Smith is a strategic leader, coalition builder, and expert in advancing opportunity and access within public education. With over 20 years of experience, she has led transformative efforts across North Carolina and beyond as a teacher, mentor, new teacher coach, administrator, and school turnaround expert. She previously served as Director of Board Policy and Operations for the North Carolina State Board of Education and as Assistant Director in the NC Office of Charter Schools.

Dr. Townsend-Smith holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership, equipping her with a deep understanding of how effective leadership, sound policy, and data-driven decision-making shape school systems. Her background in curriculum and instruction further enhances her ability to design, evaluate, and scale high-quality educational programs that meet the diverse needs of students and educators.

She is widely recognized for her creative, results-driven approaches to solving complex challenges in education. Her work emphasizes building collaborative partnerships, aligning resources, and empowering local leaders to strengthen teaching and learning environments across school communities.

Dr. Townsend-Smith is the recipient of several honors for her contributions to education, including formal resolutions from the North Carolina State Board of Education and the Charter Schools Advisory Board, the Women in Leadership Award, and the Legacy of Excellence Award from Teach For America. She uses her experiences to advocate for others, mentor emerging leaders, and elevate equity-focused solutions that drive meaningful change.

Dr. Dudley E. Flood was born and reared in Winton, North Carolina. Since 1970, Dr. Flood has lived in Raleigh, North Carolina.

He began his career as a teacher of math, science and English at the eighth grade level. He later taught high school social studies and coached high school basketball and football. He served for three years as principal of a school covering grades 1 - 12 before joining the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction as a specialist in school desegregation and race relations.

During his 21 years of service with the Department of Public Instruction, he earned promotions first to Assistant and then Associate State Superintendent. After retiring from Public Instruction on December 31, 1990, he served for 5 years and 3 months as Executive Director of the North Carolina Association of School Administrators. Since April 1996, he has been a lecturer and consultant to groups throughout the country and abroad.

He has been a Visiting Professor at Meredith College and at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and has taught in the Principals Executive Program at the University of North Carolina.

He earned the bachelor’s degree from North Carolina Central University, the master’s degree in educational administration from East Carolina University and the doctorate degree in the same field from Duke University. He has studied further at Elizabeth City State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Hampton University.

Flood has spoken in all 100 of North Carolina's counties. Also, he has spoken or conducted workshops in 48 of the 50 United States, in Bermuda, the District of Columbia, Canada, and Germany. His writings have been published in more than 25 journals and he has authored three books.

He has received more than 350 awards for civic service. He has been presented the Order of the Longleaf Pine Award (North Carolina's highest civic award), by three different Governors; Governor James G. Martin, Governor James B. Hunt, Jr., and Governor Mike Easley. He has received the Outstanding Alumni Award from both North Carolina Central University and East Carolina University, and has received the Doctorate of Humane Letters from both North Carolina Central University and the University of North Carolina in Asheville.

He served for twelve years on the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina. He currently serves on the N. C. Minority Cancer Awareness Action Team; the Public School Forum of North Carolina Board; the Wake Education Partnership Leadership Council; the UNC Press Advancement Council and on several other boards and committees. He is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. He is also a member of Martin Street Baptist Church in Raleigh where he serves as Sunday School Teacher. For fifty-five years, he was married to the late Barbara Thomas Flood whose inspiration he credits with any success that he has experienced.

Dr. Latreicia Allen is the 2026 Wells Fargo Sandhills Region Principal of the Year and a middle school principal in Cumberland County Schools. She began her career as an elementary teacher before transitioning into school administration, serving as both assistant principal and principal in a variety of diverse educational settings. 

Beyond her role as principal, Dr. Allen mentors aspiring and beginning administrators and facilitates professional learning focused on strategic leadership, building leadership capacity, and aligning school initiatives with improvement priorities. Grounded in a commitment to the whole child, she believes schools must create the conditions for every student to learn, grow, and thrive. Her leadership reflects a simple commitment: every child, every chance, every day.

Dr. MariaRosa Rangel has over twenty-five years of educational experience. She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Bilingual/ Bicultural and Elementary Education from the Northeastern University of Chicago, Illinois and her Master’s Degree in School Administration and Doctoral Degree in Education from North Carolina State University.  She has served as a third-grade Bilingual teacher, a GED instructor, Spanish / ESL Teacher, an Assistant Principal, a district wide LEP/ Dual Language Coordinator, and a Senior Administrator for Latino Outreach. 

Currently, Dr. Rangel serves as the Director for Family and Community Engagement in the Office of Equity Affairs for the Wake County Public School District (WCPSS). She is responsible for the planning, developing and coordinating family and community activities/events and programs to improve student's academic achievement; oversees the District Family Academy which offers FREE workshops and educational events for WCPSS families in various schools and community sites throughout Wake County. Dr. Rangel also provides Cultural Proficiency staff development to WCPSS faculty and staff.

Dr. Rangel is active and well respected within the Latino community. She serves as the Board Chair of Director for the North Carolina Society of Hispanic Professional, Chair for the NC. Governor’s Advisory Council on Hispanic/Latino Affairs, Chair for the Wake PTA Council DIE Subcommittee, Board of Directors Member and Secretary for the NC Education Corp, Board of Directors Member for the Marble Museum, Board of Directors Member of the Kramden Institute, Member for the N.C. Adelante Education Coalition, Member for the Consulate General of Mexico Local IME Scholarship Committee, Member of ALPES (Alianza Latina Proeducación en Salud), and Member of the Capítulo Raleigh Red Global MX (Raleigh Mexican Global Chapter).

As a Black Southern Woman-Researcher and cultural worker, I use Black History, Black Culture, and Black Spirituality to support individuals in their defining and acquisition of holistic success. College dropout turned Black PhD, I know first hand how the knowledge of our cultural legacy can change our lives for the better.  Currently, I serve as an Assistant Vice President of Academic Affairs and an Associate Professor at a mid-sized HBCU.  

I received my PhD from Emory University in Educational Studies.  As a proud HBCU graduate and administrator, my research interests include Black Educational History and Philosophy, Black Literacy Traditions, and Community-School Engagement.  I believe that through a critical exploration and examination of history, scholars and activists can collaboratively craft a narrative of hope, and plans for, the improvement of society. My current work examines the role of Black women’s literacy in the practices of Black spirituality, as well as Black educational activism and HBCU First Year Experience programming.  

Elijah Justice “EJ” Crawford is a freshman at Mauldin High School (Mauldin, SC) from Atlanta, Georgia and a participant it the Bridge Builder Program. He is passionate about anime, manga, and video games because while entertaining many of them illustrate the strength of the underdogs and real societal problems of today. He believes that the education system should not be so sensitive about topics of race and politics and instead should focus on preparing young people to make a better tomorrow.

Joel Ureña is a junior at Grimsley High School from Greensboro, North Carolina and a participant in the Bridge Builders Program. He is passionate about activism as well as producing music and baseball. He believes that all students deserve a safe place to learn and equal opportunities to ensure the best learning experience possible.

Margaret Adjoga-Otu is a first-generation Ghanaian-American educator, entrepreneur, author, public speaker, and lifelong learner who is committed to empowering others through education, culture, creativity, and faith. A dynamic and multifaceted leader, Margaret brings more than two decades of experience serving children, families, and communities.

Margaret holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English/Writing from Bloomfield College and a Master’s Degree in School Library Media Specialization/Educational Technology from New Jersey City University. She is currently a doctoral candidate in the Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations Program at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, where her scholarship reflects her passion for educational equity, culture, leadership, and transformative learning.

For more than two decades, Margaret served as a school librarian and educator in Newark, New Jersey, the city where she was born and raised. Her dedication to students, families, and education has earned her numerous awards and recognitions. She also served for several years as an adjunct professor at Rutgers University–Newark, teaching Creative Writing and Spoken Word to teens and providing them with opportunities for exploration, self-expression, and empowerment.

As an entrepreneur, Margaret is the owner of Genia’s Boutique African Handbags & Things, a business through which she celebrates and honors her Ghanaian heritage by curating and sharing authentic African accessories. She is also the author of Experience Biblical Evangelism Workbook, 2nd Edition, currently available in English and Portuguese.

Margaret has served in ministry as an evangelist for more than two decades, faithfully sharing the gospel throughout the East Coast of the United States, Hawaii, Ghana, and Mozambique. Her life and work reflect a deep commitment to education, cultural identity, service, faith, and empowering others to discover and use their voices.

Margaret currently resides in Greensboro, North Carolina, and works with Guilford County Schools. She continues to pursue her doctoral studies while inspiring others through education, entrepreneurship, public speaking, writing, and community engagement.

Megan Zogby earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from North Carolina State University and her master’s degree in education policy and analysis from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Passionate about education policy and creating opportunities for students to succeed, her graduate studies focused on researching initiatives to end or mitigate the school-to-prison pipeline, expanding career pathways by promoting entrepreneurship and certificate programs, and supporting early childhood development.

Currently, Megan serves as a Policy Analyst at The Hunt Institute, where she focuses on higher education policy research nationwide. Her portfolio encompasses carceral education, HBCU caucus work, educator diversity, workforce readiness, credentials of value, and more. With experience in program management and policy analysis, she strives to develop initiatives that help all students and communities thrive. Without diversity in all its forms—thought, ethnicity, religion, and geography—education cannot truly succeed.

Nnamdi Ebubedike is a senior at Westover High from Albany, Georgia and a participant in the Bridge Builders Program. He is passionate about Black History, joining the military, and his sport wrestling. He supports those no matter their color or background that are aiming to gain a better education, understand of the world around themselves, and make a difference.

Dr. Simona Goldin is a Research Associate Professor of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina. She had a Ph.D. in Educational Studies and a master’s degree in management and urban policy analysis. Her research and scholarship consider efforts to transform the preparation of beginning teachers to teach in more racially just and equitable ways. Her most recent work has looked carefully at the ways that innovations are weaponized against the very communities they are meant to support. Goldin serves as co-chair of the Equity in Schools Project Team on the UNC Commission on History, Race, and a Way Forward.

Dr. Vincent Willis is an Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences in New College with a joint appointment in the Department of American Culture & Society at the University of Alabama. His research and teaching analyze how the dueling ideas of democracy profoundly shape public education historically and how those issues shape our contemporary understanding of educational equality. His first book, Audacious Agitation: Black Youth and the Uncompromising Commitment to Equal Education Post-Brown (University of Georgia Press), is a historical analysis of the sociopolitical factors that contributed to the perpetuation of a racially stratified educational system and the various ways black youth responded after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. Vincent is working on his second book, Exhaustive Defiance: Black Youth and the Persistent Quest to Democratizing Extracurricular Activities in Public Schools, 1964-1975, which (re)constructs a history of competing philosophies about the right to participate in extracurricular activities during the freedom of choice phase of desegregation. Vincent’s research agenda reflects a commitment to understanding the nuances of educational equality from the perspective of marginalized communities. He earned his PhD in Educational History from Emory University, a MA in African and African American Studies from the Ohio State University, and a BA in African American Studies from Morehouse College. He is a 2019-2020 National Academy of Education (NAEd)/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow.