IU experts available to comment on significance of Juneteenth holiday

De Bryant founded the participatory action research Social Action Project and expanded it into neighborhoods in Michiana, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa. She teaches classes on social justice, human behavior and social institutions at the IU South Bend Civil Rights Heritage Center and is a member of the center’s Advisory Board to extend its influence in the community and as a force for social justice.

Heather K. Calloway is executive director of university collections at Indiana University. Her position has broad responsibility for the stewardship of IU’s myriad collections, consistent with the university’s teaching, research and service missions.

Veronica Derricks is an assistant professor of psychology at the School of Science at IUPUI. She examines conditions under which targeted efforts to engage minoritized groups are beneficial (and when they might backfire) across various contexts.

Leslie Etienne is the founding executive director of the Center for Africana Studies and Culture through the School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. He is a clinical associate professor of Africana studies and director of the Africana Studies Program at IUPUI.

Gloria Howell is the director of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center at Indiana University Bloomington. She is also faculty coordinator for a first-year experience and introductory research course for freshman Hudson and Holland Scholars. Her research focuses on Black students broadly, specifically identity development and affirmation, culturally relevant pedagogy and curricular practices, and the effects of student activism on institutional change.

Lasana D. Kazembe is an assistant professor in the IUPUI School of Education’s Department of Urban Teacher Education and in the Africana Studies Program. He is a published poet, spoken-word artist, educational consultant, and scholar of urban teacher education, global Black arts movements, and the Black radical tradition in education.

Jakobi Williams is the Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor of African American and African Diaspora studies at IU Bloomington. He has held positions at the University of Kentucky, UCLA and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His research interests are centered on questions of resistance and social justice.