Wyoming Arts Council

Filmmaker Karsonya Whitehead: "Notes from a Colored Girl: Using Archival Sources to Reconstruct History"

Featured News | March 23, 2015

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From a University of Wyoming press release:

Karsonya Whitehead, who meets regularly with President Barack Obama to discuss civil rights and gender issues, and has researched race issues in Ferguson, Mo., will be at the University of Wyoming Tuesday, March 24, for a workshop and public talk.

Whitehead, an assistant professor of communication and African and African American Studies at Loyola University Maryland, will offer a workshop, “From Ferguson to Wyoming: Finding Ways to Bend Our Privilege to Bring About Change,” from 12:15-1:15 p.m. in the Wyoming Union East Ballroom. She also will discuss “Notes From a Colored Girl: Using Archival Sources to Reconstruct History” at 7 p.m. in the Wyoming Union West Ballroom.

She is the founding executive director of the Emilie Frances Davis Center for Education, Research and Culture; a K-12 master teacher in African-American history; an award-winning curriculum writer and lesson plan developer; an award-winning former Baltimore middle school teacher; and a three-­time New York Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker.

Whitehead was selected last year to moderate the White House’s Black History Month panel co-sponsored by Obama and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). She was one of the featured speakers at the 2014 Youth Mentoring Summit at the U.S. Capitol in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington; and was one of four experts selected nationwide to present at the White House’s 2013 Black History Month panel co-sponsored by Obama and ASALH.

Whitehead has trained more than 2,500 K-12 teachers throughout the country on how to become culturally responsive teachers in diverse environments.

She received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland-Baltimore County in the language, literacy and culture program; an M.A. from the University of Notre Dame in international peace studies; and a B.A. from Lincoln University (Pennsylvania).

For more information, contact Tracey Patton, UW African American and Diaspora Studies Program director and Department of Communication and Journalism professor, at (307) 766-3857 or topatton@uwyo.edu.

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