This webinar is the final installment of a six-part Zoom webinar series designed to offer guidance and strategies around how to sustain our institutions in this moment. The series will leverage the expertise of sixteen heritage practitioners from across the country to address numerous topics.
The last year has been a tumultuous time for cultural heritage institutions across the country, including North Carolina. Join us for a conversation with four leading cultural professionals to learn how their institutions have navigated our difficult times.
Presenters
Rodney Dawson is originally from High Point, N.C. He received a well-rounded and fulfilling education from Montlieu Elementary, Jamestown Middle, and Southwest High Schools. At each stop, Rodney had teachers that provided care, nurturing, and interest in his well-being and success. Most importantly and along with his mother, they helped developed his desire to serve. Shortly after high school, Rodney entered the U.S. Army and received his first duty assignment in South Korea, followed by the Persian Gulf War, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq.
Upon returning home, Rodney began a career in radio which unexpectedly led to education. All the while, Rodney used his experiences and resources gained from military service to continue his education. Wanting to understand how to best serve students, he then went on to receive an Ed. S in Educational Leadership. At present, Mr. Dawson is pursuing an Educational Doctorate in Educational Leadership. Rodney has worked in education and mass communications for the past 20 years and is always striving to seek better ways to equip and serve our learners to be able compete successfully in our global society. Rodney left the classroom in June of 2018 and today Rodney serves as the Education Curator for the Greensboro History Museum.
Angela Lee is the Executive Director of the Hayti Heritage Center, an historic cultural arts and arts education venue in Durham, NC. The Center serves as a cultural hub for the city’s African American community and provides core programs in visual and performing arts, and offers facility rentals and historic tours. The venue, originally opened as a church in 1891, is listed on the national historic registry.
Lee has served as Executive Director since 2013 and guides the organization in its mission of preserving and advancing the history and culture of historic Hayti and the African American experience through programs that benefit the broader community locally, nationally and globally.
In addition to her work with Hayti, Lee is Chair of Durham’s Cultural Advisory Board and serves on the board of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, a State supported corporation with a mission to bring together communities and volunteers to build a simple footpath connecting the State’s natural treasures for the enjoyment and education of people.
Lee recognizes that the arts are a critical vehicle for social justice and change. Her advocacy and activism extend beyond her work and into the community she serves and the community in which she lives. Her home is Chapel Hill.
Frachele Scott is a native of Oxford, NC. She began studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her B.A. in Political Science in 1999. She moved to Durham to attend law school in 2001. Scott received her Juris Doctorate from North Carolina Central University School of Law in 2004. For just over a decade, she served as manager of two historic site properties with the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. She currently serves as Managing Director of the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice. She serves as attorney, strategic consultant or board member to several institutions and organizations including the Durham County Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC),Oxford United Investors (OUI) and NCCU School of Law's Board of Visitors. Her interests include history, horses, and travel.
Lacey Wilson is the Site Manager for the Charlotte Hawkins Brown State Historic Site in Gibsonville, NC where she is honored to continue to tell the story or Dr. Brown and the Palmer Memorial Institute. Lacey holds an M.A. in History with a concentration in Museum Studies from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), where she collaborated on "Etched in Stone? Governor Charles Aycock and the Power of Commemoration," a permanent exhibition and winner of the 2019 Award of Excellence and the 2019 History in Progress Award from the American Association for State and Local History. Prior to the Hawkins Brown site, Lacey worked as a historic interpreter at the Owens-Thomas House and Slave Quarters in Savannah, GA. teaching economics and politics in urban slavery from the 1810s to the 1850s. This work was highlighted in The New York Times and on NPR’s 1A radio show. She is an active member of the National Council of Public History, where she serves on the Advocacy Committee, and the Diversity and Inclusion Committee. Additionally, she is an active member of the Black Interpreters Guild, promoting black interpreters' work across this country. Her headshot is courtesy of Hunter McRae, an NYT photographer.
Registration is now closed. A recording will be created following the presentation.
NC African American Heritage Commission received a NC CARES: Humanities Relief Grant from the North Carolina Humanities Council, www.nchumanities.org. Funding for NC CARES has been provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act economic stabilization plan.
