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Featured Speakers
Bernell K. Grier is Senior Vice-President and Director of Fleet Bank N.A.'s Community Banking Unit. She spearheads Fleet's community development efforts in the Metro New York and New Jersey areas, promoting credit and other community investments that provide economic growth and neighborhood development in low and moderate income areas and for income qualified individuals and small businesses. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the David Rockerfeller Fellowship Program. Ms. Grier serves as member of several boards and committees including Trickle Up, The Open Housing Center, the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and is Chair of the Harlem YMCA Black Achievers in Industry Project.

Beverly Guy-Sheftall is the Anna Julia Cooper Professor of Womenís Studies and the founding director of Womenís Research and Resource Center at Spelman College. She is editor of Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought, coeditor of Sturdy Black Bridges: Visions of Black Women in Literature and Double Stitch: Black Women Write about Mothers and Daughters. She is author of Daughters of Sorrow: Attitudes Toward Black Women 1880-1920 and is the founding coeditor of SAGE: A Scholarly Journal of Black Women.

Mal Johnson was the first female radio and television correspondent in the Cox Washington News Bureau. During her assignment as White House Correspondent, she covered four U.S. presidents, traveling extensively to numerous countries of the world, including the first historical Summits with President Nixon to China and the Soviet Union. She is a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Broadcast Association for Community Affairs. Ms. Johnson is the 1990 inductee in the Journalist Hall of Fame the recipient of the 1994 Women of Strength Award.

Tess Onwueme is one of Africaís leading female writers and her works have earned recognition on stage in Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. Recipient of numerous awards and prizes, her plays have included A Hen Too Soon, The Reign of Wazobia, Go Tell It to Women, and an anthology, Three Plays published by Wayne State University. She writes and teaches about African cultural traditions and other contemporary socio-political issues, especially as they relate to rural and urban women.

Kate Rushin is the award-winning author of The Black-Back-Ups. Her work has appeared in Sojourner and Callaloo and in many other publications. This past year she was on faculty for The Cave Canem Spring NYC Poetry Workshop and was a presenter and featured poet with Poets House at the American Library Association. Rushin is currently Visiting Writer and Adjunct Professor of African-American Studies at Wesleyan University.

Barbara Smith is an activist, editor and publisher. Founder and Publisher Emeritus of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press, she is currently researching and writing a history of Black lesbians and gays in the United States. The Kitchen Table Collectiveís best sellers include: This Bridge Called My Back and Home Girls. Additionally Smith co-edited Conditions: Five, The Black Womenís Issue and All the Women Are White, All the Blacks are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave: Black Womenís Studies.

Tonea (Tommie) Stewart is director of theater at Alabama State University and a professional actress. She has had recurring roles on NBC's series "In the Heat of the Night" and "Walker, Texas Ranger." Her film credits include "Mississippi Burning," "Living Large," "Roses," "A Time to Kill," "Gramps," and "Mama Flora's Family." She has received many awards including a 1999 Gabriel Award (for best dramatic narration in radio) and a Gold Medal Award for her 1998 narration of "Remembering Slavery," which re-told the stories of African-American slaves in their own words. The program aired on International Public Radio.

Featured Event
On Saturday, October 7, at 8:00pm, JUCA, a unique and powerful trio, focusing on reggae with the influences of traditional African, rock, gospel, folk and jazz, will be performing. Conference registration included a ticket to this event.

Members of the trio JUCA: Judith Casselberry has over 25 years professional musical experience. From 1979-1995, as vocalist and guitarist with the internationally renowned duo Casselberry-DuPreé, enabling her to share the stage with Odetta, Richie Havens, Stevie Wonder and Ladysmith Black Mombazo among others. She has performed throughout the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe and Northern Africa. As a solo vocalist/guitarist, she has performed with Nona Hendryx, Laurie Anderson, Toshi Reagon, Lillian Allen and Linda Tillery.

Lovejoy has over 22 years professional musical experience with artists such as Majek Sashek & The Prisoners of Conscience, Urban Bush Women, Toshi Reagon, Riddamathon, Ancestral Messengers and the New York Symphony Orchestra. She has brought her talents to the stages of Carnegie Hall, Actors Playhouse, BAM, the African Burial Ground and Lincoln Center.

Debra Kenya McGee has over 25 years professional musical experience. Extensive touring throughout the United States, Canada and Europe with Edwina Lee Tyler & A Piece Of The World, Women of the Calabash, Sabar Ak Ru Afriq, Asé Drumming Circle, Faith Ringold, Ancestral Messengers and African Contempo. A teacher and scholar of African drumming, percussion and dance, she has taught and/or performed the music of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Zaire, West Indies and African-American gospel.