Stephanie Deutsch

Author of the book ​You Need a Schoolhouse: Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald, and the Building of Schools for the Segregated South

Stephanie Deutsch is the author of ​You Need a Schoolhouse, Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald and the Building of Schools for the Segregated South​, published by Northwestern University Press. Since the book came out in 2011, she has been a frequent speaker at Rosenwald school alumni events, at public and private schools, and at Q&A sessions after the documentary film “Rosenwald.” She writes often for neighborhood newspapers and her book reviews have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Times, the Weekly Standard and on the Millions Blog. She is currently at work on a book about the men and women whose work was supported by Julius Rosenwald fellowships. Stephanie lives in Washington, D.C. where, for twenty years, she has served as chairman of the grants committee of the Capitol Hill Community Foundation which raises and gives away $250,000 a year in small grants. She is married to retired television director David Deutsch; she is the mother of four grown children and grandmother to five little boys.

Enimini Ekong

Superintendent of Nicodemus National Historic Site Chief of Education and Interpretation at Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site

Enimini Ekong currently serves as the Superintendent of Nicodemus National Historic Site and Chief of Education and Interpretation at Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site. Since joining the National Park Service in 2010, Enimini has worked at eight different park units holding positions as an Interpretive Ranger, Training Instructor, Park Curator, and Public Information Officer before taking on his current roles. He serves in a number of collateral roles both for his agency and the Department of Interior as a bureau. One of his more notable roles came in 2016 when he was given the distinguished pleasure of serving as one of five Centennial Ambassadors to nationally represent the National Park Service during their 100​th​ anniversary. A native of Dallas, Texas Enimini Ekong earned his Bachelors of Arts degree in History from Baylor University, Waco, Texas and a Master’s of Arts degree in African American

Studies from Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland. Enimini currently resides in Topeka, Kansas with his lovely wife and three children.

John W. Franklin National Museum of African American History and Culture Smithsonian Institution (retired)

John W. Franklin served as the cultural historian and senior manager in the Office of External Affairs, as the National Museum of African American History and Culture. For more than 30 years, he has worked on African American, Africa and African Diaspora programs at the Smithsonian. Some of his roles included researcher for the African Diaspora program of the Bicentennial Folklife Festival; symposia/seminar developer for the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies; and curator for Folklife Festival programs on the Bhamas, Cape Verde, Washington D.C., and Mali. Franklin served on a variety of boards and commissions, including the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture, the board of the Reginald Lewis Maryland Museum of African American History and Culture, the board of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and the

Washington D.C. Commission on African American Affairs. He edited ​My Life and an Era: the Autobiography of Buck Colbert Franklin ​with his father, John Hope Franklin.

Déanda Johnson Midwest Regional Manager National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program in Omaha, NE.

Déanda Johnson is a historian with the National Park Service (NPS). Since 2010, she has served as the Midwest Regional Manager for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Program. In this capacity, she works with local, state, and federal entities, as well as other interested parties to preserve, promote, and educate the public about the history of the Underground Railroad. Previously, Johnson was the Coordinator of the African American Research and Service Institute at Ohio University. There she was involved with the “The African American Presence in the Ohio River Valley Oral History Project” and also served as a visiting instructor in the Department of African American Studies. She received her

BA from University of California, San Diego and her MA and PhD in American Studies from the College of William & Mary.

Brent Leggs

Executive Director of the African American Cultural Heritage Fund National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C.

Brent Leggs is the Executive Director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund – a $25,000,000 campaign of the National Trust for Historic Preservation to fill an important gap in the nation’s cultural heritage landscape. A Harvard University Loeb Fellow and author of Preserving African American Historic Places, Brent is a national leader in the U.S. cultural preservation movement and the 2018 recipient of the Robert G. Stanton national preservation award. Brent has developed the Northeast African American Historic Places Outreach Program, and its theme, the Business of Preservation, to build a regional movement of preservation leaders saving important landmarks in African American history. As the project manager for several National Treasure campaigns across the country, he led efforts to create the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument in

Alabama, which President Barack Obama designated in January 2017. Other campaign successes include Villa Lewaro, the estate of Madam C. J. Walker in Irvington, New York; Joe Frazier’s Gym in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson, New Jersey; A. G. Gaston Motel in Birmingham; Nina Simone’s birthplace in Tryon, North Carolina, John and Alice Coltrane’s home in Huntington, New York; and more. Brent has taught at Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania, and Boston Architectural College. Currently, he is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Maryland’s Graduate Program in Historic Preservation.

Ajena Rogers Supervisory Park Ranger Maggie Walker NHS in Richmond, VA

Ajena Cason Rogers has been the Supervisory Park Ranger at Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site since 2010 where she manages day-to-day interpretive operations, program development, and community outreach. Ajena has been a National Park Service interpreter since 1984 and often feels she “grew up in the Park Service.” During her career she has worked on the Blue Ridge Parkway, at Booker T. Washington National Monument, Independence National Historical Park, and Valley Forge National Historical Park, but feels that being at Maggie L. Walker NHS is the perfect fit. “It allows me to bring together my love of historical storytelling, my passion for interpreting the experiences of women and African Americans, and the community leadership and public history skills I learned through the years to help more people know about a wonderful, inspirational leader such as Maggie Walker - a dream come true!”

Alan Spears

Cultural Resources Director

National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA)

Alan Spears uses real-life stories and a conversational style to connect with his audiences. A longtime NPCA legislative representative and resident historian, he has helped ensure that important national stories are preserved for posterity. Recent victories include the addition of five national monuments to the park system: Fort Monroe, Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad, Colonel Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers, Delaware First State, and Pullman National Monument.

His favorite national park is Gettysburg National Military Park.

A People Moving: How the National Park Service and Preservationists Tell the Story of Black Migrations Wednesday October 2, 2019 From the forced migration of the African slave trade to the ​Exodusters of the 1870s; from the Underground Railroad to the resettlement of contemporary African Americans to the rural south; migration has always been at the heart of the African and African American experience in the western hemisphere, North American and the United States. Many of the stories and resources associated with black migration are managed and preserved by the National Park Service (NPS). ​A People Moving: How the National Park Service and Preservationists Tell the Story of Black Migrations will examine how black migration influenced our history as well as the contemporary social norms, economics and politics throughout the western hemisphere and the United States. Panelists: Brent Leggs​, Executive Director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund of the Trust for Historic Preservation. Stephanie Deutsch​, Author of the book “​You Need a Schoolhouse: Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald and the Building of Schools for the Segregated South​.” Enimini Ekong​, Superintendent of Nicodemus National Historic Site (KS) John W. Franklin,​ National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution (retired) Deanda Johnson,​ Midwest Regional Manager of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program (NPS)

Ajena Rogers​, Supervisory Park Ranger at Maggie Walker National Historic Site (VA) Moderator: Alan Spears, Cultural Resources Director – National Parks Conservation Association Greetings: Madeleine Starkey, Senior Executive Assistant – National Parks Conservation Association