Human-Centered History
RICH BENJAMIN
Predictive Anthropologist | Cultural Visionary | Social Leader | Acclaimed Author
Benjamin’s latest book, Talk to Me: Lessons from a Family Forged by History, encourages readers to become active agents of history and has been received “not only as a portrait of Benjamin’s family, but as a bold, pugnacious portrait of America.”
AKEMI JOHNSON
Acclaimed Journalist and Author | Descendant of Japanese American Incarceration Survivor
Akemi’s grandfather renounced his U.S. citizenship alongside 5,000 other Japanese Americans after being incarcerated during WWII. She shares his story and her own mixed-race multigenerational experiences because it cultivates community.
Danyel Smith
Award-winning music journalist | Producer | Former Editor-in-Chief of VIBE
“Danyel is one of the nation’s most astute chroniclers of pop and hip-hop culture.” — The New Yorker
WENDY PEARLMAN
Refugee and Migration Storyteller | Middle East Political Scientist | Renowned Oral Historian
A scholar of Middle East politics and author of the critically-acclaimed oral histories chronicling the Syrian uprising, war, and refugee crisis, Wendy asks audiences: What can refugees' stories teach us about home?
LEE HAWKINS
Pulitzer Prize Finalist Journalist and Author | 19-years at WSJ | Podcast Creator and Host
Lee’s critically acclaimed memoir, I Am Nobody’s Slave: How Uncovering My Family’s History Set Me Free, is an introspective journey into his family history, tracing its roots to pre-Revolutionary America. Utilizing genetic testing, investigative reporting, and historical documentation, Lee explores 400 years of his family’s lineage.
Jasmine Brown
Doctor | Rhodes Scholar | Author of TWICE AS HARD, an invaluable history of black women physicians
Black women physicians’ stories have gone untold for far too long, leaving gaping holes in American medical history, in women’s history, and in black history. It’s time to set the record straight.
NICHOLAS BUCCOLA
Political Theorist and Philosopher | Awarding-winning Author
Historical clashes over ideals still divide American politics today. As a political philosopher, Nick uncovers dramatic stories of pivotal figures from history and reveals what they can still teach us about the practice of freedom.
Brando Simeo Starkey
Groundbreaking Historian Fighting for Justice and Freedom from Caste | Law and Policy Expert
Their Accomplices Wore Robes takes readers from the Civil War era to the present and describes how the Supreme Court aligned with the enemies of Black progress to undermine the promise of the Constitution’s Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments.
DOUGLAS BOIN
Award-winning Archaeologist | Historian of Ancient Rome | Acclaimed Educator and Author
Doug’s books analyze the past to help readers navigate and better understand the present. Doug shares the hidden stories of history to ensure that Rome and all its stories remain accessible, compelling, and above all, unexpectedly relevant to all.
RAQUEL CEPEDA
Award-winning Journalist & Documentary Filmmaker | Cultural Activist
Raquel’s award-winning documentary, LA MADRINA: THE SAVAGE OF LORINE PADILLA, follows a beloved South Bronx matriarch and former “First Lady” of the Savage Skulls gang as she struggles to remain visible in a rapidly gentrifying community she helped rebuild in the 1980s.
ANDREA FREEMAN
AUTHOR | LAW PROFESSOR | FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR | food oppression scholar
Andrea pioneered the theory of food oppression, which examines how food law and policy, influenced by corporate interests, disproportionately harms marginalized communities, and authored Ruin Their Crops on the Ground: The Politics of Food in the United States, from the Trail of Tears to School Lunch.