The Contemplative Court with its beautiful cascading waterfall. National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington DC, January 4, 2017. (Photo: Regennia N. Williams)
Congress is back in session on Capital Hill, and the newly-elected representative for my community in Maryland’s 4th District, Congressman Anthony Brown, is also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. My classes at UDC’s Community College on North Capital Street will be back in session next Monday, vocalist Gladys Knight is the featured artist for an upcoming Kennedy Center tribute to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Presidential Inauguration — and related protests — are planned for the third weekend in January. It appears that there will be no shortage of things for “We the People” to do in the Capital City this month.
In addition to the many high-profile events, however, there will also be countless, more subtle reminders in our textbooks and our houses of worship, on concert stages, and on the National Mall–including those at the National Museum of African American History and Culture–of what freedom-loving people can accomplish, even in the most difficult times. My hope is that we will take the time to contemplate and be inspired by these lessons from our shared past, even as we struggle to create a brighter future.
“I cherish my own freedom dearly, but I care even more for your freedom.” — Nelson Mandela
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
About Dr. Regennia N. Williams, Founder, President, and Executive Director
Dr. Regennia N. Williams is the Founder and Executive Director of The RASHAD Center, Inc., a Maryland-based non-profit educational corporation.
Williams holds a PhD in Social History and Policy from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. A native Clevelander and a four-time alumna of Cleveland State University, information on RASHAD's “Praying Grounds, African American Faith Communities: A Documentary and Oral History” project is now available online at www.ClevelandMemory.org/pray/, a site that is maintained by CSU's Library Special Collections, home of the Praying Grounds manuscript collections. Praying Grounds was the primary inspiration for the launching of the Initiative for the Study of Religion and Spirituality in the History of Africa and the Diaspora (RASHAD) at CSU, and links to RASHAD's scholarly journal and newsletter are also available on the Praying Grounds site. On April 28, 2020, the RASHAD Center, Inc. became a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
In 2010, Dr. Williams was a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at Nigeria’s Obafemi Awolowo University, where she taught history and directed a RASHAD-related oral history project that focused on the role of religion in recent Nigerian social history. Other research-related travels have taken her to Canada, China, France, South Africa, and Austria.
In 2013, she conceived and produced “Come Sunday @ 70: The Place of Duke Ellington’s Sacred Jazz in World History and Culture, c. 1943-2013,” a project that included scholarly presentations and performing arts activities. From September 1993 until May 2015, she was a faculty member in the Department of History at Cleveland State University. She served as a Fulbright Specialist at South Africa's University of the Free State in the summer of 2019, and completed a short-term faculty residency at Howard University in the fall of 2019. She is based in Cleveland, Ohio.
As a public scholar, her current research projects focus on African American history and culture, especially as it relates to music, religion, and spirituality. She is a member of the Oral History Association, the Western Reserve Historical Society, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The RASHAD Center, Inc. 