By Regennia N. Williams, PhD
Author Toni Morrison (1931-2019) has long been my muse of choice. A native of Lorain, Ohio, Morrison’s work never fails to inspire and amaze me, whether I am in my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio or some other great location.
On April 1, 2025, the first day of National Month of Hope, Jazz Appreciation Month, and National Poetry Month, Morrison’s life inspired me to organize my thoughts for upcoming research and writing projects on photojournalism, African American art, oral history, memory, and community.
My motivational reading for April 1st was “Toni Morrison’s Beloved: History, ‘Rememory,’ and a ‘Clamor for a Kiss.'” This insightful article by Caroline Rody reminded me of why I love Beloved, Jazz, and other Morrison novels from the late 20th century, especially her understanding of Black history and culture.
I will keep reading works by and about Morrison whenever I need inspiration and motivation for my own work in 2025-2026. You are more than welcome to join me on this reading and writing journey.
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. 