“The Herstory of Black Women of the American West” Panel Discussion

Oceanside Museum of Art (OMA), North County African American Women’s Association (NCAAWA) and Oceanside Public Library (OPL) are partnering to present a free lecture for the community, “The Herstory of Black Women in the American West: Renowned Historian, Experts, and Descendants Panel Discussion.” This event will be held on Sunday, February 26 at 2:00 p.m. at Oceanside Museum of Art, 704 Pier View Way, in honor of Black History Month. The Panel Discussion starts at 2:00pm with a reception of light refreshments to follow. There is limited capacity. Please register by visiting http://bit.ly/herstory-oma.

Explore the struggles, triumphs, and significance of the brave African American women who made a life on the frontier, led by a panel of experts including Shawntae Mitchum, Dr. Kevin Waite, Angela Wilkinson, and Jackie Broxton and moderated by Edwina Williams.

Shawntae Mitchum is an Associate Faculty member in the Sociology Department at MiraCosta College, and Co-Creator/Coordinator of their very first campus-based Black Community Ally Training (BCAT). Her theoretical training is in Black Feminism and Critical Race Theory and she is working on her Ph.D in Sociology at the University of Southern California.

Dr. Kevin Waite is an associate professor of history at Durham University and the author of West of Slavery: The Southern Dream of a Transcontinental Empire and is currently writing a history of the life and times of Biddy Mason, a formerly enslaved woman who help build Black Los Angeles. His articles have appeared in The Atlantic, National Geographic, The Los Angeles Times, HuffPost, Slate, The New Republic, and The Washington Post, among others.

Angela Wilkinson is a keeper of her family history and descendent of Hannah Smith-Embers, close friend to Biddy Mason, and mother of Israel Beal, who played a significant role in the development of the City of Redlands and building the original Big Bear Dam in the San Bernardino Mountains.

Jackie Broxton serves as the President and CEO of the Biddy Mason Charitable Foundation, created in 2013, providing services and support to both current and former foster youth in Los Angeles County. She is currently completing a series of six one act plays on conversations between Biddy Mason and other early Los Angeles settlers. Jackie is also a Community Outreach Director for the Long Journey to Freedom, an international research project examining the life of Biddy Mason.

Edwina Williams, who will moderate the panel, is an Associate Faculty member in the Sociology Department at MiraCosta College and Part-Time Faculty in Ethnic Studies Department at Palomar College, with a B.A. in Psychology and M.A. in Sociological Practice from California State University San Marcos.

For more information, or to see other upcoming events, visit the Oceanside Public Library website, www.oceansidepubliclibrary.org, Oceanside Museum of Art, www.oma-online.org, or North African American Women’s Association, www.ncaawa.org.