A diverse group of artists, advisers, academics, curators, and museum professionals selected the MEN OF CHANGE. This exhibition starts a fresh conversation about change and the broader community.
Our advisors’ work lifts up a deserving group of African American men who will not allow anything or anyone to keep them from becoming the best they can be—a powerful, collective drop in a river of change agents.
Stanley Crouch Jazz critic and political commentator. Crouch’s work appears in The New York Times, Vogue, and The New Yorker, and other publications. A 1993 recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship (the so-called “genius grant”), Crouch is a former jazz drummer.
Morgan Debaun CEO and founder of Blavity. Since its launch in 2014, the brand has given voice to black millennials’ viral culture and social commentary. This platform for young creators to showcase their work reaches over 20 million people a month.
Howard Dodson Renowned scholar, author, and curator. Dodson served as director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture for more than 25 years. His support was critical to the success of New York City’s African Burial Ground project. Dodson most recently served as the director of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center and the Howard University Libraries.
Shawn Dove CEO of the Campaign for Black Male Achievement (CBMA). CMBA is a national membership organization dedicated to ensuring the growth, sustainability, and impact of leaders and organizations focused on improving the life outcomes of America’s black men and boys.
Juanita Moore Former president and CEO of the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Prior to her tenure at the Wright, Moore was Executive Director of the American Jazz Museum and the founding Executive Director of the National Civil Rights Museum.
William Rhoden Writer-at-large for ESPN’s The Undefeated. Rhoden’s Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete examines the evolution and manipulation of black athletes from the plantation to today’s industry. He was a New York Times sports columnist for 34 years.
Trabian Shorters Founder and CEO of BMe Community. Prior to BMe Community, one of the nation’s largest social entrepreneur fellowship for black men, Shorters served as Vice President of the Knight Foundation and Director of Ashoka United States.
Greg Tate Musician, producer, professor, and writer. The founding member of the Black Rock Coalition and leader of Burnt Sugar, has worked on African American music and culture in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Rolling Stone among other publications.
Hank Willis Thomas Conceptual artist. Thomas’ work uses popular culture and advertising as a lens to examine racial identity— especially black male identity. Thomas co-created “Question Bridge: Black Males,” a transmedia project that facilitates dialogue between black men.
Maurice Jackson, PhD Professor at Georgetown University in the History Department and African American Studies Program and Affiliated Professor of Music (Jazz). A published author, Dr. Jackson has served on the Washington, D.C. Commission on African American Affairs and on Georgetown University’s working group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation.
Hasan Kwame Jeffries, PhD Professor and author in the Department of History at The Ohio State University. Specializing in African American history, Dr. Jeffries has taught courses on the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement and surveys in African American and American history.
Tyree Boyd-Pates Curator, professor, writer, and speaker. Boyd-Pates expounds on black culture from a millennial vantage and mobilizes communities of color through journalism, social media, and education. As a history curator at the California African American Museum, Boyd-Pates develops exhibitions and public programs.
Fath Davis Ruffins Curator of African American History and Culture in the Division of Home and Community Life at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Ruffins specializes in ethnic imagery in popular culture, the history of advertising, the history of African American preservation efforts, and the origins of ethnic museums on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.