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Jefferson Performing Arts Society hosts a Zoom panel discussion about Paul Robeson with local musicians, actors, lawyers, linguists, historians, and others who represent and reflect various aspects of Robeson's dynamic life. Panelists will be asked to reflect on how Robeson's accomplishments affected their own career paths and shaped their life journey.
The panel will also address current BIPOC struggles. What has been accomplished since Robeson first made strides in the areas of law, sports, theater, film, social activism, and academics? What is still lagging? What can we do to help move the needle?
Following the discussion moderated by Todd Simmons, Executive Director of JPAS, there will be a Q&A session open to all attendees.
Dr. EVA SEMIEN BAHAM
Dr. Eva Semien Baham is as an assistant professor of history at Dillard University, in New Orleans, Louisiana. Prior to coming to Dillard, she taught for twenty-one years at Southern University, Baton Rouge. Her specialties include American, African-American and Intellectual history. She received her undergraduate degree in journalism from Southern University in Baton Rouge and her Masters of Arts and her Ph.D. in American Studies/History from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. She is the founder of the research organization, université sans murs, l.l.c., translated as University Without Walls, under which she conducts genealogical research projects. At present, those projects involves the Baham, Robert, Kelly, Simien and White families of south Louisiana. Currently, her work involves genealogy, biographical studies and the history of African Americans in Louisiana. Her most recent project is the book, African Americans in Covington (Arcadia Publishing, 2015).
BRUCE “SUNPIE” BARNES
Bruce Sunpie Barnes is a New Orleans musician, book author and ethnographic photographer. Sunpie is the Big Chief of the Northside Skull and Bone Gang, one of the oldest Afro-Creole carnival groups in the United States. He is a member of the Black Men of Labor Social Aid and Pleasure Club and the band leader of Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots. Sunpie is a former National Park Service Ranger, former high school biology teacher, former college football All-American, and former NFL football player (Kansas City Chiefs). He has traveled to over 53 countries playing his own style of what he calls Afro-Louisiana music incorporating blues, zydeco, creole jazz, gospel, work songs, Caribbean and African influenced rhythms and melodies. He has recorded 7 critically acclaimed CDs and his music has been featured in 16 Hollywood film productions. He is a former member of the Paul Simon Band that embarked on a 58-city and 48 country world tour,“Paul Simon and Sting Together” in 2014, 2015, and 2016.
DIANNE HONORÉ DESTREHAN
New Orleans 6th ward native Dianne “Gumbo Marie” Honore’ is a local history buff, event producer and award-winning cultural preservationist who founded the Black Storyville Baby Dolls™, the Amazons Benevolent Society™, and co-founded Unheard Voices of Louisiana™. She has written, produced and presented many history-related music and food events, panel discussions, tours, and exhibits over several decades. In addition to appearances on nationally syndicated television and promotional materials for Louisiana tourism she also hosted a live local television show focused on New Orleans history and current events. She was awarded the 2013 Recognition Award by the Louisiana Research Association for outstanding contributions to society through Truthful Historical Storytelling and in 2018 she received the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame "Capturing the Spirit" Award for work in the community and cultural preservation efforts.
IVAN GRIFFIN
Vocal instructor and bass-baritone Ivan Griffin brings an extensive operatic and theatrical background to Loyola University New Orleans. His engagements have included Lawyer Frazier in Michigan Opera Theatre’s Porgy and Bess, a role that he was invited to reprise during an extensive European tour. He has also appeared as Rev. Olin Blitch in Susannah with Buffalo Lyric Opera, Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro and Papageno in The Magic Flute with Fayetteville Summer Opera and Western New York Opera Theater, respectively, as well as in several performances with New Orleans' OperaCreole.
Since returning to New Orleans in 2012, he has appeared with New Orleans Opera Association in Madame Butterfly(Imperial Commissioner), Der Vampyr (Toms Blunt), La Boheme (Benoit), and Carmen (Lt. Zuniga). Additionally, he has also been a featured artist with Opera Louisiane in Baton Rouge.
A soloist at Trinity Episcopal Church, Ivan also serves on the faculties of Xavier University of Louisiana and the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music. Ivan also recently released his first solo album, Finding My Way Back To Me, which is available on iTunes, Amazon, and other digital formats.
GIVONNA JOSEPH
As Founder and Artistic Director of the award-winning OperaCréole, Ms. Joseph’s research on operatic composers of African descent has been featured in The New Yorker, Southern Living magazine, and on NPR. She was previously honored as a standard bearer of Louisiana culture on Le Grand Tour, a documentary for French TV, and Music Inside Out with Gwen Thompkins. Her company received The Gambit affiliated Classical Arts Awards in 2018, and 2019. In 2020, The Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA) of Washington, D.C. honored them.
Since 2011, the international soloist, along with her daughter, OperaCréole co-founder Aria Mason, has successfully mounted lost operas by composers of color such as Samuel Coleridge Taylor's Thelma, and Lucien Lambert’s La Flamenca. In 2018 they created an original opera The Lions of Reconstruction: From Black Codes to the Ballot Box in honor of New Orleans’ tricentennial.
Ms. Joseph teaches private voice, and specializes in Arts Integration using the science of music, and Creole culture. She previously served as Education Director for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and as a singer, the mezzo-soprano has sung featured roles in many New Orleans Opera productions. She has also performed with Houston Grand Opera, and sang a leading role in Wading Home, which told the story of Hurricane Katrina.
STOGIE KENYATTA
The World Is My Home: The Life of Paul Robeson is the most requested Pan African show on the American & Caribbean educational circuit about the Harlem Renaissance, diversity & social justice.
Mr. Kenyatta has performed the show in over 100 universities and schools from Yale, John Hopkins and UCLA, from the University of The West Indies to the University of London, as well as the US Embassies in 16 countries around the world, including 10 Caribbean islands. He has performed in the US Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Grand Cayman & Barbados.
Actor-Writer-Director Stogie Kenyatta is Jamaican born, New York bred, of Kenyan ancestry, and is one of the top Pan African teaching Artists in the world. He has appeared in 2 dozen TV shows, sitcoms and movies, most recently in the International hit "JOSEPH", about the Ashanti-Caribbean connection on the 400 year Slavery anniversary which he shot in Jamaica, Accra, & Cape Coast Ghana, West Africa.
DELFEAYO MARSALIS
Born and raised in New Orleans, LA, trombonist Delfeayo (DEL-feo) Marsalis has dedicated his life to music, theatre and education. At the age of 17, he began his career as a producer, and has to date produced over 140 recordings garnering one Grammy award and several nominations. Marsalis has a dual degree in music performance and production from Berklee College of Music, a masters in jazz performance from the University of Louisville and was conferred a doctorate from the New England College. In 2011, he was named an NEA Jazz Master, the highest honor given to a jazz musician in America.
In 2000, Marsalis formed the Uptown Music Theatre, a non-profit organization that empowers youth through musical theatre training. In 2008, he formed the Uptown Jazz Orchestra, a highly entertaining ensemble that focuses on maintaining important jazz tradition. Marsalis’ latest non-profit endeavor, Keep New Orleans Music Alive (KNOMA) was founded in 2020 in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic for the purpose of providing emergency relief to native New Orleans culture bearers.
JP MORRELLJP’s own education includes graduating from Spring Hill College with a degree in Political Science. He later went on to Tulane University Law School, where he was elected as the first African-American President of the Tulane Graduate and Professional Studies Association (GaPSA), the governing student organization over all Tulane Graduate Programs. He graduated from Tulane Law School with a Juris Doctorate and Certification in Civil Law.
Throughout college, JP spent his summers working with the Art without a Roof Program, part of the New Orleans Public School Homeless Education Program, where he taught creative writing to homeless children.
JP began his law career at Morrell & Morrell, LLC, which he co-founded with his father, Arthur Morrell. During this time, he also worked as a member of the Orleans Parish Office of Indigent Public Defender Program (OIDP), serving as the Public Defender for Magistrate Court until his election to the Louisiana State Legislature. Today he is Of Counsel to the Middleberg Riddle Group, a New Orleans-based law firm.
TOMMYE MYRICKTommye Myrick is a producer and director who has spent decades telling the stories of African American women and the disenfranchised through the arts. She attended Xavier University in New Orleans where she joined the famed Free Southern Theatre. After graduation, Ms. Myrick attended the University of Michigan, where she obtained her master’s degree and immediately began working on her PH. D. She later moved to New York City and began studying with renowned theater director, producer and lifelong friend and mentor, Gene Frankel. It was there that she made her stage and directorial debut. In 1992 Ms. Myrick founded Voices in the Dark Repertory Theatre Company in New Orleans. The company began with 13 female members, and grew to a membership that included men and women; thereafter, inclusion for all became its sole artistic purpose. Voices in the Dark has presented over 60 productions, receiving numerous awards and recognition. Today, Ms. Myrick is working towards mounting New Orleans’ first historical outdoor drama – Le Code Noir written by her and Mark R. Sumner.
