Charis welcomes author Dr. Stephanie Y. Evans for a roundtable discussion of her book, Black Feminist Writing: A Practical Guide to Publishing Academic Books with Black feminist scholars Dr. Jayme Canty, Rosalynne Duff, Parker Foster, and Dr. Kisha Braithwaite. Together they will discuss the rich history of Black feminist writing to help scholars manage the stress of writing and publishing academic books.

Dr. Stephanie Y. Evans is a Professor of Black Women's Studies in the Institute for Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) and affiliate faculty of Africana Studies (AAS) at Georgia State University. She served twelve consecutive years as department chair at Georgia State University, Clark Atlanta University, and University of Florida. Professor Evans has sustained a research interest in Black women's intellectual history for over two decades. She is author of four academic books, including Black Women in the Ivory Tower, 1850-1954: An Intellectual History (UF Press, 2007), Black Women’s Yoga History: Memoirs of Inner Peace (SUNY Press, 2021), and Black Feminist Writing: A Practical Guide to Publishing Academic Books (SUNY Press, 2024). She is also co-editor of five books including Black Women’s Mental Health: Balancing Strength and Vulnerability( SUNY Press, 2017). Her research is rooted in educational history but has evolved to include mental health and wellness as a way to address systemic stressors of being department chair. She began studying Black women’s wellness in 2013 and expanded her research on memoirs from investigating “the life of the mind” to practicing the life of the mind, body, and spirit. In her writing, teaching, and speaking, she works to share how Black women elders—especially educators—have navigated the relentless demands of academe.

Dr. Jayme Canty (she/her) is a humanities scholar and oral history scholar who amplifies marginalized voices in her research, teaching, and activist service. She is an intersectional humanities scholar-activist with a focus on the experiences of Black women and Black queer persons living in or from the American South. Her work intends to humanize the experiences of marginalized Southern Black persons. Her research focuses on the collective narrative of how the American South shapes and molds the experiences of Southern Black queer lesbian women and persons. She has presented at several conferences about her research, such as Women’s Gender, and Sexuality Studies South (WGS South), National Council of Black Studies (NCBS), and National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA). In 2022, she was appointed as a board member of WGS South, working as the Black Indigenous Persons of Color (BIPOC) Caucus chair. Her current research chronicles the collective narrative of Southern Black queer lesbian women and gender non-conforming persons, uncovering how the American (US) South, particularly the Christian Black Church, shapes and molds their lived experiences. Her forthcoming manuscript, Snapping Beans: Voices of a Black Queer Lesbian South, outlines the ways the South informs their intersectional identities. She is currently a professor at her alma mater, Clark Atlanta University.

Rosalynne Duff (She/ Her/ Hers) is an international educator, leader, and healer with over a decade of experience in urban education. Her research centers on Black Women's liberatory practices and transformational pedagogy. She is a doctoral student of Teaching and Learning at Georgia State University, examining Teaching and Teacher Education, developing a framework for critical contemplative pedagogy, an integration approach to educational equity, SEL, and academics. She was a featured guest on the Abolitionist Teaching Network’s podcast, Teaching to Thrive episode one (2020). Duff authored “My Freedom Framework,” a chapter in the book Black Women Navigating Historically White Higher Education Institutions and the Journey Toward Liberation (2022). “Black Women Professor’s ART for Well-Being in Teacher Education” in the book A Cross-Cultural Examination of Women in Higher Education and the Workplace (Abu-Lughod, 2024). She has co-authored the book chapter, “(Re)centering Well-being: Holding Space for Creatives and Educators,” in Advances in Teacher Education: How Teacher Educators Learn: Profiles in Emerging Teacher Educator Learning (Butler & Ritter, 2024). She is also a certified Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT) instructor of secular meditation through Emory University’s Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics. When she is not focused on academics she enjoys nature walks, spending time with family and friends, and dancing to jazz music at the High Museum.

Parker Foster is a Research Associate with the Center for Policy, Research, and Evaluation at the NYU Metro Center. She conducts research on various projects related to educational equity.  Additionally, Parker is currently a third year Doctoral student in Georgia State University’s Educational Policy Studies Program utilizing qualitative research to explore the impact of race and gender on the education of young people, with a focus on Black girls. Parker has a Masters in Educational Policy Studies from Teachers College, Columbia University and a Bachelors from Howard University.

Kisha Braithwaite, PhD, MSCR is a counseling psychologist and Fellow of the American Psychological Association. She is the Poussaint-Satcher Endowed Chair in Mental Health, and Associate Director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM). Also, at MSM Dr. Braithwaite is Professor and Director of Research & Scholarship for the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, and Professor in the Department of Community Health & Preventive Medicine. Dr. Braithwaite is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the School of Medicine of Emory University. Dr. Braithwaite earned undergraduate, masters, and doctoral degrees from Howard University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University in both the School of Medicine and School of Public Health.  She earned a Master of Science in Clinical Research degree from MSM. She has completed professional leadership development trainings at Brandeis University, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Prior to joining MSM, Dr. Braithwaite held positions at Georgetown University, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Urban Health Institute, Children’s National Medical Center, and Evaluation and Research Associates, Inc. Dr. Braithwaite serves on many national, regional, and local boards/committees; she is a reviewer for several academic journals; and she has received professional awards from various organizations and agencies. She has been awarded millions of dollars in research funding from public and private sources; co-edited four books-Black Women and Resilience: Power, Perseverance, and Public Health (State University of New York [SUNY] Press), Health Equity, African-Americans, and Public Health (American Public Health Association [APHA] Press), African American Women: An Annotated Bibliography (Greenwood Press) and Social Determinants of African American Men (Jossey-Bass). She has published several book chapters, numerous articles in peer-reviewed academic journals, and served as a guest co-editor for three academic journals-American Psychologist, Ethnicity and Diseaseand the Journal of Healthcare for the Poor and Underserved. She currently serves on the editorial board for Health Psychology. Dr. Braithwaite has provided numerous presentations at international, national, regional, and local professional conferences/meetings/symposiums/ forums. Globally, she has studied and/or provided trainings in Greece, Italy, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Spain, and various Caribbean countries (St. Lucia, Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada, Cuba, Haiti, & U.S. Virgin Islands). Dr. Braithwaite has dedicated her career to encouraging mental health and well-being among ethnically and culturally diverse families through research, programmatic initiatives, and the development of innovative strategies for informing health policies. She has placed a special emphasis on addressing the needs of underserved and underrepresented populations that are often overlooked yet prevail in contributing to the myriad of mental health disparities. She aims to: (1) promote excellence in community-based clinical and translational mental health research, (2) develop innovative programs that improve accessibility of individuals to comprehensive healthcare, and (3) develop culturally centered, gender specific, resilience-based prevention and intervention models for individuals at risk for depression.  She is an advocate for the Lupus Foundation of America, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and Delta Sigma Theta, Inc., A Public Service Sorority.

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Black Feminist Writing: A Practical Guide to Publishing Academic Books--A Roundtable