The Black Alumni Leadership Council and the Boston University Alumni Association invite you to join us for a discussion of transformative events in Black history that have shaped generations from Emancipation to the Tulsa Massacre and the dedication of the Shaw Memorial on Beacon Hill. Hear from experts with in-depth expertise who will bring a better understanding of how we can look back while also planning to move forward. Discussion will also include audience Q&A.

Panelists:

Carmen Fields (COM'73)

Carmen Fields has been a fixture in the Greater Boston journalism community for over 30 years. Her experience includes both print and broadcast journalism; journalism education and media relations. She was the screenwriter for the 1993 American Experience documentary Goin’ Back To T-Town, and has also served as community relations director for National Grid, the second largest electric and gas utility in the United States.

When the news program she anchored at WGBH with Christopher Lydon was cancelled in the early 1990s, Fields became the press secretary for Suffolk County District Attorney Ralph C. Martin II, where her astute media practices helped establish his name and share the work of the office with the public. After a five year tenure, that included Martin’s first successful political campaign, she became Director of Communications for the United Way of Massachusetts Bay, the largest funding entity of human services outside state government.

She is currently producer and host of the monthly public affairs program called Higher Ground at WHDH-TV 7/Boston.

Among many awards and citations for professional and civic service, Carmen Fields was awarded an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from Salem State College in 1992. The Needham resident is married to Lorenz J. Finison, PhD. They have a daughter who is a 2016 Boston University graduate.

Carmen is an inaugural member of the Black Alumni Leadership Council.

Leon Wilson (MET'75)

Since becoming President and Chief Executive Officer at the Museum of African American History (MAAH) in January 2020 Leon E. Wilson has reached out throughout Massachusetts and the country to build relationships and increase awareness of MAAH's mission and goals.

Over the last decade, Wilson has been involved with the Museum serving in different capacities, including co-chair of the Living Legends Gala, and as a funder and consultant. In 2017, he served as the Museum's Executive Service Corp Fellow, and later as Chief Advancement Officer.

It is an honor and a privilege to be leading this historic institution," said Wilson. “I am deeply nourished by the rich history of African Americans in Boston and throughout New England and what they were able to accomplish in our fight for freedom and equal rights, as well as the engaging work the museum does to give voice to these brave men and women. The Museum will continue to serve as an anchor, and resource supporting and enriching the vibrancy and creativity of our community, as we have for decades.”

Managing businesses is something Mr. Wilson knows very well, with nearly four decades in finance, and more than 20 years overseeing non-profit finance. Mr. Wilson brings a wealth of knowledge to the Museum having served as Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Bank of America's Philanthropic Asset Management Group, Chief Executive Officer and General Partner of Capital City Ventures in Washington D.C., Executive Vice President of Nonprofit Finance Fund’s National businesses, and Corporate Senior Vice President and Managing Director at General Motors Acceptance Corporation Residential, where he headed Emerging Markets.

Mr. Wilson has served on numerous local and national non-profit boards in the areas of education, arts, and community impact. He is a former trustee for Boston Conservatory, Boston University Presidential Archives and Research Center, Dimock Community Health Center, and Cambridge College. He has also served on the advisory board for Bell Foundation, Boston University, and as a board member of the Boston University Alumni Association.

Mr. Wilson is the recipient of numerous national professional and community service recognitions, including Boston University Distinguished Alumni Award, Henry Buckner School Award for Outstanding Commitment to Education, and the City of Cambridge Mayor's "Son of Cambridge" Achievement Award for Business Leadership.

He holds an undergraduate degree from Boston University and completed his graduate studies at Harvard Business School, and the Graduate School of Consumer Banking at the University of Virginia.

Imari Paris Jeffries

Mr. Paris Jeffries brings a wealth of experience from the nonprofit management, community activism, education reform, and social justice sectors. As the Executive Director of King Boston, he works closely with the City of Boston and the Boston Foundation to create a living memorial and program honoring Boston University’s most famous alumnus, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (GRS ’55, HON ’59) and Coretta Scott King. Mr. Paris Jeffries has held executive roles at Parenting Journey, Jumpstart, Boston Rising, and Friends of The Children. He currently serves as a Trustee of the UMass System and a board member of USES, Providers Council, and Governor Baker’s Black Advisory Commission. He is a three-time graduate of UMass Boston and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. through UMass Boston’s Higher Education Program.

Paula Austin Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies; Director of Graduate Studies

Paula C. Austin is a U.S. historian with a focus on African American history, the history of race and racism, visual culture, urban, education, and women’s history, the history of social science, and the history of childhood. She is particularly interested in interiority and broadening the narrow definitions of intellectual history. Her book, Coming of Age in Jim Crow DC: Navigating the Politics of Everyday Life (NYU Press, 2019) is a social and intellectual history of poor and working class young black people in early twentieth century, racially segregated Washington, D.C.

As an undergraduate, Paula was trained as a creative writer and developed her teaching pedagogy in adult basic education classrooms in New York City. She was the co-editor of Radical Teacher (Vol 106), special issue on “Teaching #BlackLivesMatter,” is the author of “‘Conscious Self-Realization and Self-Direction’: New Negro Ideologies and the Confines of Visual Representation,” in Journal of African American History (Summer 2018), “For Women, Life is Right Hard,” in a special issue on Black Love in Gender, Women, and Families of Color Journal (Fall 2019), and was a contributing author to Colonize This! Young women of color on today’s feminism, eds. Daisy Hernandez and Bushra Rehman, (Seal Press, 2002, 2019).

Dr. Austin shared some of her most recent research on the Black youths of Jim Crow-era Washington, DC, in a video for CAS’s new series, The Journey: How New Ideas Are Born.

About the moderator:  Karen Holmes Ward (COM'77, HON'18), WCVB Director of Public Affairs, Community Services & Host of 'CityLine'

A member of the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame, Karen Holmes Ward embodies the ideal of principled journalism.

As director of Public Affairs and Community Services for WCVB-TV, she oversees public service and community outreach efforts. She developed CommonWealth 5, a groundbreaking web initiative matching viewer-donors with nonprofits, and Extreme Makeover: My Hometown, which raises awareness of the need for affordable housing. Ms. Holmes Ward is executive producer and host of CityLine, an award-winning weekly television magazine that addresses the issues and concerns facing people of color in the Boston area.

She was also executive producer of Return to Glory, a film documenting the story of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment, one of the United States’ first black military units.

She has received numerous awards for both professional achievement and community service, including: Journalist of the Year Region I from the National Association of Black Journalists; the President’s Award from the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts; the Big Sisters of Greater Boston Achievement Award; and induction into the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Silver Circle, which honors professional excellence and lifetime achievement.

Ms. Holmes Ward graduated from Boston University with a degree in communication. She began her career as a writer for WEEI News Radio and rapidly advanced in media through positions such as news director, on-air host, and television reporter to her current executive position. She continues to focus much of her energy on promoting the common good, serving on the advisory boards of the Greater Boston Food Bank and the women’s shelter Rosie’s Place and mentoring dozens of other nonprofits in the use of television to advance their causes.

Karen is a member of the Boston University Advisory Board and Chair of the Black Alumni Leadership Council.

The webinar will be conducted using the online Zoom webinar platform. Access information and additional instructions on using the Zoom platform will be provided via email upon successful registration. This webinar is open to all members of the BU community including alumni, students, faculty, and staff.