Black Women's Struggle for the Vote - Contemporary American Theater Festival at Shepherd University | CATF

Online, Two-Part Series

Black Women’s Struggle
for the Vote

Hosted by the The Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education and the Contemporary American Theater Festival.

April 12 • 7:30pm

My Lord, What a Night at CATF

Actor Lizan Mitchell as Mary Church Terrell, one of the most prominent Black suffragists, in the world premiere of Deborah Brevoort’s My Lord, What a Night at CATF in 2019

Join us for Part II of this special, two-part online series: Black Women’s Struggle for the Vote:

Monday, April 12 at 7:30pm

The second installment of the Black Women’s Struggle for the Vote series features award-winning stage, film, and television actress Lizan Mitchell – who portrayed one of the nation’s most prominent Black suffragists, Mary Church Terrell – in the world premiere of Deborah Brevoort’s My Lord, What a Night at CATF in 2019. Moderator Dr. Chiquita Howard-Bostic, Shepherd University’s Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity, and Ms. Mitchell will discuss how Lizan researched for her role, how the arts can amplify the voices of Black women, and how Black women advocated for everyone’s right to vote.

Meet the guests»

PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

Robert C. Byrd Center

League of Women Voters

Delta Sigma Theta

Part One:

VANGUARD

Watch the first event in the series featuring Martha S. Jones and her book, Vanguard hosted by the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional Education and History

Martha S. Jones

Vanguard Book Cover

About the Moderator

Dr. Chiquita D. Howard-Bostic

Dr. Chiquita D. Howard-Bostic is the Associate Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity and department chair of Sociology, Criminology, and Criminal Justice at Shepherd University (SU) in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, US. As well, she is a certified life coach, girl scout and 4-H leader, and founder of a program called “Help Bridge,” providing leadership and social justice education in the community. Howard-Bostic who educates the community about anti-human trafficking, multicultural justice, dating violence prevention, and financial/environmental sustainability.

Howard-Bostic was born and raised in Buffalo, New York where she began serving the community at the age of fourteen working with city legislatures and later working at community organizations as a grant writer and advocate for marginalized youth and adults. Howard-Bostic earned a bachelor’s degree in Legal Studies and a master’s degree in Urban Planning at the State University of New York at Buffalo. She received a Ph.D. in Sociology, teaching certificate in Women’s Studies, and a Race and Social Policy research certification at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

She is a former college director of institutional assessment and has served as an executive director of housing and human services. Thousands of school-aged youth and community stakeholders benefit from her workshops, justice trainings, intervention projects, events, food drives, service projects, and community workshops.

Dr. Howard-Bostic was the first recipient of Shepherd’s Storer College Award, which recognizes faculty who incorporates diversity and social justice into his or her classroom, research, scholarship, and interaction with students. She also received the 2015 SU Outstanding Teacher Award. In 2017, Howard-Bostic received the Outstanding Service Award, and in 2020, was awarded the Outstanding Academic Advisor Award. In 2018, she was honored as the 2018 Distinguished Alumni for the State University of New York at Buffalo Educational Opportunity Program (EOP). Howard-Bostic was recognized by American Mothers as the 2020 West Virginia Mother of the Year and is the 2021 recipient of the “WV Governor’s Living the Dream” award.

Lizan Mitchell

Regional credits include: Richard III (Shakespeare Theatre), The Tempest (The Old Globe), Dead and Breathing. Broadway credits include Electra, Having Our Say, So Long on Lonely Street. Off-Broadway credits include Passage, The First Noel, Brownsville Song, Cell, The Hurricane Katrina Comedy Festival, Rosmersholm, For Colored Girls, Gum, Salt and Ma Rose. Regional credits include Dead and Breathing (London, Liverpool, National Black Theater, and CATF), Skeleton Crew (Trinity Rep, Alley Theater), A Raisin in the Sun (Arena Stage, Helen Hayes Award), My Lord, What a Night (Premiere Stages), The Good Peaches (Cleveland Play House), The House That Will Not Stand (Yale Repertory, Berkeley Repertory, Victory Gardens), An Issue of Blood (Victory Gardens), The Last Fall (Crossroads Theater), Having Our Say (McCarter), Fabulation (Center Stage) and Woolly Mammoth, Pittsburgh Public Theater, TheaterWorks, Goodman, Proposition Theatre, San Jose Repertory, Crossroads Theatre, Humana Festival. Film/TV credits include “Of Monsters and Men”, “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”, “Detroit, Brooklynification”, “Deadbeat”, “We’ll Never Have Paris”, “Golden Boy, John Adams” (HBO), “The Good Wife”, “Law & Order”, “The Human Stain”, “The Preacher’s Wife”, “Sesame Street” and “The Wire”.

This event is supported, in part, by the West Virginia Humanities Council.

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