PUSHOUT - Contemporary American Theater Festival at Shepherd University

Online Film Viewing and Discussion

PUSHOUT: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools

Presented by the Eastern Panhandle Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, Inc. and the Contemporary American Theater Festival.

February 3 • 6pm

PUSHOUT: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools examines the educational, judicial, and societal disparities facing Black girls. Inspired by Monique W. Morris’ groundbreaking book of the same title, this award-winning documentary confronts the misunderstanding of Black girlhood and how it has led to excessive discipline that disrupts one of the most important factors in their life: their education.

Join the Sisters of Delta Sigma Theta and the CATF for the free online viewing of the documentary and post-film discussion. Featured Artists»

Get the Book!

Ready to read the book that inspired the documentary?

Order from Four Seasons Books in Shepherdstown.
Not near Shepherdstown? Don’t worry – they can mail your order!

Visit Four Seasons Online / Email Four Seasons

Call Four Seasons at 304-876-3486

Praise for PUSHOUT

“Pushout blazes with the voices of young women fighting for their dignity, safety, and the fundamental right to a future.” —Nell Bernstein, author of Burning Down the House and All Alone in the World

“A powerful and thought-provoking book of social science.” —Kirkus

“A dynamic call to action… essential reading for all who believe Black Lives Matter” —Kimbrelé Crenshaw, co-editor of Critical Race Theory and co-author of Say Her Name and Black Girls Matter

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.

Terence Anthony
Terence Anthony is a playwright, artist, and communications specialist based in Oakland, CA. He has been awarded writing fellowships to the Djerassi Resident Artist Program, the Santa Fe Art Institute, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Ragdale Foundation. Terence’s plays include Burners (nominated for four 2017 Ovation Awards), Euphrates (Max K. Lerner Playwriting Fellowship), Tombolo (Finalist for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference), and Blood and Thunder (LA Weekly Award Winner). Terence’s plays have been performed and developed at the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, PlayPenn, Moving Arts, Radar LA, La Jolla Playhouse, the Segerstrom Center, Chicago Dramatists, Company of Angels, the Great Plains Theatre Conference, and the Last Frontier Theatre Conference. Terence’s play The House of the Negro Insane will be produced at the Contemporary American Theater Festival.

Tiffany Burris
Tiffany Burris is an Assistant Principal and Gifted Coordinator for Springfield Public Schools in Springfield, IL. Ms. Burris enjoys spending her time working in her community and with the youth. She is a strong advocate for equity in education and has devoted her career and making sure black and brown children are represented in programs such as gifted education, International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement courses.

Theresa M. Davis
Theresa M. Davis is an Artist-Educator in 3-D (Dramaturg-Deviser-Director) working on expanding the boundaries of creating culturally specific work in academic institutions and beyond. Theresa M. has collaborated as a Dramaturg at the Contemporary American Theater Festival, The Working Theater, The Penumbra Theatre, and most recently at Geva Theatre’s Recognition Radio Festival as Dramaturg for Chisa Hutchinson’s play, The Bleeding Class.

Tenured at three different institutions, Theresa M. has taught at Kalamazoo College, West Virginia University, and the University of Virginia, where she joined the faculty as Associate Professor of Performance. Her current research includes Black American Theatre, Poetry in Performance, Hip Hop Theatre, and Speaking Social Justice.

Devised Poetic works include Give Me Liberation and Give Me Soul…, Speak! The Forbidden Truth, Throw Your Head Back and Sing, Evolution. Revolution! Rebirth…and Struggle Seeks to Speak, Now! Additionally, Theresa M. has directed staged readings by Playwrights Frank X Walker, Turn Me Loose: the Unghosting of Medgar Evers, and Kara Lee Corthron, Welcome to Fear City at CATF. She also has directed Priyanka Shetty’s Elephant in the Room for The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage Series and the WOMXN on Fire Festival at the Keegan Theatre.

Dr. Gregg Suzanne Ferguson
Dr. Gregg Suzanne Ferguson is the daughter of WV Human Rights Commission Judge, the late Gail M. Ferguson, and community activist and educator, Warne L. Ferguson. She is a mother, fiancé, sister and friend to people who serve their communities with an unwavering dedication to issues of equity and social justice. Dr. Ferguson is currently an adjunct for the Psychology Department of WV State University and is a member of Marshall University’s Activists’ Archives. As a certified counselor and teacher, as well as an educational and environmental activist, she also consults for various non-profit social service organizations.

As founder and executive director of Mothers of Diversity America (www.mothersofdiversityamerica.org) she has steered it to provide resources to struggling parents and students at risk, and to combat discrimination in education, criminal and environmental justice on a local and national level through advocacy and public awareness campaigns.

With over twenty years of experience working with diverse populations in educational and government settings, Dr. Ferguson has served organizations in a capacity to understand the consequences of unequal protections and access for marginalized employees and students. Her work has been exclusively in the public sector as a k-12 educator and counselor, a higher education administrator in diversity, equity and inclusion, university faculty, a civil rights investigator, a higher education program director and a successful grant writer. She is a policy analyst and writer who, through inclusive collaboration and familiarity with law and politics, developed, evaluated and revised civil rights policies and guidelines at a major university which ensures optimal scope and breadth of service for many people.

Dr. Ferguson’s BA in the History of Art and Architecture is from Harvard University, and her MA in School Counseling and EdD in Leadership Studies are from Marshall University.

About Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. is a private, non-profit organization whose purpose is to provide assistance and support through programs in local communities throughout the world.

Founded on January 13, 1913 on the campus of Howard University by 22 collegiate women, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. has grown to a sisterhood of more than 200,000 predominately Black, college educated women. The Sorority currently has over 1,000 chapters located throughout the United States, England, Japan, Germany, the Virginia Islands, Bermuda, and the Republic of Korea.

The Eastern Panhandle Alumnae Chapter was chartered in April 2007. EPAC advances the Sorority’s Five Point Programmatic Thrusts by promoting academic excellence, mentoring youth, addressing the needs of the underserved, advocating for positive public policy, and seeking opportunities with community partners to meet the needs of Berkeley and Jefferson Counties.

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

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