Conference Speakers

The Bishop William J. Barber II is President and Senior Lecturer of Repairers of the Breach, Co-Chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival, Bishop with The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, Executive Board Member of the Christian Church Disciples of Christ, and Professor in the Practice of Public Theology and Public Policy and Founding Director of the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at Yale Divinity School.

University of Pennsylvania

Anthea Butler, is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought and chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research and writing encompass topics such as Nationalism, race, politics, Evangelicalism, gender and sexuality, media, and popular culture. As a author a and speaker, Professor Butler brings unparalleled insight into the intersection of religion, politics, and culture, making her an invaluable voice in today’s discourse.

Yale University

Philip S. Gorski is the Chair of the Department of Sociology and Frederick and Laura Goff Professor of Sociology. Dr. Gorski is a comparative-historical sociologist. His empirical work focuses on religion and politics in early modern and modern Europe and North America. He is the author, with Samuel Perry, of The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy.

George Mason University

Rodney S. Sadler Jr. is an Associate Professor of the Bible and Director of the Center for Social Justice and Reconciliation. With expertise in biblical languages, Old and New Testament interpretation, and African American biblical interpretation, he has authored works on race, ethnicity, and othering in the Hebrew Bible. As the managing editor of the African American Devotional Bible and with experience at Duke Divinity School and in ministry, he passionately advocates for justice and equity.

Yale Divinity School

Gregory E. Sterling has served as The Reverend Henry L. Slack Dean and Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament at Yale Divinity School since 2012. As Dean, Sterling has been a leading theological and moral voice for addressing societal inequality and injustice. In his teaching and research, Sterling focuses on Hellenistic Judaism and has published four books and more than 100 scholarly papers on, among other subjects, Philo of Alexandria, Josephus, and Luke-Acts. He is co-editor of Scripture and Social Justice: Catholic and Ecumenical Essays.

Union of Southern Service Workers

Laurel Ashton is a Coordinator with the Union of Southern Service Workers. Which organizes low-wage workers in Southern states who have been historically excluded from unionization. USSW is building a mutliracial worker-led movement to challenge corporate power, systemic racism, and build worker power. She is based in Western North Carolina and is the former Organizing Director for Repairers of the Breach.

Poor People’s Campaign

Pamela Garrison is a member of the West Virginia chapter of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. She is featured as a speaker for her advocacy and activism in addressing the issues faced by poor and marginalized communities, particularly in West Virginia. Garrison's dedication to social justice and her efforts in organizing and mobilizing communities make her a compelling voice in the fight for economic and social equality.

Yale Divinity School

Dr. Willie James Jennings is currently Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and Africana Studies at Yale University Divinity School. He is the author of several award-winning books, including The Christian Imagination: Theology and the Origins of Race, and After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging. Dr. Jennings is widely recognized as an expert on race, Christianity, and education and a global leader in thinking about their relation to ecology and the built environment.

Economic Policy Institute

Heidi Shierholz is the President of the Economic Policy Institute, a leading think tank focused on economic trends and policies that benefit working people, promote racial justice, and ensure gender equality. As a former chief economist at the Department of Labor during the Obama administration, Shierholz brings extensive experience and a strong commitment to advancing a worker-centered policy agenda. She has been instrumental in expanding EPI's federal policy work and challenging mainstream narratives about the economy, and is a respected labor market economist who has consistently advocated for reforms to increase worker power, improve wages and working conditions, and reduce racial and gender inequities.

Forward Justice

Daryl V. Atkinson is the Co-Director and Co-Founder of Forward Justice, leading movement-building litigation, advancing public policies that address the needs of people with criminal records, and offering tremendous thought leadership through scholarship and public speaking on criminal justice, race, and democracy. Prior to joining Forward Justice, Atkinson was the first Second Chance Fellow for the U.S. Department of Justice. In 2014, Atkinson was recognized by the White House as a “Reentry and Employment Champion of Change” for his extraordinary work in facilitating employment opportunities for people with criminal records.

Episcopal Divinity School

The Rev. Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas, is the Interim President of the Episcopal Divinity School. From 2017 to 2023, she was Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary and Professor of Theology. She also serves as the Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral and Theologian in Residence at Trinity Church Wall Street. Douglas is the author of many articles and six books, including Sexuality and the Black Church: A Womanist Perspective, and Resurrection Hope: A Future Where Black Lives Matter, which won the 2023 Grawemeyer Award in Religion. Her academic work has focused on womanist theology, sexuality, and the Black church.

Harry M Daniels Law Firm

Harry M. Daniels is a national civil rights attorney who represents individuals who are victims of law enforcement misconduct and unlawful use of force, race discrimination, and sexual harassment. Daniels also has vast experience representing his clients on an array of personal injury claims. He is a veteran of the United States Air Force, where he served in the Iraq War during Operation Enduring Freedom. Daniels has a bachelor's in history from the University of Maryland UC and earned his Juris Doctor from North Carolina Central University School of Law.

Roland Martin Unfiltered

Roland S. Martin is a journalist, host, and managing editor of #RolandMartinUnfiltered, the first daily online show in history focused on news and analysis of politics, entertainment, sports, and culture from an explicitly African American perspective. Martin has produced a twice-daily commentary on iHeartRadio’s Black Information Network for the last two years, which has been heard on nearly 40 stations nationwide. Additionally, Martin spent six years as a contributor for CNN, appearing on numerous shows and earning accolades, including a 2009 Peabody Award for his no-holds honesty, conviction, and perspective on various issues.

NPR

Sarah McCammon is an award-winning journalist, National Political Correspondent for NPR, and the NPR Politics Podcast co-host. Her work focuses on political, social, and cultural divides in America, including abortion policy and the intersections of politics and religion. McCammon is the author of The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church, a 2024 book that is part memoir and part journalism about the movement of people who grew up inside the powerful evangelical subculture and ultimately left in response to its increasing politicization.

The Nation

John Harrison Nichols is an American journalist and author. He is the National Affairs correspondent for The Nation magazine and Associate Editor of The Capital Times newspaper in Madison, Wisconsin. He has written, co-written, or edited over a dozen books on topics ranging from histories of American socialism and the Democratic Party to analyses of US and global media systems. His latest, co-written with Senator Bernie Sanders, is the New York Times bestseller, “It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism.” A cofounder of Free Press, Nichols has testified before Congress and at United Nations forums and lectured at universities in the US and globally on media issues.

The ReidOut

Joy-Ann Reid is an MSNBC political analyst and host of “The ReidOut,” which airs weeknights on MSNBC from 7-8:00 P.M. ET. She previously hosted the weekend program: “A.M. Joy" (2016-2020) and a daily news show "The Reid Report" (2014-2015). A 1991 Harvard University graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual and Environmental Studies with a concentration in documentary film and a 2003 Knight Center for Advanced Journalism fellow, Reid has a longtime interest in politics and elections. During a hiatus from the news business, she worked as a press secretary for the national voter registration and mobilization entity, America Coming Together in 2004 and for the Florida branch of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2008.

Repairers of the Breach

Yara Allen is a singer, songwriter, poet, and musician, and a native of Rocky Mount, NC. She is also the Director of Theomusicology and Cultural Arts with Repairers of the Breach (Goldsboro, NC) and Co-Director of Theomusicology and Movement Arts with the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Yara’s love for Jazz, Gospel and Blues helps her create and deliver soulful movement songs that infuses energy in workshops, seminaries, and in actions and events throughout the country and abroad.

Center for Public Theology & Public Policy

Mr. Wilson-Hartgrove is an author, preacher, and community-builder who has worked with faith-rooted movements for social change for more than two decades. He is the founder of School for Conversion, a popular education center in Durham, North Carolina, and co-founder of the Rutba House, a house of hospitality in Durham’s Walltown neighborhood. He is a regular preacher and teacher in churches across the US and Canada and a member of the Red Letter Christian Communicators network.

Center for Public Theology & Public Policy

Rosalyn Woodward Pelles is a veteran of the civil rights and workers’ rights movements. She has a long history of social justice activism that spans five decades, beginning with her work as a teenager in the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Ms. Pelles is currently the Assistant Director for Student Engagement and Lecturer at the Center for Public Theology and Public Policy at the Yale University Divinity School.