Conference Program

Our conference programs are focused on content developed through board leadership, peer discussion and scholarly research.

Our sessions have been carefully curated to prepare our members, our guests and the general public for the task ahead: helping communities, historians, genealogists, and researchers in understanding the importance of our ancestors as valuable contributors and founders of the United States of America. 

Financial Status:

• Treasurer General Douglas Cornwall 
• Auditor General Dean Henry

Membership Status:

• Genealogy General Dr. Shelley Murphy
• Registrar General Hope Elliot
• Surgeon General Dr. Wendall Goins 

State of the Society:

• President General Ric Murphy

10:00 AM - 10: 45 AM

Roundtable Discussion A:     Who Are the Forgotten Patriots of the Revolutionary War.

Scholars:

• Joseph Becton teacher, philosopher, counselor, historian, musician, interpreter, tour guide, and noted Forgotten Patriot reenactor of the First Rhode Regiment.
• Dr. Shirley L. Green is the author of Revolutionary Blacks: Discovering the Frank Brothers, Freeborn Men of Color, Soldiers of Independence a journey based on her family’s history.
• Calvin Ramsey is an award winning author and playwright, with works including the musical Bricktop and Ruth and The Green Book, the picture book inspiration for the Academy Award-winning film, The Green Book. He is a descendant of a Forgotten Patriot.
• Lt. Col. Myron M. Young (Retired U.S. Army) served with the elite 82nd Airborne Division. Awarded the Meritorious Service Medal; the Army Commendation Medal; the Army Achievement Medal; the National Defense Service Medal; just to name a few.

11:00 AM - 11:45 AM

Roundtable Discussion B:     The Role of Slavery during the American Revolution.

Facilitator:    Dr. Evelyn McDowell (President and Founder of the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage), will lead a national discussion with scholars on slavery during American Revolution and its impact on period emancipation up to the Civil War. 

Scholars:

• Rhonda Brace participated in the first global conference on Slavery, Past, Present, and Future held at Oxford University in England.  Member Daughters of the American Revolution.
• Dennis Lloyd is the founder of the Slave Legacy History Coalition an organization dedicated to honor the history of enslaved individuals.   

11:45 - 12:00 Noon

Pictures at the Grand Staircase (in the order of)¹

• General Officers and National Vice Presidents
• Board of Directors with Society Members (with medals)
• Honored family Members
• Descendants of Forgotten Patriots
• Guests

11:45 AM - 1:00 PM

Lunch/ Networking/ Family Collaborations/ Tour of Museum

01:00 PM - 1:45 PM 

Roundtable Discussion C:     The Role of Women During the American Revolution

Facilitator:      Jill Marie Snyder (award-winning author and historian specializing in late 18th and early 19th century history - with an emphasis on African and Indigenous American women during the Revolutionary War), who will lead a discussion on the role and importance of women during the Revolutionary War.

Scholars:

• A'Lelia Bundles an Emmy award winning journalist, authored "On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker," later adapted into a Netflix series. She is the founder of the Madam Walker Family Archives, a former ABC News producer and executive, and National Archives Foundation chair emerita.  
• Tramia Jackson is the Director of Learning at George Washington’s Mount Vernon. She leads education initiatives related to African American community outreach and works closely with the League of Descendants of the Enslaved and other community partners. 
• Adrienne G. Whaley, Director of Education and Community Engagement at the Museum of the American Revolution where her signature school program reaches more than 70,000 school children a year, teaching them history, often overlooked in school curriculums.

Facilitator: Dr. Shelley V. Murphy (Founder of the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute, and is the society’s Genealogist General), who will lead a discussion with representatives of prominent national organizations in how we should properly tell the story of the Forgotten Patriots and connect with their descendants.

 Scholars:

• Bren Landon is Director of Public Relations for the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.  She counsels the DAR President General and membership on the many special initiatives of the National Society including the E Pluribus Unum Educational Initiative.

• Thom Reed, Program Manager, African Heritage Initiatives for FamilySearch International. An international expert on diaspora records research and documentation.

• Dr. Frank Smith is the founder of the African American Civil War Memorial and its Museum

03:00 PM - 3:45 PM

Roundtable Discussion E:     Revolutionary War Medicine on the Battlefields. 

Facilitator:  Reverend Doctor Khadijah Matin (research scholar who examines faith and family history and how it shapes identity and community and is the society's Chaplain General),  will lead a national discussion with Revolutionary War health scholars on the Revolutionary War Medicine on the Battlefields and in the communities back home.

Scholars:

• Dr. Wendell Goins is a retired surgeon currently practicing physician living in Charlotte.  
• Dr. Kevin Lombardi is a medical doctor, epidemiologist and public health expert specializing in the reduction of health disparities in underserved communities.  
• Mr. Timothy Stephens is a public health expert and author of the book One Day at a Time: Newspapers and the Great Influenza of 1918, and is a  co-author of a book on health conditions and African American history at Arlington National Cemetery.