Black History Month: Cross Cultural Center Highlights Great Contributions
02/26/2021
February is Black History Month, a time to celebrate and recognize the history, achievements and excellence of Black People around the globe. Each week, the Cross Cultural Center will highlight those who have made great contributions to the prospering of Black community and culture throughout history and in modern times, including those within the SLU community.
Faculty Spotlight
Danielle Joy Davis, Ph.D.
Dannielle Joy Davis, Ph.D. (Arme Iye) is an associate professor of higher education administration at Saint Louis University. She is the first known African-American woman, descended from skilled captive Mende (of the Mali empire), Temne, Fula, and indigenous Sioux and Cherokee people in the United States, to earn tenure in the School of Education.
A graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she has studied and conducted research in South Africa, Senegal, Egypt, Togo, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, Cuba and Ghana. Her interdisciplinary research examines the experiences of marginalized groups, the role of organizational policy and practice in the promotion or inhibition of egalitarian academic and occupational outcomes, and spirituality in the workplace and other learning environments.
Davis is a twice-elected chair of the American Educational Research Association’s (AERA’s) Spirituality and Education Special Interest Group (SIG) and has served as part of the leadership team for AERA’s Qualitative Research SIG. She is a member of the national Black Lives Matter in Research Working Group and has published over 70 journal articles, book chapters, volumes, academic commentaries and reviews.
Davis is series editor of the Information Age Publishing book series, Contemporary Perspectives on Spirituality in Education, where she coordinates and leads guest editors and authors from around the globe in the development of scholarly volumes. She is editor or co-editor and a contributing author of the books: “Black Women in Leadership: Their Historical and Contemporary Contributions,” “Social Justice Issues and Race in the College Classroom: Learning from Different Voices,” “Intersectionality in Education Research,” “Specialists: Passions and Careers,” “Motherhood in Precarious Times,” and “United We Stand: The Role of Spirituality in Engaging and Healing Communities.”
Davis has also worked as associate editor for The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society and Learning for Democracy: An International Journal of Thought and Practice. She has served as vice president of professional development for the National Girls and Women of Color Council, as a leadership team member with Sisters of the Academy Institute, on the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Colorism Studies, and is founder and director of the community program, The Circle of Excellence Network, where she consults Black homeschooling families.
Davis is a second-generation homeschooling parent.
Staff Spotlight
Manisha Ford-Thomas
Manisha Ford-Thomas is the director of Housing and Residence Life at Saint Louis University. She is a native of New York and alumni of Seton Hall. In her role, she is responsible for the comprehensive program surrounding the experience of living “on campus” in the 11 housing options on SLU’s campus.
Ford-Thomas is dedicated to the field of student affairs. She brings out the best in students and in her work with faculty and staff. She listens to others with an ear of concern, compassion and care.
Currently, Ford-Thomas is pursuing her doctorate in higher education administration where her passion is in understanding the experience of Black women in higher education administration. She married with two sons.
Student Spotlight
Justice Hill
Justice Jeremiah Hill is the son of Dr. Edward Hill Jr. and Mrs. Chanda Hill.
Hill has received many awards and commendations for excellence in scholarship, service, and leadership which include world champion in the International MLK Drum Major for Justice Oratorical Competition, sponsored by the National Bar Association in 2017.
Hill is a motivational speaker and professional development presenter. He has been the keynote speaker for several conferences and scholarship galas. In 2019, he served as the keynote speaker for the NAACP and the Black History Bowl in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He also led a presentation entitled “I am My Brother’s Keeper” at the 2020 Black Male Leadership Conference held at Washington University.
Hill is a junior at SLU majoring in Political Science and minoring in American Studies. He has been on the Dean’s List since he started at the University. He has eight published articles in the areas of social justice, culturally responsive justice and leadership, and student culture and school culture.
Hill was inducted into the National Residence Hall Honorary reserved for the top 1% of residential advisors across the nation. He has been inducted into SLU’s National Political Science Honor Society.
Hill was also recognized as the Best Oral Advocate at the 2019 Law School Admissions Council Pre-Law Undergraduate Scholars Program held at the University of Alabama School of Law.
Hill also serves as a youth leader at St. Paul AME Church. During the summer of 2020 he organized and implemented the Columbia Urban League’s First Virtual Student Leadership Program and provided youth in the City of Columbia, South Carolina with an empowering program that would connect them to resources to maximize their futures and accomplish their dreams.
Hill is a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholar, a Leadership Honoraria Scholar, a Saint Louis University Higher Purpose Scholar and a SLU Ignatian Scholar. He served as the social media manager of the SLU student government Twitter page. He has been a representative on the SLU Academic Affairs Committee. He was a senator for the Black Student Alliance, and is a residential advisor.
Hill is also the vice president of the African American Male Scholars Initiative. Hill is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated. He is a member of the Alpha Eta Chapter and holds the offices of chaplain and the director of educational activities.
Historical Figure
Crispus Attucks
Crispus Attucks (c.1723 – March 5, 1770) was an American stevedore of African and Native American descent, widely regarded as the first person killed in the Boston Massacre and thus the first American killed in the American Revolution. Historians disagree on whether he was a free man or an escaped slave, but most agree that he was of Natick and African descent.
Two major sources of eyewitness testimony about the Boston Massacre published in 1770 did not refer to him as “black” nor as a “Negro,” it appears that Bostonians viewed him as being of mixed ethnicity. According to a contemporaneous account in the Pennsylvania Gazette, he was a “Mulatto man, named Crispus Attucks, who was born in Framingham, but lately belonged to New-Providence, and was here in order to go for North Carolina.”
Attucks was celebrated as “the first to defy, the first to die” by poet John Boyle O’Reilly. In 1888 a monument was built on Boston Common commemorating the death of the five men who died in the Boston Massacre: Attucks, Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr. The five men brought a preliminary victory to the American Revolution.
Attucks became an icon of the anti-slavery movement in the mid-19th century. Supporters of the abolition movement lauded him for playing a heroic role in the history of the United States.
Attucks continues to be honored by the American public. In 1998, to commemorate the 275th anniversary of his birth, the U.S. Mint issued a silver dollar coin in honor of Attucks. Many schools, children centers, foundations and museums are named after him.
Community Stakeholders
Candice Cox and K.H.A.O.S., Inc.
Candice E. Cox is the founder and clinical director of A&A Inspirations and executive Director of K.H.A.O.S. Inc. Cox holds a bachelor’s degree from Southeast Missouri State University and a master’s degree from SLU. She is a an author, motivational speaker, trainer and curriculum developer.
Since 2004, Cox has shared her passion to assist all individuals by creating the KHAOS (Keep Healing and Overcoming Struggles) mindset. The KHAOS mindset uses a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy, relationship trauma repair and mindfulness to assist individuals with assessing, addressing, and reducing the effects of toxic and traumatic stress in their lives. Cox is a self-proclaimed KHAOS kid who grew up with her own challenges with attention, was abandoned by her father, and has a mother who lives with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Cox is passionate about meeting individuals where they are to assist them with getting to where they want to be in life. For this reason, she started implementing her Organized K.H.A.O.S. program in schools and community centers to address the lack of social and emotional coping skills that were being taught both at home and educational environments. After realizing the importance of addressing toxic and traumatic stress on all levels, Cox expanded her reach to include first responders and corporate mental health in 2015.
Cox utilizes innovative and experimental treatment modalities to change the focus of being “labeled” to “living beyond labels.” In 2016 her first therapeutic children’s book was published, titled “Please Oh Please,” focusing on coping and skill building with ADHD.
Cox is now an author of several books and journals as well as a winner of several humanitarian awards. She works to be a catalyst in the lives of others to propel them forward while creating programs that introduce and implement social, communication, and positive resolution techniques.