MARCH 31, 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact:
Mr. Matthew A. White
Director of University Relations at Hampton University
Phone:757-727-5255
E-mail: matthew.white@hamptonu.edu
#UnmaskingPeninsula examines race- and gender-based trauma, offers workshops and community resources
Hampton, Va. (Mar. 31, 2021) – Unmasking Peninsula (#UnmaskingPeninsula) convenes virtually on April 23 and 24; the two-part dialogue and workshop series will investigate race, racism, gender discrimination, and how these issues impact the Peninsula community and the greater Hampton Roads region. #UnmaskingPeninsula is presented by Hampton University in partnership with the Hampton Roads Community Foundation.
Unmasking Peninsula – co-created by Dr. Sarita Gregory, an assistant professor of Political Science in Hampton University’s School of Liberal Arts and Education, and Samantha Willis, an award-winning writer, independent journalist and co-founder of The Unmasking Series – is the fourth Unmasking program in the state of Virginia, including, most recently, Unmasking Hampton Roads in 2019 (unmaskinghr.org). #UnmaskingPeninsula includes:
- Part I – April 23, 6:00 to 8:00, features two panel sessions – one focused on race-based trauma, and the other on gender-based trauma – when two groups of leading scholars, mental health professionals and community advocates engage in meaningful dialogue about these important topics impacting communities of color in the Peninsula and Hampton Roads region. TV Personality and Host of Coast Live April Woodard moderates these panel sessions. Panelists include: Dr. Faye Barner, co-founder of the National Association of Black Counselors; Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Vanderbilt University sociology professor and author; Dr. Karen Ward, Hampton University theatre and criticism professor; Jasmine Guy, dancer, actor, and director; and many more.
- Part II – April 24, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., invites attendees to put learning into action by participating in professionally-facilitated, virtual workshops, gaining tools to understand, address, and heal race- and gender-based trauma.
- A virtual exhibition, spanning both days of the series, features art, music, and performances by Hampton University students and Teens with a Purpose. This creative digital space rounds out the #UnmaskingPeninsula program, and offers attendees a chance to engage in small group dialogues in real time about their experiences.
“Imagine if we could create spaces for healing and acknowledgement in conversations, communities, and committed action in our lives, in our work, and in our online presence,” says Unmasking Peninsula Co-Creator Dr. Sarita Gregory. “If and when we are willing to name our pain and our trauma, our truths can bring important awareness to the disparities in how we are treated and in how we perceive inequity and injustice in our personal daily lives. Unmasking Peninsula provides such an opportunity for people to step into the light and share their stories. We can’t have reconciliation until we tell our truth.”
“Unmasking Peninsula is an opportunity for members of the Peninsula and Hampton Roads region to pull the covers off difficult issues like race- and gender-based trauma, and reveal the uniquely insidious ways they affect Black people, people of color, and other members of our community,” says series co-creator Samantha Willis, who launched the first Unmasking Series in Richmond in 2016. The series, which continued in Charlottesville in 2018, and in Hampton Roads in 2019, “is a platform for not only talk, but also action, to address these societal issues,” says Willis.
Register and learn more: www.hamptonu.edu/unmaskingpeninsula (PLACEHOLDER LINK, PLEASE REPLACE BEFORE PUBLICATION)
Follow the series on social media + send questions to panelists: #UnmaskingPeninsula
Learn more about Hampton University at www.hamptonu.edu/
and about the Hampton Roads Community Foundation at www.hamptonroadscf.org/
#UnmaskingPeninsula Community Partners:
College of William & Mary Center for Racial & Social Justice
Hampton Roads Diversity & Inclusion Consortium
National Association of Black Counselors
National Coalition of 100 Black Women Inc., Tidewater Chapter
Peninsula Community Foundation of Virginia
Teens with a Purpose
WHRO Media
YWCA of South Hampton Roads
