Academic Historian

Adrienne N. Wartts received her M.A. in American Culture Studies, with an emphasis in African American Studies, from Washington University in St. Louis. She is an adjunct professor of film studies at Webster University. As a contributing writer for Jerry Jazz Musician magazine, she has interviewed Rick Coleman, author of Blue Monday: Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock ‘N’ Roll and Elizabeth Pepin, author of Harlem of the West: The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era. Adrienne is the recipient of the 2009 Norman Mailer Writers Colony Scholarship for biography writing.

Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church [Philadelphia] (1794- )

Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, the first African Methodist Episcopal Church in the nation, was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1794 by Richard Allen, a former slave.  Allen founded Mother Bethel AME after the church he had been attending, St. George’s Methodist Episcopal … Read MoreMother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church [Philadelphia] (1794- )

Francine Everett (1915-1999)

Although never given accolades parallel to her contemporaries in mainstream films, Francine Everett’s unyielding determination to epitomize African American women in a quintessential fashion defines her importance in black film nostalgia. Born in 1915 in Louisburg, North Carolina, her family moved to New York during … Read MoreFrancine Everett (1915-1999)