Collections by Michelle Brown

Harmonica Sunbeam is an entertainer, mother. activist, role model, and Drag Queen. She made her thrilling debut at an NYC drag ball nearly three decades ago when she walked in a category called "Butch Queen, First Time Up in Drag at a Ball" and won.

Now she's a part of the Drag Queen Story Hour representing North Jersey and New York.

Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) is just what it sounds like—drag queens reading stories to children in libraries, schools, and bookstores. DQSH began in San Francisco  Michelle Tea in 2015 and has since exploded across the nation and overseas.

Harmonica responded to an open audition and took the training to be a storyteller. Her first Drag Queen Story Hour was in the library in New York City with 75 children in attendance and was covered by The New York Times. In 2018 Harmonica was interviewed as part of HBO’s The Studio celebrating the LGBTQ+ community.

Drag Queen Story Hour is trying to raise a new generation of children who along with their families and communities are accepting of each other, open to being who they are, and understanding that we're not all the same and it's OK. Drag Queen Story Hour captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models.

Zoë Flowers is healing with her hands and words. She began her career in Atlanta, Georgia where she served as the Public Awareness/Training and Membership Coordinator for the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence. With more than 20 years in the gender-based violence movement, she works nationally and internationally on the issues of domestic and sexual violence. She has appeared on National Public Radio, WOVN Chicago, spoken at Yale University, Springfield College, Smith College, and Bowie State University.

In 2012, she founded Soul Requirements Inc. a consulting business that merges social justice and holistic healing. Soul Requirements healing services utilize meditation, visualization, reiki, and intuitive coaching to increase awareness, reduce stress, and to promote relaxation and creativity. She currently facilitates individual and group healing sessions, retreats, workshops, and online courses for clients and students from New York to Ecuador. Her healing contributions were evaluated by Georgetown University and can be found in Traumatology, 23(2), 143–152.

She co-created ASHES – a play that breathes life into the original stories from her book, From Ashes To Angel ‘s Dust: A Journey Through Womanhood (FA2AD). FA2AD chronicles the experiences of abuse survivors and ASHES includes new stories about the media, campus sexual assault, body image, and the journey to self-love.

In 2017, Zoë added film maker turned television writer to her resume.  She wrote, produced, and independently shot a short film. The film was recently turned into an episodic series called Rode.

Through "The Legacy Walk" in Chicago (the world's only outdoor LGBTQ history museum and Chicago's newest Historic Landmark); "The Legacy Project Education Initiative" (a free, downloadable resource); and "The Legacy Wall" (a traveling interactive exhibit) – the award-winning Legacy Project is committed to challenging the social and cultural marginalization of LGBTQ people. Victor Salvo was Chicago Chairperson for the 1987 National March on Washington Committee. This committee led an estimated 5000 Chicagoans to the nation’s capital.

THE LEGACY PROJECT was inspired the first time the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was shown at this National March.

In Part two of our interview with Victor Salvo, cofounder and executive director of The Legacy Project in Chicago he will share what is ahead for the Legacy Project as it enters its second decade, how the Project has been impacted by the COVID -19 Pandemic and how individuals can visit and support the Legacy Project and Walk

The Legacy Project would have been celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the plans for this year’s celebration and the project’s other activities including "The Legacy Walk" and "The Legacy Wall" have been changed.

Chicago’s Legacy Project illuminates and affirms the lives of LGBTQ people to honor their experiences and accomplishments; to collect and preserve their contributions to world history and culture; to educate and inspire the public and young people; and to assure an inclusive and equitable future.

Part One of our interview with Victor Salvo, cofounder and executive director of Chicago's Legacy Project.

THE LEGACY PROJECT was inspired the first time the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt was shown at the National March on Washington for LGBT Civil Rights in 1987. Victor Salvo led a group of 5,000 Chicagoans to Washington DC to participate in the march and view the Quilt. The first "National Coming-Out Day" was also celebrated on October 11th of that year. Inspired by these vents, the idea of a Legacy Project to tell the stories of LGBTQ people began.

Chicago’s Legacy Project illuminates and affirms the lives of LGBTQ people to honor their experiences and accomplishments; to collect and preserve their contributions to world history and culture; to educate and inspire the public and young people, and to assure an inclusive and equitable future.

The Legacy Project would have been celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the plans for this year’s celebration and the project’s other activities including "The Legacy Walk" and "The Legacy Wall" have been changed.

 Victor will share what is ahead for the Legacy Project as it enters its second decade, how the Project has been impacted by the COVID -19 Pandemic and how individuals can visit and support the Legacy Project and Walk. He also shares the history of the Project, stories of many LGBTQ luminaries, and those who have been honored.

The original idea was to organize a party that would promote the annual pride exhibit for  Casa Frela Art Gallery. Carmen Neely with Lawrence Rodriguez built that original idea into what would later be called “Harlem Pride.” As the idea of a Harlem Pride celebration began to spread, they decided to expand the idea, especially after learning that there had never been a formal public celebration in Harlem. Since 2010, Harlem Pride has expanded to include community forums, workshops, networking events, and other community outreach activities.

Neely designed the original logo and began wearing a t-shirt with the design at a popular poetry night. The Harlem Pride logo is a symbolic representation of the Adam Clayton Powell State Office Building, the tallest building in Harlem. The very first Harlem Pride Day Celebration was held on Saturday, June 26, 2010, on the block of W. 119th Street, between Lenox and Fifth Avenues.  Harlem Pride is always held during the last full weekend in June. Harlem Pride's mission is to empower Harlem’s SGL/LGBTQ community (which includes, family, friends, and allies) to improve its physical, mental, and economic health and wellness.

Originally from Charlotte, NC Neely graduated from Howard University with a BFA in Theatre and a minor in Film Production. She also holds a Master of Science in Teaching from Fordham University.

Although managing Harlem Pride keeps her very busy, she is also an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc and other Harlem based LGBTQ organizations.

In the greater metropolitan Atlanta area, there are about six or seven Unitarian Universalist congregation, but they are all in predominantly white areas of town.

In 2018, Rev. Duncan E. Teague with others committed to moving forward with black lives of Unitarian universalism, and building communities, centered in black communities and communities of color founded the Abundant LUUv Congregation - A new Unitarian Universalist congregation in the West End neighborhood of Atlanta.

Abundant LUUv’s beliefs are diverse and inclusive embracing diverse teachings from Eastern and Western religions and philosophies. It is committed to continuing the work of healing communities and is working with Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health and the School of Nursing to assist with research to inform faith-based HIV/AIDS prevention programs from the perspective of Black gay and bisexual men.

Before accepting his calling to ministry, Rev. Teague had an established career in HIV/AIDS education, advocacy, and research coordination. He began at AIDS Atlanta within the first five years of the epidemic. In the 2017 legislative session of the State of Georgia House of Representatives, he was recognized for his many years of HIV/AIDS work.

He graduated from the Candler School of Theology in 2011 and ordained by the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta and credentialed by the larger UU Association in 2014. Rev. Teague is an inductee to the Morehouse College, Board of Preachers of the Martin Luther King, Jr. International College of Ministers and Laity, 2015. His story was featured in the 2018 Atlanta Journal Constitution article and subsequent interviews of Atlanta-area men leading the struggle of the HIV/AIDS epidemic among African American gay, bisexual and transgender people, from the 1980s to the present.

The book “Women Rapping Revolution: Hip Hop Community Building in Detroit” is described as an attempt to illuminate the important role that women have played in mobilizing a grassroots response to political and social pressures at the heart of the city’s ongoing renewal and development. Detroit, MIchigan, has long been recognized as a center of musical innovation and social change.

Authors Rebekah Farrugia, Professor of Media Studies in the Department of Communication, Journalism, and Public Relations and Kellie Hay  Professor of Cultural Studies in the Department of Communication, Journalism, and Public Relations, both at Oakland University located in Rochester, Michigan, spent seven years in the community with The Foundation, a Detroit-based women-centered hip hop collective.

Their fieldwork in writing this book shows us how crucial it is for us to engage with outside cultures with a strong level of cultural competency and authenticity. The Detroit hip-hop women trailblazers they speak and build relationships with give us glimpses of Black womanhood and ways Black women are dismantling the hip-hop gender status quo. Kellie and Rebekah also share how this journey has challenged and evolved their own perceptions of feminism, especially in the realm of academia. Overall, such a really fascinating, multi-layered conversation.

They say they were not trying to take anything away from or appropriate the culture but, only with the permission and direction of the collective, to document something so it doesn’t go away and morph into something else.

Right about now, each year metro-Detroit's LGBTQ community is getting ready to celebrate PRIDE. Ferndale PRIDE usually kicks things off, but this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic Ferndale Pride has tentatively been rescheduled for September 26th  Julia Music is the Executive Director of Ferndale Pride. 

She has been active in the Ferndale community since she was 16 years of age. Music served on the Ferndale Community Foundation, ran the Taste of Ferndale fundraiser, and helped start Ferndale Pride, In 2019 she was unanimously appointed to fill a temporary seat on the Ferndale City Council. 

Ferndale Pride gave $20,000 to the Ferndale Community Foundation and $2,000 each to Affirmations, Gender-identity Network Alliance, Matrix MAC Health, Transgender Detroit, and Transgender Michigan. Since its beginning, Ferndale Pride has returned almost $200,000 to the community

She will talk about the history of Ferndale Pride, her love for this metro-Detroit suburb, and what is ahead for this year's celebration as the community wrestles with the current health challenge. Ferndale Pride’s naming sponsor is the Candle Wick Shoppe.

Virtual events include a virtual dance party and "We're Home and We are Here"

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic Lupus Detroit’s main fundraising events – The Lupus Detroit Brunch in May and the Walk for Warriors in the fall have been canceled but the work continues.

Sharon Harris, Lupus Detroit Founder/Executive Director, talks about how the organization continues to provide support for warriors including virtual meetings and webinars, and introduces another phenomenal Lupus Warrior Kalyn Risker Fahie.

Kalyn is not only a Lupus Warrior but also a survivor of domestic violence. After escaping her abusive relationship she went on to found SAFE - Sisters Acquiring Financial Empowerment - to equip survivors of domestic violence with the appropriate financial tools and resources needed to enable women to leave or recover from the economic portion of domestic violence.

In 2015 she married and moved to St. Thomas in the US Virgin Island but continued to run SAFE long-distance with the assistance of a group of dedicated volunteers. 

In 2016 she joined The Virgin Island Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Council as program liaison. The Council is a leader of the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Awareness cause.

She still visits Detroit regularly for SAFE and to support her Lupus Warrior family.

Tameka Ramsey is the owner and principal associate at T Ramsey and Associates.

She’s also a mother and grandmother. Her eldest is an essential worker who with his wife are on the frontline during this COVID-19 epidemic. At home, she has a daughter going through the most unusual of senior high school year and a son growing up in this uncertain normal of homeschooling and social distancing. Family comes first. If she could she would have one big home where her family could stay together building memories and legacy.

You might say she is a renaissance woman with an eye on her community as she builds that future legacy for her family. T. Ramsey & Associates has been in business since 2015. It provides services to small businesses, startups, and nonprofit organizations. The office is located in Pontiac, MI, but their clients span across the United States and abroad. They work closely with a diverse group of clients on achieving their mission, while assisting them in growing in capacity.

Tameka is a nationally sought-after consultant, that specializes in providing training and coaching to grow the capacity of organizations and small businesses, through technical assistance, strategic planning, and professional development.

She has worked tirelessly to strengthen grassroots organizations across the country that are committed to improving their communities for every individual but her heart has and always will be in the city of Pontiac, Michigan. 

She shares her personal experiences from childhood and motherhood. Not only do they serve as testimonies to her ambition and success, but they also spark inspiration as to how we can build a strong, lasting, thriving Black future and legacy.