“Art is the inner voice of the people.” —Alain Locke
Join us for a discussion of one of the most vibrant and significant movements in American art history – the Harlem Renaissance. Three scholars will reflect on the period’s rich legacy in the fields of visual art, music, and theatre. Moderated by Bianca Washington, the panel will include Dr. Amy Mooney (Professor of Art History at Columbia College Chicago), Rev. Millard Southern (PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies at WMU), and Dr. Quincy Thomas (Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts at Kalamazoo College).
Register
Dr. Amy Mooney, Panelist on Visual Art
Rev. Millard Southern, Panelist on Music
Dr. Quincy Thomas, Panelist on Theatre
Bianca Washington, Panel Moderator
Dr. Amy Mooney, Panelist on Visual Art
Dr. Amy M. Mooney is a Professor of Art History at Columbia College Chicago. Her publications include a monograph, Archibald J. Motley, Jr., as well as contributions to anthologies and catalogs including Alma Thomas: Everything is Beautiful, Beyond Face: New Perspectives in Portraiture, Archibald Motley: Jazz Age Modernist, Black Is Black Ain’t, and Romare Bearden in the Modernist Tradition. She is a recipient of fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Terra Foundation for American Art. In collaboration with Dr. Deborah Willis, she launched a digital humanities project, “Say It with Pictures” Then and Now that recovers and examines Chicago’s African American studio photographers from the 1890s into the 1930s. This project will be the basis for an exhibition at the Newberry Library in 2027 where she will work with contemporary artists to create a new body of work in response to these important histories. While serving as the 2019-2020 Terra Foundation Visiting Professor of American Art at Oxford University, she delivered Regarding the Portrait, a four-part lecture series that draws from her forthcoming book, Progressive Visions: Portraiture in the United States, 1890-1950, which investigates the social function of portraiture. Dr. Mooney earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Art History at Rutgers University.
Rev. Millard Southern, Panelist on Music
Rev. Millard Southern III is a third-generation minister, currently serving as the pastor of the historic Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church in Kalamazoo. A native of Chicago, he received a BA in Economics from Drake University and a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York. Rev. Southern is an avid scholar of jazz music and a trumpet player himself. He is now finishing his Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies at Western Michigan University, using the music of Wynton Marsalis to investigate the relationship between jazz, theology, and democracy. Rev. Southern regularly creates programming opportunities that bring music to youth and adult audiences in Kalamazoo. Recent highlights have included a 2025 Trumpet Summit at WMU, a concert by by Wynton Marsalis in 2026, and multiple collaborations with the KIA bringing music and visual art into conversation with one another.
Dr. Quincy Thomas, Panelist on Theatre
Dr. Quincy Thomas earned a Ph.D. in Theatre and a Performance Studies certification from Bowling Green State University. As an actor, director, intimacy coordinator, and playwright, their offerings focus on subjects such as counter-storytelling; Black performativity in American media; representations of the marginalized in popular culture; stand-up and solo performance; and performative writing. Dr. Thomas is an Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts at Kalamazoo College, where they also serve as department co-chair. They apply their passion for theatre, performance studies, and film while speaking to issues surrounding cultural marginalization and misrepresentation in the arts, specifically of racial and ethnic minorities, women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. Their most recent directorial offerings have included: Harlem Duet (Kalamazoo Festival Playhouse and Face Off Theatre), Love’s Labour’s Lost (Kalamazoo Festival Playhouse), California Suite (Kalamazoo Civic Theatre), A New Leaf (Queer Theatre Kalamazoo), and Chicken and Biscuits (Farmer’s Alley Theatre). They have most recently appeared onstage as Lopakhin in The Cherry Orchard (Kalamazoo Civic Theatre), and as a member of the Crawlspace Eviction improv troupe Always Hallways. Other favorite roles have included Blue/Orange (Christopher), Clybourne Park (Albert), As You Like It (Touchstone), Love’s Labours Lost (Lord Longeville), Noises Off (Selsdon), and White Rabbit; Red Rabbit (Actor). Their original play The Whites Explain It All was selected as the full-length play for the 2023 Region III Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.
Bianca Washington, Panel Moderator
Bianca Washington received her BA at Western Michigan University and her MFA in Acting and Theatre Education at The Pennsylvania State University. She studied abroad in London, South Africa, and Toronto, performing and engaging in master classes and research. After her training, she ventured to New York City to gain a fuller understanding of the industry, serving as an understudy at the Pearl Theatre Company and as a volunteer at the 52nd Street Project. Upon her return to Michigan, she began adjunct teaching at Western Michigan University, Lake Michigan College, and Kalamazoo College. Washington has been teaching at the collegiate level for seven years and has educated young people in the arts for more than ten years. She toured for over a decade with her family’s theatre company, Washington Productions. It was there where she learned the magic and art of The Griot, African storytelling, and she gives credit to her uncle, Dr. Von Washington, and aunt, Fran Washington, for providing profound professional experience and education in the craft. Washington is one of the proud founding members of Face Off Theatre Company, which focuses on producing and supporting artists of color and their stories in Kalamazoo and other local communities. Acting credits include: Primary Trust (Corrina and Others), POTUS (Jean) Been Lovin’ You: August Wilson Collection of Scenes (Tonya and Clarissa), At the Table (Lauren), Disgraced (Jory), Good People (Kate), In Search Of Giants (Alice/Malinda), RACE (Susan), The Colored Museum (Medea/Flight Att.), Radio Golf (Mame), Oedipus (Jocasta), Twelfth Night (Viola) and many more. Directing credits include: Water by the Spoonful, The Meeting, Home on the Morning Train, Brave No World, Student Body, Ships, Shells and Chains, Theatre for Community Health, and others.
Please note that this event will not be livestreamed or posted on YouTube.
Preregistration is encouraged. Find out why.
In the event that a program is modified, postponed, or cancelled, we reach out via email to all who have preregistered. If a significant change is made on short notice, your preregistration helps to ensure that you get the word from us in the most timely manner possible.
Registering for programs in advance also helps our staff to assess set-up needs beforehand, reducing the need for last-minute adjustments to numbers of chairs, tables, etc. Further, it streamlines the check-in process when you arrive and allows us to keep you in the loop about other upcoming programs that might be of interest!