Everything Co-op continues its celebration of Black History Month with an interview of Jennie L. Stephens Ph.D., CEO at the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation. Vernon and Dr. Stephens discuss how the Center provides legal education and direct legal services to help families obtain clear title to family land and learn how to make the land work for them, instead of working for the land.
Dr. Jennie L. Stephens has been the Executive Director of the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation since its inception in 2005. At the Center, she is responsible for overall strategic planning, revenue generation, financial & staff management, and program operations. Dr. Stephens has dedicated more than 25 years in the non-profit industry and is very passionate about building relationships with people who have experienced a history of abuse when it comes to their land and their rights. Jennie holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the College of Charleston, a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Charleston/University of South Carolina, and a PhD in Organizational Leadership from Regent University.
The theme for Black History month 2023 is Black Resistance. The theme explores how “African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial profiling, and police killings.” As societal and political forces escalate to limit access to and exercise of the ballot, eliminate the teaching of Black history, and work to push us back into the 1890s, we can only rely on our capacity to resist.
Asalh (Association for the Study of African American American Life and History), and the organization that provides the Black History month themes, has issued a call to everyone, inside and outside the academy, to study the history of Black Americans’ responses to establish safe spaces, where Black life can be sustained, fortified, and respected.
