Shawne' Lee born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, resided in Los Angeles, where she majored in business to become valedictorian at United Business Institute. She later relocated to New York City and worked several years for the Mayor’s Office of Planning and Environment during the Dinkins Administration. She was introduced to West African dance in 1992 under the tutelage of Youssouf Koumbassa, M’Bemba Bangoura, Marie Bass, and Mouminatou Camara. She would then hone her skills in traditional dance and choreography, transforming her passion to an ongoing dedication of teaching the art. In 2003 she co-founded the Maat Organic Summer Camp, where the children are instructed in dance, drumming, drama, martial arts, arts & crafts, and cultural enrichment. Shawne¢ is also the founder and CEO of BlackEmpress368 Entertainment, which is a management company and collective of musicians, actors, models, photographers, and promoters which brings conscious well crafted work to the artists and clients in a highly competitive market through media exposure, interviews, shows and radio. Her proudest achievement to date is being a mother of three.

Shawne' Lee
Co-Founder/ Director

E. Preston Riddick aka A'ma Sakura Ka Born in Norfolk Virginia, resided in Brooklyn, New York persuing his dream of becoming an actor and playwright. He soon be came a school teacher within the New York City Public Schools and also founded a Youth Cultural Arts After-School and Summer Program "Indoda Entsha", where for over 40 years he greatly influenced the lives of children from K- College through cultural arts ranging from Acting, Martial Arts, West African Dance and Percussion. He later created a Professional West African Dance and Percussion Ensemble from the core members of his Cultural Arts Program.

The Indoda Entsha Percussion Ensemble currently consists of six core members who have been together for more than ten years and have studied with some of the most renowned African and African American master musicians. Several of the members return to the motherland yearly to delve deep into the musical traditions to hone their skill and knowledge. As a result of this intensive study, the group plays a powerful and seductive blend of traditional West African, Afro Cuban and Hip Hop music. The relevant and provocative words of A'ma Sakura Ka stimulate and add even more uplifting energy and character to the mesmerizing rhythms. The group has performed extensively throughout the tri-state area and East Coast to enthusiastic and thunderous applause. E. Preston Riddick is also the producer of the percussion ensemble's album, Melon Music "Machete Words".

E. Preston Riddick
Artistic Director

Numi Deodee, Director of Marketing and Outreach for the Abolitionist Place was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She is a community organizer,and activist who strongly believes in developing and not destroying the borough's existing neighborhoods by making changes affrordable for working class citizens and disadvantaged people. Numi strongly believes that in order for any changes to be implemented in a community, the residents and business owners must first be present at the decision making table. An Event Planner, devoted wife, and active member of FUREE, Numi joins the fight to establish the Abolitionist Place as a landmark and a Museum of relevant History for all to recognize and appreciate.

Numi's favorite quote, A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots. -Marcus Garvey

Numi Deodee
Event Coordinator

James Driscoll Education:
St. John’s University: B.A.
Hunter College: M.A.

Teaching: Twenty-five years as a social studies teacher in the New York City Public School System. The last ten years at William Cullen Bryant High School in Astoria. Now retired.

Association with the Queens Historical Society:
Member of the Board of Trustees for over twelve years.
Vice-President of History – 1998 to 2005
President since 2005
Chairman of the Underground Railroad Research Committee since 1998

Other organizations:
Vice President of the Voelker-Orth Museum since 1998.

Publications:
Co-authored the following:
Angels of Deliverance: The Story of the Underground Railroad in Queens, Long Island and Beyond
The Road to Freedom: The Underground Railroad in New York State (a book for eighth graders)
The Friends of Freedom: The Underground Railroad in Queens and on Long Island
All of the above were published by the Queens Historical Society and financed by grants from the New York Department of Recreation, Parks and Historic Preservation.

Other publications:
Article:
“Samuel Parsons: A Long Island Quaker and the Anti-Slavery Struggle” was published in the Journal of Afro-American History and Genealogy in the fall of 2003.
Other books:
Flushing 1830-1930 was recently published by Arcadia Press.

Exhibits curated:
“Angels of Deliverance” was shown at the Society in 2000 and later shown at Suny-Old Westbury and the African-American Museum in Hempstead.

Raul Rothblatt has been an active advocate of Duffield Street since 2004. He has written countless press releases, met with elected officials and candidates for public office, spoken with reporters and anyone who would listen. He blogs about the street at www.DuffieldSt.blogspot.com.

Since 2007, he has acted as Executive Director of the Four Borough Neighborhood Alliance, a city-wide alliance of community groups that has worked hard to promote the historic Abolitionist homes on Duffield as well as fight to defend the neighborhood character of communities and properties in Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Staten Island.

Raul works tirelessly to promote transparent government and other progressive causes in various ways. He is the First Vice President of the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, the Vice President of the Prospect Place (Flatbush to Underhill) Block Association, one of the original activists and ongoing activists in DDDb, the Co-Chair of the Arts and Cultural Committee of the United African Congress, and one of the organizers of the Brooklyn Food Conference. He is a member of Kolot Chayeinu.

Raul is Co-founder and Partner of Jumbie Records Artist Management (www.JumbieRecords.com). He is the manager/cellist of Kakande, a group performing music of the Mande Empire of West Africa and lead by Guinean griot Famoro Dioubate. In 2008, he brought Mory Kante to tour with Kakande to promote their album Dununya. Raul is the manager/bassist of Életfa Hungarian Folk, and in 2009 he performed with them and the NY Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall. He also performs bass with MetróFolk, a Hungarian folk group lead by Jake Shulman-Ment. He is the bandleader/composer/cellist of Dallam-Dougou, Brooklyn's premier African-Hungarian folk band.

Originally from San Francisco, Raul received his Bachelors degree at UC Berkeley where he studied with Andrew Imbrie. He studied classical composition at the Liszt Academy of Music with György Orbán and received an MFA in Musical Theater Composition from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. He visited the Sosso Balla in Guinea in 2003.

Raul moved to Brooklyn in 1993, and he is the proud father of his Brooklyn-born daughter. He looks forward to sharing the proud history of Duffield Street with his daughter and all of her friends for decades to come.

~Raul

Raul Rothblatt

Co-Founder & Partner Jumbie Records Artist Management www.JumbieRecords.com

Executive Director Four Borough Neighborhood Preservation Alliance