April L. Harris

Adjunct Faculty,
Interdisciplinary Studies in Philosophy, Humanities and Religion

1545
Emeritus Hall
Santa Rosa Campus

Telephone: (707) 527-4226
aharris@santarosa.edu

Schedule

• Tuesday
     1:00 pm - 1:30 pm Office Hour 1545 Emeritus Hall
     1:30 pm - 3:00 pm Human 4.2 Western Cultures 1697 Emeritus Hall
     6:30 pm - 7:00 pm Office Hour 1545 Emeritus Hall
     7:00 pm - 10:00 pm Human 8 Comparative Mythology 1619 Emeritus Hall
  
  
• Thursday
     1:00 pm - 1:30pm Office Hour 1545 Emeritus Hall
     1:30 pm - 3:00 pm Human 4.2 Western Cultures 1697 Emeritus Hall
  

Education

PhD (ABD), Syracuse University, Cultural Foundations of Education
MA, Sonoma State University, ITDS- Multicultural Education Curriculum Development
BA, Sonoma State University, American Multicultural Studies
AA, Santa Rosa Junior College, Humanities - American Cultures

Professional Areas of Interest

African American Life, Culture and History are areas of interests, as well as how African descendants have contributed to the advancement of humanity throughout time and across the diaspora of the human experience. I have conducted research on the Underground Railroad in New York State and California. This is were my passion lies! How did that clandestine movement find support in the Golden State? and why were there reports of "slave escape" along the Barbury Coast (including Sonoma County) in the 1850s, particularly when California entered the Union as a "free" state? Where is this history in textbooks and how does this legacy affect society today? These are just a few questions that have guided me to conduct the research I am currently involved in. Presently, I am working on a project entitled, "Re-Discovering the Guinda Summit Community". The community is recognized as one of California's sixteen recognized Negro Pioneer settlements. Through multiple research methods related to oral traditions and public history has been used to identify and interview descendants of the community founders. I have also exhibited at Rosie the Riveter National Homefront Festivals a pictorial history on the development of the community for Marinship workers during World War II. This project is an opportunity to reconstruct the development of a multiethnic community during the era of segregation in the United States. I see the interconnectedness of the work I have conducted over the past decade -- student success, community health, gender equality and the homefront (national and genealogical)-- as relevant to one's personal identity and their place in the world.

Professional Involvement and Community Service

(Pending)
Professional Development, EduCultural Foundation "Five Minutes to Chops": Multicultural and Anti-Racists Training in the Classroom and Workplace. Maison Leucate, Leucate, France

Present Project(s):

Re-Discovering the Guinda Summit Community

Marinship, Ahoy! An examination of an Integrated Community during World War II

Presentations and Publications

PRESENTATIONS

June 2011
What's Hot - Local Public Television w/ host, Ida Johnson
Santa Rosa, CA
Segment: Liberia to Guinda (No.368)

February 2011
Santa Rosa Junior College, Black History Month at the Petaluma Cinema Series
Co-Presenter/ Discussion Facilitator w/ Michael Traina SRJC Film and Media Studies, Director of Petaluma Film Alliance. Feature: "Moolaade" (2004) film directed by Ousmane Sembene on the topic of female genital mutilation (FMG).

February 2011
Exhibit: "Re-Discovering the Guinda Summit Community - A Historical Black Town and Settlement of Early California" (Photography)
Guinda 10th Annual Black History/Month Multicultural Celebration
Guinda, Yolo County, CA

November 2010
Santa Rosa Junior College, Works of Literary Merit (WOLM) ~ Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes were watching God"
Presentation: Negro Literati: A Precursor to Black Feminist Thought [Accession # LD-1888]

October 2010
What's Hot - Local Public Television w/ host, Ida Johnson
Santa Rosa, CA
Segment: Nuggets of Gold w/ Guy Washington, NPS (NO. 342)

September 2010
What's Hot - Local Public Television w/ host, Ida Johnson
Santa Rosa, CA
Segment: Marinship and the Underground Railroad (No. 339)

March 2010
What's Hot - Local Public Television w/ host, Ida Johnson
Santa Rosa, CA
Segment: Midwestern Migration w/ Verla Ostlund, Marinship Rosie (No. 330)

February 2010
Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region
10th Annual Underground Railroad Conference
Russell Sage College, Troy, NY
Presentation: Sistahs in the Struggle: Female Abolitionist Agents in Syracuse, New York (1850-1870)

December 2009
What's Hot - Local Public Television w/ host, Ida Johnson
Santa Rosa, CA
Segment: Celebration of Women w/ L.J. Hughes, Mare Island Rosie (No. 320)

October 2009
Exhibit: "Double Victory at Marinship: Home Front efforts against Facism and Racism" (Photography)
National Parks Services Rosie the Riveter National Home Front Festival 2009, National Home Front Park, Richmond, CA

October 2009
SCARPH 13th Annual Conference on Planning History, Oakland, CA
Panel: New Perspectives in Race and Housing and World War II
Paper: Uniqueness of Marin City 1942-1945: A "Successful" Social Experiment in Race Relations during World War II

March 2009
Santa Rosa Junior College, Women's History Month
"Rosies in Richmond: Bay Area Women's Contributions During WWII" co-host Discussion Panel with Anne Donegan (Department of Social Science)

October 2008
What's Hot Local Public Television w/ host, Ida Johnson
Santa Rosa, CA
Segment: What's Next for Marinship?" (No. )

October 2008
National Parks Services Rosie the Riveter Home Front Festival 2008, National Home Front Park, Richmond, CA
Exhibit: Marinship, Ahoy! An Integrated Community 1942-1945: A Pictorial History of Marin City (Photography)

September 2008
What's Hot - Local Public Television w/ host, Ida Johnson
Santa Rosa, CA
Segment: What is Marinship? (N0. )

January 2008
Santa Rosa Junior College, Women's History Month,
Petaluma, CA
Presentation: Women of the Harlem Renaissance

May 2006
National Rural Health Association 12th Annual Rural Minority and Multicultural Health Conference
Reno, NV
Presentation: Kaleidoscope of Community Health through the Prisms of Lake County Tribal Health's "Reach Out" Promotora Model,

August 2005
Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP)Crossroads of Rural Health Conference, Washington, DC
Presentation: Lake County "Reach Out" Program: Promotoras as Community Health Advocates

February 2005
National Association of Native American Studies
Houston, TX
Presentation: Cultural Competence Training for Health Care: Building Bridges between a College Campus and the Ethnic Community in Rural California

National Association of African American Studies
Houston, TX
Presenation: Research, Resources and Readings on the Underground Railroad in Central New York

September 2004
Healthier Indian Communities through Partnership and Prevention
Washington, DC
Presentation: "Reach Out": A Community-based Program Designed to Address Diabetes and High Blood Pressure in a Rural California County

April 2004
National Association of African American Studies
Houston, TX
Co-Presenter: "I put the armor on everyday": Influences of Student Socialization based upon culture and ethnicity

Spring 2003
Syracuse University Violence Prevention Project (SUVPP)
Office of Professional Development,Syracuse, New York
Co-facilitator: Pre/ In-Service Teacher Training New York State Project SAVE Legislation Training

November 2002
Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE)
28th Annual Conference, Sacramento, CA
Commentator: Rethinking Student Persistence w/ R. Deborah Davis, PhD, Oswego State University and Vincent Tinto, PhD, Syracuse University

April 2002
American Education Researchers Association (AERA)
83rd Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA
Co-Presenter: It takes a Whole School: An intervention to violence as the catalyst for change in an urban alternative school (SUVPP)

Spring 2002
Syracuse University Violence Prevention Project (SUVPP)
Office of Professional Development,Syracuse, New York
Co-facilitator: Pre/ In-Service Teacher Training New York State Project SAVE Legislation Training

Fall 2001
Syracuse University Violence Prevention Project (SUVPP)
Office of Professional Development,Syracuse, New York
Co-facilitator: Pre/ In-Service Teacher Training New York State Project SAVE Legislation Training

August 2001
Central New York Charter School for Math and Science
Professional Development, Syracuse, NY
Co-facilitator:Violence Prevention and Whole School Development Training (SUVPP)

April 2001
11th Annual Philosophy Interpretation and Culture Conference
Binghamton, NY
Roundtable Discussant: Silent Roar from the Margins: Effects of Test Bias on Students of Color

April 2001
11th Annual Philosophy Interpretation and Culture Conference
Binghamton, NY
Presentation: The Big House and the Quarters: Comparative Perspectives on African American education in post-Colonial Southern United States

April 2001
Syracuse University Violence Prevention Project (SUVPP)
Office of Professional Development,Syracuse, New York
Co-facilitator: Pre/ In-Service Teacher Training New York State Project SAVE Legislation Training

April 2001
New York State Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP)
Annual Conference, Albany, NY
Presentation: Dream Building and Career Development

October 2000
4th Annual Upstate New York Conference for Doctoral Students in Education
Cornell University, NY
Presentation: Social Manifestations of the "At-Risk" Student: An Examination of the Literate Man

April 2000
10th Annual Philosophy Interpretation and Culture Conference
Binghamton, NY
Roundtable Discussant: Test Bias, Ethnicity and Gender in Higher Education

Fall 1999
Sonoma State University Intercultural Center Student Advocate Retreat
Novato, CA
Presentation: Community Involvement through Mentoring

Spring 1998
Marin City Project,
Marin City, Ca
Co-Facilitator: Workplace Preparedness and Workplace Re-Entry Training

Fall 1997
Sonoma State University Student Union, Student Leadership Retreat XIV
Occidental, CA
Co-Facilitator: Cross Cultural Communication in Higher Education


PUBLICATIONS

Harris, April L "African Free Schools", In Peter Eisenstadt and Laura Eve-Moss, The Encyclopedia of New York State, New York: Syracuse University Press, (2005): 25-26.

Davis, R. Deborah and April L. Harris, "I Put on the Armor Everyday": Influences of Student Socialization Based Upon Culture and Ethnicity. On-line: National Association of African American Studies Monograph (2004).

Harris, April L and William H. Thomas, "Developing the Confident Student: A study guide for mentors in after-school enrichment programs" Developed for Sonoma-Mendocino-Lake Counties United Way (1999)

Honors and Awards

2009/2010 Who's Who Princeton Premier Honor Registry

Links

Annotated Bibliography
Citation Styles
Art Analysis Form
Knowledge Form
Music Analysis
U.S. Constitution
13th, 14th and 15th Amendments
Emancipation Proclamation
Fugitive Slave Act - 1850
California Constitution
Chinese Exclusion Act - 1882
California Mining Laws
Frederick Douglass Papers
William Lloyd Garrison's Papers
Anti-Slavery Tracts
North American Slave Narratives
Slavery in California