The Ties That Bind: Exploring the Intersectionality of Black and Indigenous Culture and Identity

Martha Redbone is known for her unique gumbo of folk, blues, and gospel from her childhood in Harlan County, Kentucky influesed with the eclectic grift of pre-gentrified Brooklyn. Inheriting the powerful vocal range of her gospel-singing African American father and the resilient spirit of her mother’s Cherokee/Shawnee/Choctaw culture, Martha Redbone broadents the boundaries of American Roots music. With songs and storytelling that share her life experience as a Native and Black woman and mother in the new millennium, she gives voice to issues of social justice, bridging traditions from the past to present, connecting cultures, and celebrating the human spirit.

Mohammed Soriano-Bilal is the Associate Dean & Director of the Office for Inclusion, Belonging, & Intergroup Communication at Stanford University where he oversees a team of talented equity educators and explores his scholarly passion for the confluence of equity, art, and innovation. He is also probably best known as the voice of reason on MTV's Real World San Francisco. As a multi-disciplinarian artist, Mohammed has collaborated with Santana, Public Enemy, Ben Harper, De La Soul, Danny Glover and Mos Def; his music has been featured on NBC, the CW, and the Sundance Film Festival; and his film work includes If I Were President, an election campaign that helped register 200,000 first-time voters of color and Vocabulary of Change, a conversation between Angela Davis and Tim Wise.