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Our Team

Meet our people

Foot Soldiers Park is a diverse community of activists spanning multiple generations, cultures, and experiences who are committed to reviving Selma and racial justice.

Staff

Angela Benjamin
Angela Benjamin Programs Manager

Angela Benjamin was born and raised in historic Selma, Alabama, graduating from Selma High School in 1987.

She earned her BSW from Alabama State University (summa cum laude) and continued her education at the University of Alabama in the advanced standing graduate program, where she received her MSW. The University of Alabama hired her to assist the director with the Coco Cola First Generation Scholarship Program where 12 college students were assigned to her each year. Ms. Benjamin’s name is on two placards in the halls of the University’s School of Social Work. She is recognized at Alabama State University as Student of the Year and a member of Alpha Chi, where the top 10% of the entire university are represented. She served as an investor at the Department of Human Resources in the Child Abuse & Neglect (CAN) Unit while at ASU.

In 2008, Ms. Benjamin was installed to the office of Selma City Council, the same month that Barack Obama won as the first recognized Black president. As Councilwoman Benjamin, her first policy was to add a “Children & Families Committee” to the council which became local law, passing unanimously. That next year, she was elected President of the Office of Student Affairs of the National Association of Black Social Workers. Her next term, she was voted President Pro Tempore by her peers on the Selma City Council. Angela stopped running for office in 2020 to take the time create spaces to serve the community on multiple and higher levels.

She is currently the Programs Manager at Foot Soldiers Park & Education Center, where she also advises the National Youth Advisory Board concerning social justice and advocacy. Among her other professional contracted services that she offers to organizations and court affiliates as a master social worker, she is in a unique position to do something social workers find themselves doing all day—write. Ms. Benjamin is a correspondent for the Selma Sun Newspaper where her goal is to help ensure that community is positively represented in the media.

She is the president of the Coalition of Concerned Families, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization that is a first responder to disasters and that addresses social needs and injustices. She is the creator of the city’s annual Black Man Heal Symposium addressing holistic needs of African American men and boys, Jazz on the Grazz, keeping with her mantra ‘Bring back the arts,’ and the Annual Youth Conference, empowering teenagers and enhancing their individual and team leadership skills.

Among her many awards and accolades, Ms. Benjamin is the alumnus 2024 Game Changer at Alabama State University.

When asked what her favorite pastime is, she usually demonstrates by—dancing! When asked what kind of jobs a social work degree can land you, she usually responds, “Imagine it, and a social worker is probably already doing just that. The greatest social worker who ever lived goes by the name Jesus.”

Angela has four wonderful children and lots of grandchildren who she adores.

Jasmyn Bowie
Jasmyn Bowie Tour Coordinator

Jasmyn Bowie serves as the Tour Coordinator for Foot Soldiers Park. As the primary point of contact at the organization, Jasmyn is instrumental in organizing the informative lectures which accompany the excursions. Jasmyn also oversees the reservations and lunch accommodations process for visitors.

Prior to her involvement with Foot Soldiers Park, Jasmyn worked as a greening Intern for the Selma Interpretive Center, a tourist welcome center, and as a community coordinator for Drug-Free Communities of Dallas County, Alabama, where she worked with kids to institute drug-free programs in schools.

Through her work, Jasmyn has traveled extensively and hopes to see the tourism program expand. A Selma native, Jasmyn dreams of the day when her hometown becomes an international destination and Foot Soldiers Park tours inspire visitors to return to their own homes and share Selma’s pivotal role in American history, its significance to the global civil rights movement, and why it’s so important for everyone to vote.

Carey M. Fountain
Carey M. Fountain Programs Director

Carey M. Fountain Jr. serves as the Director of Programs and Partnerships at Foot Soldiers Park, where he is instrumental in developing and implementing initiatives that preserve Selma’s Civil Rights history and foster economic and cultural revitalization. He is a multidisciplinary artist and dedicated community organizer from Birmingham, Alabama. With a background in Interdisciplinary Studies and Media Business from the University of Alabama, Carey has built a career at the intersection of art, community engagement, and social justice.

He is the founder of The Black Cherry Tree Project, a local artist initiative in Birmingham that memorializes lynching victims through artistic representation and ecological commemoration.
Carey is also the founder of the company Vibes & Virtues, a multifaceted brand that blends art, fashion, and interactive events to foster meaningful connections and conversations within the community.

Carey is deeply passionate about using art to challenge perspectives and inspire community dialogue. His commitment to social change and community building is evident in every aspect of his work as an artist, activist and organizer.

Kennedy Smitherman
Kennedy Smitherman Program Coordinator

Kennedy Smitherman is the Program Coordinator for Foot Soldiers Park and has been with the organization since the very beginning. Kennedy is responsible for coordinating events leading up to and including the Juneteenth festivities and the Bloody Sunday Bridge Crossing Jubilee. Additionally, Kennedy works closely with FSP’s Youth Advisory Board (YAB). The board also runs the PlayPals program, which sees the young children of Selma playing and learning about the city’s rich history in an engaging, fun, and informative way.

Her involvement with her city runs deep. As a Selma native, Kennedy has been instrumental in leading and designing community-centered events for Foot Soldiers Park and fostering a sense of involvement for all residents of Selma. She’s most excited by the potential of Foot Soldiers Park to leave a lasting legacy on the residents of Selma, and for the next generations of foot soldiers in the city and beyond to carry that legacy forward.

“What excites me is the potential for the impact we have on people and seeing it built from the ground up and watching it grow. I love working with Foot Soldiers Park simply because every day, you wake up and do what you love.”

Executive Board

Donovan Duncan
Donovan Duncan Chair

Donovan Duncan is the Executive Director of Urban Strategies, Inc. He has more than 10 years of experience in the development and housing industry including community revitalization and development initiatives, resident services, minority and female participation, Section 3, Youthbuild initiatives and energy conservation and neighborhood stabilization programs. He previously held the position of Executive Director of Western Reserve Revitalization and Management Company and the Director of Asset Management and Operations for the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority.

Donovan also serves as Vice President of Forever Family National Board of Directors in Atlanta, Georgia, and the National Community Development and Revitalization Chairperson of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. Donovan was named a Field Catalyst in the inaugural cohort of the Center for Community Investment. Donovan was a fellow in the 2013-2014 class of the Annie E. Casey Fellowship, an intensive leadership development program.

Donovan holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration/Finance from the University of Akron and a Master’s Degree in Organizational Development and Diversity Management from Cleveland State University.

Jodi Marie Thesing-Ritter
Jodi Marie Thesing-Ritter Secretary

Jodi Marie Thesing- Ritter is Director of the Center for DEI Training, Development, and Education at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She coordinates the Civil Rights Pilgrimage, teaches Women’s Studies and honors courses, and provides training for equity, diversity, and inclusion for our campus. Jodi is also director of Blugold Beginnings at UW-Eau Claire. Formed in 2008, the Blugold Beginnings program currently serves 5th graders through graduating seniors in the area. The program exists to reduce the opportunity gap for low-income, first-generation students, and girls entering STEM fields by providing them with mentorship, career exploration, tutoring, leadership-building opportunities, and college planning. Jodi served as the associate dean of students on campus for 10 years before transitioning into her current role.

A proponent of teaching women’s history and shining a spotlight on the way in which women are excluded from the rhetoric, Thesing-Ritter is also passionate about teaching critical race theory.
Jodi received her M.A. in Student Personnel Administration from Columbia University and her B.S. from St. Mary’s University.

Loki Mulholland
Loki Mulholland Treasurer

Loki Mulholland is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker, author, activist and son of civil rights icon, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland. His films on race and social justice issues have won 20 Best Documentary awards and have appeared on Showtime, PBS and Amazon. Loki speaks all over the country on issues of race and social justice, is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated and the founder and Executive Director of the Joan Trumpauer Mulholland Foundation.

Gbenga Akinnagbe
Gbenga Akinnagbe Board Member

Gbenga Akinnagbe is an actor, writer, and philanthropist best known for his roles as Chris Partlow on the HBO series The Wire and as Larry Brown on the HBO series The Deuce. He also appeared in the films The Savages, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, and Lottery Ticket, and on the television shows The Good Wife, and Nurse Jackie.

Gbenga is the founder of Liberated People, an eco-friendly lifestyle brand that develops innovative and transformative products for people around the world. Its best selling product is a t-shirt collection with messages that empower people around the world to engineer changes in their lives and in the lives of others. As part of its goal to support humanity, Liberated People cultivates philanthropic partnerships with organizations that share a common mission of unity and global awareness. Each year, the company donates a portion of its profits to various charities to help them achieve their goals.

Gbenga is also the founder of Enitan Vintage, a furniture line that combines antique European and Western style pieces with African inspired fabrics.

Gbenga serves as board member of MoCADA; Brooklyn museum whose exhibitions and programs highlight pressing social political issues facing Africa today. He is board president of Refoundry whose mission is to train and mentor formerly incarcerated people on their journey towards financial independence and leadership.

Lenora Ausbon-Odom
Lenora Ausbon-Odom Board Member

Lenora Ausbon-Odom serves as Chief Talent Development and Inclusion Officer at global law firm, DLA Piper. In this role, she is primarily responsible for crafting and executing a comprehensive talent development strategy which enables the firm to achieve its marketplace and people goals. Among other responsibilities, Lenora leads the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) educational programming, including shaping the curriculum for leadership programs for women and people of color and working to develop deeper relationships with historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions to foster a stronger pipeline for the advancement of diverse lawyers.

Before joining DLA Piper in 2017, Lenora served in consulting and management roles at EY and Deloitte for more than 19 years.

Lenora received her J.D. from University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Laura Brown
Laura Brown Board Member

Laura Brown is an editor, creative consultant, and host. As editor in Chief of InStyle from 2016 to 2022, she ushered the magazine vibrantly through a divisive administration, social unrest, and an unprecedented pandemic. Reaching 30+ million women, Brown reinvented InStyle, embracing all readers with the slogan, “Everybody’s In.”

At InStyle, Laura expanded the magazine’s sphere, believing diversity to be less an obligation than simply more interesting. She gave voice to new fashion, celebrity and activist leaders, particularly with the bold platform, ‘Badass Women.’ Her social media sensibility extended the voice of InStyle beyond the page. Under her leadership, InStyle was the first American fashion magazine to ban fur and exotic skins in 2018, and also the first to sign the 15% Percent Pledge. Her unifying voice–most literally on her podcasts–attracts women from all worlds, with an inclusive, warm, and witty worldview.

Before joining InStyle, Laura was Executive Editor of Harper’s BAZAAR. During her tenure at BAZAAR and InStyle, Brown received numerous magazine awards. Prior to this, Laura was Articles Director of Details and Senior Editor at W. She earned her B.A in Arts and Communication from Charles Sturt University in New South Wales, Australia.

Laura proudly sits on the boards of ‘me too.’, SeeHer, The Fashion Trust U.S., Foot Soldiers Park and the One Love Foundation.

Larcy Douglas
Larcy Douglas Board Member

Larcy Douglas is the director of Common Power Future, the nonprofit arm of Common Power, an organization working to increase voter turnout while investing in the next generation of leaders and building lasting community. CPFuture is a community created by new, young generation leaders for fellow Gen Zs who want to engage civically. It provides opportunities, resources, and programs to build leadership and healthy civic habits.

Larcy manages the day-to-day operations behind the scenes and leads the CPFuture community in creating programs carefully designed to meet the needs of young people to get excited about their civic responsibilities. Her passion to work with youth and young people spans over a decade of leading organizations and programs dedicated to empowering and helping them become stronger leaders of themselves and others. She immigrated to the United States as a child with her mother and is a UW alum, making her the first in her family to attend and graduate from an American College.

Larcy resides in Seattle, WA with her husband and three kids. In her spare time, she loves to paint as a way to de-stress.

Adam Ghander
Adam Ghander Board Member

Adam Ghander is a partner at global law film, DLA Piper. He has extensive experience advising strategic acquirers, private equity and venture sponsors and emerging companies in business transactions. Adam previously worked as a corporate attorney at Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP and as in-house counsel for a publicly-traded manufacturing and technology company. Following law school, he served two federal judicial court clerkships.

Adam is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire and an adjunct professor at Boston University School of Management.

Adam holds a J.D. from Boston College Law School and a B.A. from Saint Anselm College. He served as the editor-in-chief of the Uniform Commercial Code Reporter-Digest while at Boston College Law School.

Stephen Ham
Stephen Ham Board Member

Stephen has spent his life dedicated to the field of global conservation and is currently a Vice President of Individual Giving at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). He previously held the position of Executive Director, Philanthropy and Partnerships. Prior to joining WCS, he served as Senior Director of the African Wildlife Foundation, and also spent years as a special assistant to renowned primatologist, anthropologist, and conservationist, Dr. Jane Goodall.

Whether trekking mountain gorillas in Rwanda, or whale watching in Antarctica, Stephen is a passionate advocate for wildlife and the wild places they inhabit, particularly for Africa. He is a retired volunteer with the United States Peace Corps where he served in Ghana, West Africa.

Stephen received a degree in anthropology and environmental studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When not looking for leopards, Stephen lives in NY with his wife, daughters, and pup, Daisy.

Nikole Hannah-Jones
Nikole Hannah-Jones Board Member

Nikole Hannah-Jones is the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the 1619 Project, and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine. She has spent her career investigating racial inequality and injustice, and her reporting has earned her the MacArthur Fellowship, known as the Genius grant, a Peabody Award, two George Polk Awards, and the National Magazine Award three times. Hannah-Jones also earned the John Chancellor Award for Distinguished Journalism and was named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists and the Newswomen’s Club of New York. In 2020 she was inducted into the Society of American Historians and in 2021, into the North Carolina Media Hall of Fame. Nikole was named as one of The Most Influential People in 2021 by Time Magazine.

In 2016, Hannah-Jones co-founded the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, which seeks to increase the number of reporters and editors of color. She holds a Master of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina, and earned her Bachelor of Arts in History and African-American studies from the University of Notre Dame. Hannah-Jones is the Knight Chair in Race and Journalism at Howard University, where she has founded the Center for Journalism & Democracy.

Keith Hebert
Keith Hebert Board Member

Keith Hebert is Associate Professor of History and Public History Program Officer at Auburn University. Previously, Keith served as the state historian for the Georgia Historic Preservation Office. Keith’s research focuses on the history of the American South. He has published three peer-reviewed monographs including Cornerstone of the Confederacy: Alexander Stephens and the Speech that Defined the Lost Cause (2021). In 2019, Keith completed an administrative history of Horseshoe Bend National Military Park. He has served as principal investigator on numerous National Park Service and Organization of American Historians projects including a regional historic resource study of post emancipation Black schools in the South, a study of Black communities in the Cumberland Gap Region, and an examination of USCT soldiers from the Kingsley Plantation near Jacksonville, Florida. Keith has also successfully listed several sites on the National Register of Historic Places including two national significant examples of visionary art environments (Pasaquan and Paradise Garden). He also co-authored Georgia’s Rosenwald Schools multiple property nomination. Currently, Hebert is working in Selma, Alabama, to document, preserve, and interpret the historic sites associated with Bloody Sunday.

Keith received his Ph.D. in history from Auburn University, his Master’s Degree in American History from Virginia Tech, and a B.A. from University of West Georgia.

Brenda Knight
Brenda Knight Board Member

Brenda Knight is the Founder of Ladies in Red, a women’s empowerment group that provides “Motivation, Education and Inspiration” to women as tools to live and love life. Ladies In Red started with 30 ladies coming together to empower one another. Twenty-five years later, more than 1000+ women have been touched by the organization.

Ms. Knight is a national leader in education, serving as board member of the California Community College Trustees (CCCT) and the Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT). In 2002, Ms. Knight made history by becoming the first African American woman to be elected as Chairman of the Board for the Association of Community Colleges Trustees.

Ms. Knight has been featured in many local, state and national publications, including Black Issues in Higher Education, Essence, Black Enterprise and the San Francisco Chronicle. She has had two special invitations to the White House and numerous recognitions and awards from city, county, and state governments. She was designated as Oakland’s 1995 Woman of the Year and was recognized by the Board of Governors of the State of California for her contributions in education.

At the age of 50, Ms. Knight graduated, with honors, from Laney Community College with an Associate of Arts Degree in Social Sciences. She received her B.A. in Management from Saint Mary’s College and was the Commencement speaker for her own graduation.

Abbe Marcus
Abbe Marcus Board Member

Abbe Marcus has spent decades building relationships with people in communities throughout the country with lived wisdom and understandings of history and justice. Her educational and social justice experiences as the Co-Founder and Executive Director at J-Teen Leadership, and in positions at The Workers Circle, the 92nd St. Y, the Jewish Education Project and Westchester Jewish Community Services, have shaped her passion for immersive and experiential learning. She has created, developed, and led numerous trips for teens and adults to Georgia, Alabama, Virginia, Washington, DC, Detroit, Charleston, Oklahoma City and Nashville, immersing participants in the sites’ civil rights history, exposing them to life-changing narratives from leaders and activists, and creating community service activities. She is curious about people and history and believes every journey is an adventure, every journey can be life changing.

Dr. Michael W. Waters
Dr. Michael W. Waters Board Member

Dr. Michael W. Waters is the founder and lead pastor of the Abundant Life A.M.E. Church in Dallas, Texas. A pastor, professor, author, activist, and social commentator, Waters’ words of hope and empowerment inspire national and international audiences. He has appeared on major media broadcasts including ABC Nightline, NBC Nightly News, NPR, and the PBS Newshour, and been featured in national print publications, including Essence Magazine, GQ Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. Waters’ five non-fiction and children’s books have garnered multiple national literary awards, and his leadership efforts have been formally commended by the White House, the United States House of Representatives, and the Texas Legislative Black Caucus which honored him with an Outstanding Texan Award. He has been further honored with the Dallas Peace and Justice Center’s Peacemaker of the Year Award, and Southern Methodist University’s Distinguished Alumni Emerging Leader Award.

Dr. Waters is co-founder and principal of MYWaters Consulting, LLC, which provides racial equity training and resources to corporations, congregations, and schools across the nation. A Democracy Fellow of the Emerson Collective, Dr. Waters is researching storytelling as pedagogy to encourage and strengthen civic action.

Becca Schulman Havemeyer
Becca Schulman Havemeyer Founding Partner / Board Chair Emeritus

Becca runs a residential real estate development firm, Beach Plum Properties, where her goal is to honor and enhance the communities in which she works. She specializes in historic homes and loves to find the beauty and potential in properties and architectural pieces that are overlooked. Becca has a background in non-profit management in the early childhood space. She also led a consumer products company that developed the first-of-its-kind mobile app for navigating city streets and public transit on wheels, geared towards individuals in wheelchairs and parents and caregivers pushing strollers, in partnership with the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

As a third grade student in the Cambridge, MA, public schools, Becca remembers watching the PBS Eyes on The Prize series with her classmates and being riveted by the images of children her age protesting as part of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade. It began a lifelong interest in Civil Rights history and activism and a commitment to working to help make the world a more equitable place. She studied the unsung women of the Civil Rights movement, such as Dorothy Height, Jo Ann Robinson and Claudette Colvin, as a high school senior project, and learned how women were the backbone of this and other social justice movements. It was her great thrill to meet Jo Ann Bland and Kimberly Smitherman in Selma in January 2020 and begin working alongside them to support their vision for Foot Soldiers Park. She proudly served as board chair of the organization early on, and works on the partnerships and fundraising team.

Mary Liuzzo Lilleboe
Mary Liuzzo Lilleboe Board Member Emeritus

Mary Liuzzo Lillebo has been a civil and human rights activist since the age of 17, when her mother, Viola Liuzzo, was executed in Lowndes County, Alabama, after responding to Dr. Martin Luther King’s call to action following the events of Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Mary is an advanced trainee at the Connecticut Center for Nonviolence where she teaches Dr. King’s nonviolence philosophy and methodology to resolve conflict. She has presented nonviolence training for youth from elementary to high school and provides core workshops to universities and corporations. She also facilitated a three-day workshop for Congress on Kingian principles of nonviolence.

Mary has acted as a consultant on civil rights books and documentaries, telling the story of her mother. She was a Civil Rights Luminaire for the late Congressman John Lewis Civil Rights Pilgrimage for over 6 years.

Mary has received countless awards and recognitions, and attended ceremonies and conferences with children of the martyrs. She has received the National Evelyn Gibson Lowery award along with former Madam Secretary Hillary Clinton.

She was asked by the late Congressman John Lewis’ family to speak at his memorial service.

Lynda Lowery
Lynda Lowery Board Member Emeritus

Lynda Blackmon Lowery, a Selma native and Jo Ann Bland’s sister, is a Civil Rights activist and an award winning author, best known as the youngest foot soldier in the 1965 Voting Rights March from Selma to Montgomery.

Lowery grew up in segregated Selma, Alabama, where she was not allowed to enter white-owned stores and only allowed to go to the library and movie theater on days labeled “for colored.” Lynda was only seven when her mother died. Overhearing older people talk, she learned the color of her mother’s skin caused her tragic death because the local hospital admitted white people only.

Her greatest influences of strength and guidance were her loving father and grandmother who raised her and her siblings to be determined, faithful, and continue to fight for their rights as African Americans and human beings.

Kelly Segal
Kelly Segal Board Member Emeritus

Kelly Segal is a management, communications, and funding strategist with more than 25 years of experience elevating performance in mission-driven organizations. Throughout her career, she’s worked in a variety of sectors, including community federations, institutions of higher learning, social justice nonprofits, educational alliances, and political advocacy organizations.

In 2010, Kelly launched the nonprofit management firm, Kelly Segal Consulting. An enthusiast of new methods that activate leadership, energize professionals, and increase efficiency, Kelly combines different operational and management philosophies with two decades of practical experience to quickly assess systems, diagnose problems, design strategy, and execute solutions.

Kelly graduated summa cum laude from Brandeis University with degrees in English and art history, and women’s & gender studies. She is the recipient of the J.V. Cunningham Award for Excellence in Writing. She lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts with her husband and two sons.

Advisory Board

LaTosha Brown
LaTosha Brown Co-Founder, Black Voters Matter
Tarana Burke
Tarana Burke Founder, The ‘Me Too’ Movement
Joan Mooney
Joan Mooney Principal Deputy Assistant for Policy, Management and Budget, Department of the Interior
Steven J. Niven
Steven J. Niven Executive Director: Dictionary of African Biography, Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Biography, Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African American Research
Joyce O'Neal
Joyce O’Neal Civil Rights Activist and Historian, Historic Brown Chapel AME Church
Sheyann Webb
Sheyann Webb Civil rights activist known as Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Smallest Freedom Fighter”; Co-author of the book “Selma, Lord, Selma”