A special event inspired by TimeLine's
Chicago premiere of Thomas Gibbons' play A House With No Walls, now playing
through December 21. More about
A House With No Walls ...

"A Discussion With No Walls" will be moderated by Dr. Harvette Grey, formerly executive director of the DePaul University Cultural Center (read Dr. Grey's full bio ...), and will feature panelists:

• Dr. Eric Arnesen — A professor of history and African American studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, specializing in race, labor and civil rights. Read Dr. Arnesen's full bio ...

• Melissa Barton — A Ph.D. candidate in the Department of English at the University of Chicago who is currently teaching the course “Staging Race: African Americans and Theater in the 20th Century." Read Ms. Barton's full bio ...

• Dr. Valerie C. Johnson —
  Associate professor of Political Science at DePaul University, specializing in African American politics and education policy, who previously served as national education spokesperson for the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. Read Dr. Johnson's full bio ...

• Dawn Turner Trice — A columnist for the Chicago Tribune and moderator of the Tribune’s online project “Exploring Race." Read Ms. Trice's full bio ...

This event will also feature brief excerpts from A House With No Walls, featuring cast members A.C. Smith, Amber Starr Friendly and Steve O'Connell, to help inspire the discussion.

Race in America: A Discussion With No Walls is co-sponsored by:

BIOGRAPHIES

Dr. Harvette Grey has a doctorate in social clinical psychology from the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California. She received a Master of Arts degree in Inner City Studies from Northeastern Illinois University and a Bachelor degree in Sociology from Southern Illinois University. Dr. Grey has held many leadership positions over her career, including work at ECHO Community Mental Health Center Children and Adult Division; executive director of STEP SCHOOL, a school for the treatment of emotionally and behaviorally disturbed children; director of minority affairs and core faculty at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology; director of the student support team at Lewis University; and founding director of the Women's Center at DePaul University. Most recently she served as executive director of DePaul's Cultural Center. She has been national president of the Association of Black Psychology, president of the Chicago Chapter of Black Psychologists and was a member of the Cook County Commission on women's issues. She has received many awards, including the Appreciation Award from the Association of Black Psychologists (Chicago Chapter), the Distinguished Alumni Award from Southern Illinois University, the Women's Studies Service Award, and Diplomate of the Board of Psychological Specialties.

Eric Arnesen is a professor of history and African American studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, specializing in race, labor and civil rights. He is author of Brotherhoods of Color: Black Railroad Workers and the Struggle for Equality (2001), Waterfront Workers of New Orleans: Race, Class, and Politics, 1863-1923 (1991) and Black Protest and the Great Migration: A Brief History with Documents (2002) and is editor or coeditor of several other books. A regular contributor to the Chicago Tribune, he received the James Friend Memorial Award for Literary Criticism. He is currently writing a biography of civil rights and labor leader A. Philip Randolph. He holds a Ph.D. from Yale University's Department of History.

Melissa Barton is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of English at the
University of Chicago. Her dissertation examines the history and political legacy of the "Negro People's Theaters" of the 1930s and 1940s. She is currently teaching a course for University of Chicago undergraduates entitled "Staging Race: African Americans and Theater in the Twentieth Century," which looks at the relationship between race and performance for African American theater practitioners from 1920 to the present.

Dr. Valerie C. Johnson (Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park, 1995) is associate professor of Political Science at DePaul University. She is the author of Black Power in the Suburbs: The Myth or Reality of African American Suburban Political Incorporation (2002) and co-editor of a recently published book entitled Power in the City (2008). Her research interests include African American politics, urban politics and education policy with a particular emphasis on the politics of urban education. Consistent with her research interests, Dr. Johnson was the national education spokesperson and conducted research and education policy analysis for Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition for four years, and has served as a consultant for elected officials and community organizations nationwide.

Dawn Turner Trice is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune. She is the moderator of the Tribune's online project, "Exploring Race," at www.chicagotribune.com/race. A regular commentator for WTTW's "Chicago Tonight" show, Trice has written commentary that also has appeared on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" program. She is the author of two novels, Only Twice I've Wished for Heaven (Random House, 1997), which is being made into a movie, and An Eighth of August (Random House, 2000). She is the recipient of the 2008 Studs Terkel Media award, two Illinois Arts Council awards, an American Library Association Alex award and a 2006 National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. She lives outside Chicago with her husband of 19 years and their 13-year-old daughter.