Karen D. Brame is an alumna of University of Dayton; Phillips Academy, Institute for the Recruitment of Teachers; University of Michigan; and Columbia University in the City of New York. A Roy Wilkins Scholar (the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People); Black Legacy Scholar (University of Dayton); and Horace H. Rackham Fellow (University of Michigan), her areas of concentration are psychology, criminal justice, education, social sciences, African-American Studies, diversity and inclusion.
A former adjunct professor of education and history, she has served as the educational consultant, guest panelist, presenter and/or keynote speaker for numerous exhibits, such as The Dunbar-King Project, a 2018 exhibition created by the African American Visual Artists Guild (AAVAG). Her involvement with these various public presentations of art also include the 2021 Visual Voices’ Black Life as Subject Matter II exhibit; Dayton Art Institute’s 2022 Black Heritage Through Visual Rhythms national juried exhibit, a collaboration between the Institute and AAVAG; and the 2023 Visual Voices exhibit, In Praise of Dunbar: YESTERDAY and TODAY.
Credentialed for thirty years and possessing a “Highly Qualified Teacher” (HQT) status by the Ohio Department of Education, Brame, additionally, educates in non-traditional settings. Her outreach includes developing educational concepts and materials for the pioneering Black, independent comic series, Brotherman: Dictator of Discipline, of brothers, EMMY Award-winning artist Dawud O. K. Anyabwile and celebrated author Dr. Guy A. Sims
Her artistic and cultural commentary collaborations with Fountainhead Tanz Theatre in Berlin, Germany and ARTstudio 55 in Hamburg, Germany has flourished since 2011 and 2012, respectively. Her work includes KOHL-eidoscope; Cultural Capital: Love, AFRI-AMERIPOLITAN Style; BLUE BLOOD: JUSTICE for KEVIN B. BRAME; Cultural Capital II: For GOD, For QUEEN, For CULTURE; THE CONTINENTAL COLLECTION, which contains BOSSE: Looking Forward to the Journey Home; spook … Spook … SPOOK: Sam’s Evolution of Freeman’s Revolution; and BLACK Spirits, BLACK Label; FOR the BLACK LOVE of the GAME: THE AFRI-AMERIPOLITAN ATHLETIC ENDEAVORS; and THE PETERS - BRAME GRIOT GEAR: THE AFRI-AMERIPOLITAN INTELLECTUAL ENDEAVORS I.
In 2021, Karen D. Brame completed her graduate certification in Diversity and Inclusion from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University and became the inaugural Information Services Librarian with an Africana Archives Emphasis in Special Collections of Dayton Metro Library (DML). She consults on project management and engagement with the national headquarters of PBS for its greatly-anticipated documentary, The American Revolution, by critically-acclaimed, multiple EMMY and GRAMMY Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns. Brame also acts as one of three Community Advisory Board members to PBS’ forthcoming documentary, Reach High and Reach Back. It profiles legendary African-American artist, curator, educator and gallery owner Willis “Bing” Davis and she is featured in this film.
Brame’s goals are to preserve and educate others about the various histories, trials and triumphs of persons of African descent and their considerable contributions to the United States and abroad. As such, Karen D. Brame founded her own website, BLACKListed CULTURE, in 2020 and began her graduate studies in Digital Storytelling at Harvard University in 2023.
StatementHeralded as “Greatest Woman Of All Time”, Claressa Maria Shields is a stellar model of Black Joy and grand icon of Social Justice. Leaning into the belief to excel, regardless of gender, instilled by her grandmother, her numerous accolades include being:
The 1st American woman to win a GOLD medal in boxing at the Olympics (2012);
The 1st American boxer to win a GOLD medal in consecutive Olympics (2012, 2016); and
1 of only 3 boxers in history to hold all major WORLD titles in boxing - WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO - in 2 weight classes.
Her professional career of being undefeated as a boxer (12 – 0) and wins as a mixed-martial artist (2 -1) inspires immense pride.
However, it is her activism, such as her call for equity in natural resources for her home city of Flint, as well in professional pay, that elevates her to SHE-RO!
Viewers see my nod to her call for clean water, represented by cobalt hair woven into her braids. Blue tiles represent “falling shards” from “glass ceilings” of male-dominated sports that she is shattering. Finally, the gem-encrusted “GWOAT” celebrates Claressa Maria Shields as one of the “AB-SOUL-UTE” best athletes in history!
CvStateOH
CountryUnited States
