Join us for "Trauma, Truth, and Triumph: The Story of Charleston's International African American Museum", featuring Dr. Tonya M. Matthews, SOM '06 (PhD), President and CEO of the International African American Museum (IAAM). Located at the historically sacred Gadsden’s Wharf—where an estimated 40% of enslaved Africans first set foot in America—the IAAM opened in June 2023 and stands as a powerful tribute to resilience, remembrance, and reclamation.
In this virtual talk, Dr. Matthews will guide attendees through the Museum’s mission of authentic, empathetic storytelling and its groundbreaking Center for Family History—a resource that brings buried African American genealogies to light through archives, oral histories, webinars, and one-on-one consultations. Drawing from her unique background as a poet, engineer, and equity visionary, Dr. Matthews will share how trauma can be transformed into truth, and truth into triumph, as the IAAM continues to disrupt institutionalized racism and uplift individual and collective narratives.
Dr. Tonya M. Matthews, SOM '06 (PhD), is president and CEO of the International African American Museum (IAAM), which is located in Charleston, S.C. at the historically sacred site of Gadsden’s Wharf, one of our nation’s most prolific former slave ports. As a champion of authentic, empathetic storytelling of American history, IAAM is one of the nation’s newest platforms for the disruption of institutionalized racism as America continues the walk toward “a more perfect union.”
A thought-leader in inclusive frameworks, social entrepreneurship, and education, Matthews has written articles and book chapters across these varied subjects. She is founder of The STEMinista Project, a movement to engage girls in their future with STEM careers. Matthews is also a poet and is included in 100 Best African American Poems (2010), edited by Nikki Giovanni. Matthews received her Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and her B.S.E. in engineering from Duke University, alongside a certificate in African/African American Studies.
Event DateThursday, July 17, 2025Start Time: 9:00am EDTEnd Time: 10:00am EDT
Hopkins at HomeLivestream
ContactOffice of Alumni RelationsJoe LetourneauLifelong Learning(800) JHU-JHU1hopkinsathome@jhu.edu
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