As I reflect on the experiences I have had on Martha’s Vineyard this summer, I am reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King’s statement that we need to create a “Beloved Community.” The Vineyard is doing just that. It is home to generations of Black families who have built communities and safe spaces for their families and loved ones, and who have accumulated the resources needed to create this “Beloved Community.”
The Vineyard has become a mecca for Black educators, civic officials, lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs, artists, writers and elected officials. My summer was highlighted by attending and participating in numerous talks and educational forums by these leaders, from a discussion of the documentary Belonging Beyond Brown produced by the Morehouse Center for Excellence in Education, to the Charles Ogletree Forum: Truth Under Fire, Defending Black Woman Journalists, and Freedom of the Press, and many more.
I also helped organize a forum called Liberation through Literacy, presented by the Committee for Literacy & the Friends of Black Literature, Research, Culture & the Arts, Inc.
Dr. Nina Gilbert, the executive director of the Morehouse Center for Excellence in Education, is the co-director of the Belonging Beyond Brown documentary, which I feel should be viewed by all those involved with educating Black youth. Through emotional and stirring interviews with students, teachers and community leaders, it explores the origins, impact and results of the Brown vs. Board of Education 1954 Supreme Court decision.
Although the decision declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional and overturned the separate but equal document, Brown vs. the Board of Education did not end segregation, underfunded schools and inequity in education. In fact, it eliminated the jobs of many Black teachers and deprived students of having role models in their classrooms, and teachers who valued and uplifted them. Viewers will come away from this documentary understanding the need to create environments that provide young people with their history, role models and strategies for developing and exercising leadership skills in a society constructed by race.
Truth Under Fire was one of the most riveting forums I attended. Rehema Ellis moderated a discussion with Joy-Ann Reid, April Ryan, Errin Haines and Christina Greer that shed light on the scrutiny, threats and attacks faced by Black women journalists. The speakers underscored the lack of integrity that has surfaced as a result of the current presidential administration’s coordinated war against the press. Journalists are concerned for this country, and in their view the media and newsrooms have been complicit in the administration’s silencing of voices and normalization of attacks on Black journalists.
In this year’s Hutchins Forum, professor Melissa Murray unpacked the immediate impact of the Louisiana vs. Callais Supreme Court decision that eviscerated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Republican controlled states immediately led efforts in partisan gerrymandering, and Republican lawmakers and the Trump administration have attempted to suppress the vote. The fight against this erosion of our democracy is ongoing.
As part of the Call-to-Action literacy forum, I moderated a conversation with Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw and NAACP NY state president L. Joy Williams. They shared their origin stories and how they had been raised in environments that emphasized the importance and value of being change agents and servant leaders in their communities and public spaces. Their parents, church communities and schools had emphasized this.
Distinguished Princeton University professor of African American studies Eddie S. Glaude Jr. reminds us in his book, We Are the Leaders We Have Been Looking For, that the time is now for the people to take action in creating a more just and democratic community. Martha’s Vineyard continues to be a natural space for embracing this belief and practice.
Brenda M. Greene, PhD, is an author, professor emerita, and founder and executive director emerita of the Center for Black Literature at Medgar Evers College, CUNY.
This article appears in September 4, 2026.
Great job, thanks so much. Very helpful for both the seasonal and year round communities.