nuwave and the Flynn present
The Black Experience '25
featuring Ta-Nehisi Coates & SistaStrings, with DJ Melo Grant
Main Stage
About The Black Experience
The Black Experience 2025 (BX25) is a holistic celebration of Vermont’s Black lived experience (cultural, communal, educational), and a welcomed addition to Burlington’s observation of Black History Month.
About Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Coates is an award-winning author and journalist. He is the author of the bestselling books The Beautiful Struggle, We Were Eight Years in Power, The Water Dancer, and Between the World and Me, which won the National Book Award in 2015. He was a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship that same year. As a journalist with a career spanning over two decades, he’s written for numerous publications including The Washington City Paper, The Village Voice, The New Yorker and The New York Times. During his time reporting for The Atlantic between 2008-2018, he penned numerous articles and essays, including the National Magazine Award-winning 2012 essay Fear of a Black President and the influential June 2014 essay The Case For Reparations. Ta-Nehisi also enjoyed a successful run writing Marvel’s Black Panther (2016-2021) and Captain America (2018-2021) comics series. Ta-Nehisi is currently writing the screenplays for the upcoming films Wrong Answer, Superman and the film adaptation of his first fiction novel, The Water Dancer. In the fall of 2022, he joined Howard University’s faculty as a writer-in-residence and the Sterling Brown Chair in the Department of English.
About SistaStrings
We’re used to hearing about the power and sonic majesty that comes when two siblings sing in harmony: but what about when they string in harmony? That’s the beautiful alchemy that SistaStrings, the musical duo comprising sisters Chauntee and Monique Ross, create every time they bring their unique blend of classical training, soulful melodies, and contemporary sounds to the stage. With Chauntee on violin and Monique on cello, their virtuoso talents and thrilling live show have found them sharing the stage with Brandi Carlile and Joni Mitchell in just a few years’ time, already making a profound impact on the musical scene that shows no signs of slowing down. Thanks to SistaStrings, you’ll never look at classical instruments the same way again.
Recently appearing with the legendary Joni Mitchell at the Grammy Awards, Andrea Bocelli at the 2024 Oscars and with Elton John, Annie Lennox, Garth Brooks, and Charlie Puth at The 2024 Gershwin Honors. SistaStrings have also performed at iconic venues such as Madison Square Garden, The Kennedy Center, Newport Folk Festival, and Saturday Night Live In September, they took home the title of “best instrumentalist” for the Americana Music Associations 2023 honors.
About Dr. Traci Griffith
J.D. Notre Dame Law School
M.A. Florida A&M University
B.A. Political Science DePaul University
I began my teaching career as a visiting professor in September 2001. I fell in love with the college and the quality of life in Vermont and joined the tenure track faculty one year later. I came to St. Michael’s College from Chicago where I was a correspondent with The Associated Press. I also worked as a national editor for The Associated Press broadcast division in Washington D.C.
Utilizing my law degree and years as a professional journalist, my teaching focuses on Media Law and Ethics in the Digital Age. The course focuses on the legal and ethical boundaries and parameters of modern media. I also created a special topics course on Race, Gender & Ethnicity in Media. The course studies the way media creates meaning about race, gender and ethnicity, and plays an important role in shaping the way we understand them as part of our identity, our history, our social institutions, and our everyday lives.
I currently serve as a board member for The Vermont ACLU, and The Vermont Press Association. I work with numerous local organizations and serve the community through her work focusing on the issues of homelessness, poverty and AIDS.
PRESENTED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
SPONSORED BY
