Julieanna
Richardson
Public Historian and Founder/Executive Director of The HistoryMakers has a unique and diverse background in theatre, television production and the cable television industry. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Brandeis University, where she double-majored in Theatre Arts and American Studies. After conducting oral histories on the Harlem Renaissance and Langston Hughes, Richardson attended Harvard Law School. After graduation, she worked as a corporate lawyer, prior to serving in the early 1980's as the Cable Administrator for the City of Chicago Office of Cable Communications. There she established the Chicago Cable Commission, the City's regulatory body. She went on to found Shop Chicago, a regionally based home shopping channel. For eight years, her production company, SCTN Teleproductions, managed three local cable channels for TCI, the nation's largest cable operator. She was driven to start The HistoryMakers out of a strong desire to make a difference and to leave a living legacy. Currently, Richardson serves on the Board of Directors of Lawyers for the Creative Arts, The HistoryMakers and the Chicago Convention and Tourism Bureau.
Amy
Billingsley
Regional Coordinator Washington D.C. / Mid-Atlantic Region.
Descended from generations of civil rights activists, Billingsley earned her B.A. from the University of Chicago and her M.A. from the Ohio State University. While living in Berkeley, California, she was active in the political arena, supporting a number of candidates, including Congressman Ron Dellums. Billingsley later moved to Washington, D.C. and formed her own consulting company, and later co-founded Black Women’s Agenda, Inc. before serving as a consultant in the Clinton White House and serving as special assistant to Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman. Billingsley later returned to consulting, forming Amistad Associates before joining The HistoryMakers.
Frederick Adams
Archival Assistant joined The HistoryMakers in May of 2004 as an intern/volunteer before being brought on full-time as an archival assistant. He is a 2001 graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he majored in broadcast journalism.
Harvey
Baker III
Archival Assistant was born and raised on the south side of Chicago.
After graduating from Englewood High School, he entered the U.S. Army for two enlistments as a Field Artillery Meteorologist from 1983 to 1991. After serving eight months in the first Persian Gulf War, he returned to Chicago and took radio and T.V. classes at Kennedy-King College. After earning his associate’s degree, he attended Chicago State University and earned his B.A. in 2000. While in school, he worked in the social service field helping and mentoring the homeless, individuals with developmental disabilities and substance abusers and before joining The HistoryMakers.
Tyler Barnett
Project Fellow graduated cum laude from Northwestern University (Evanston, Illinois) in June 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies, concentrating in African American culture. He received departmental honors for his senior thesis, “Hear Me Talkin’ to You:” Artistic and Social Dialogue in the Music of Bessie Smith and Gertrude “Ma” Rainey. Tyler grew up in Ithaca, New York and worked in Cornell University’s Astronomy department at the Spacecraft Planetary Imaging Facility (SPIF) in the summers of 2001 and 2002. While at SPIF, Tyler repaired and animated digital images of Jupiter’s atmosphere, creating a CD-ROM called The Winds of Jupiter, which was distributed to Cornell professors and eighteen other imaging facilities worldwide for use as an educational tool.
Larry Crowe
Producer/Interviewer, has been steeped in African American arts and culture, and the humanities for over 30 years. With an undergraduate degree in History from Wright State University, he has held a variety of positions including theater manager; assistant editor for Third World Press, the largest black publisher in the United States; and manager of an African American bookstore. In his current position, he interviews HistoryMakers, completes research, and edits transcripts.
Jocelyn Delk
Scheduler graduated from Clark Atlanta University, where she received her B.A. degree in mass media communications. Upon graduation, she worked as a production assistant and personal assistant to Judge Greg Mathis for The Judge Mathis Show. She has also worked on such films and television shows as Starting Over, The Tony Danza Show, ElimiDATE, the Clint Eastwood film, Flags of our Fathers and Stranger Than Fiction, starring Dustin Hoffman and Will Ferrell.
Jessie Engel
Scheduler joined The HistoryMakers in July 2005. After graduating from Evanston Township High School, Jessie studied Sociology at Boston University for two years. In 2002, she received her B.A. degree in sociology from Loyola University Chicago, with a focus in ethnography and oral history. Before joining The HistoryMakers, Jessie worked as Researcher/Production Writer for Walgreens Health Corner, a weekly television series that aired nationally through WGN-TV.
Matthew
Hickey
Videographer is very proud to have been a videographer for The HistoryMakers from the start. A twenty two-year industry veteran, Matthew Hickey produces, directs, edits, and shoots for video, still photography and feature films. His production experience includes live events, talk shows, travel shows, corporate training, documentaries and drama. His work has appeared on WTTW, C-SPAN, Fox Sports, The International Channel, ESPN, and many other broadcast and cable TV outlets. Hickey was formerly Production Manager for SCTN Teleproductions, The HistoryMakers, Take 1 Video Productions and the Athenaeum Theatre.
Ben Mayer
Editor joined The HistoryMakers in December of 2004. In 2002 he received a B.A. degree in general film studies from Columbia College of Chicago. Upon graduation, he worked as a documentary instructor for After School Matters and a free-lance camera operator and editor.
Cheri Pugh
Project Fellow has a B.A. in history from Northwestern University and has ten years experience as archivist/historian for WPA Film Library, one of the largest archival footage collections in the U.S. She has catalogued hundreds of hours of archival documentary footage from the early 20th century. She also has experience in television production and basic editing and is currently in post-production for a documentary she is producing for PBS.
Jennifer Pullen
Scheduling Assistant/Intern currently attending Loyola University Chicago. Graduating in the spring of 2006 she will have a B.A. degree in history with minors in black world studies and anthropology. She has been with The HistoryMakers since January of 2005.
Tawanna Streater
Executive Assistant graduated from Illinois State University with a B.S. in Public Relations. In May of 2004, she earned a Master's in Arts Management from Columbia College Chicago. She joined The HistoryMakers in May of 2005.
Scott Stearns
Videographer has over twenty-five years of experience in the video production and multimedia industries. After attending the University of Denver, he went on to pursue a career in the production industry. Scott has served as Director of Production for over three years and has played a key role in developing the Interviewer and Videographer Guidelines. Prior to joining The HistoryMakers, he ran his own video production and rental facility.
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