Performer/Presenter:
Cheryl Susheel Bibbs, Ph.D.
Susheel Bibbs,
who recently retired after 25 years teaching at UC Berkeley, is also
a former EMMY-awardwinning WGBH-TV executive producer. She holds a
Ph.D. in Communications with emphasis in the Mass Communication of
African-American and Diaspora history and masters-level degrees in
both Vedic Philosophy and Vocal Performance. Currently
she
travels nationwide as a lectuer-performer and makes documentary films
independently. These are sponsored by the San Francisco Film Society.
An accomplished
actress and formerly an acclaimed opera-concert singer, Bibbs won
both international notice for her singing with the Opera Co.of Boston
and her touring concerts. She was on the touring rosters of the California
and Arts Council's for 13 years and a member of the California Council
for the Humanities History Alive Troupe. Her touring musical, lecture-demos,
chautauquas, exhibits, and master classes on the Negro spiritual and
African-Diaspora culture are based on original research and rare documents.
These continue to be sponsored by museums, concert series, theaters,
festivals, conferences, and colleges in the US and Canada.
In 1999 Dr. Bibbs
was recognized for her work in the arts and humanities in the Highest
Commendation of the Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco.
They cited her film for television (AN UNSUNG MUSE), her tireless
efforts to research and present the classical song of black composers.
and her groundbreaking research and dubbed Bibbs the "world's
foremost authority on Mary Ellen Pleasant." In
2004, Bibbs was one of the first recipients of the Friends of Negro
Spirituals' "Keeper of the Spiritual Award" for her efforts
and her masterclasses in this arena.
Susheel's dramatic
one-woman shows (chautauquas) on Pleasant, which are
part of the National Park Service Underground Railroad Network-to-Freedom
Program, have been acclaimed in the US and Canada. And, the research
collection on which these works are based has been certified
by the California Council for the Humanities.
Dr.
Bibbs' award-winning book on Pleasant and Marie LaVeaux
is called Heritage of Power, and her documentary films on Pleasant
-- The Legacy of Mary Pleasant and Meet Mary Pleasant, have won several
film-festival awards: The shorts -- Best Documentary Peace Reel Medallion
at the Berkeley Film Festival and a Silver Telly (Northern Calfornia's
premiere TV broadcast) Award, and the PBS documentary -- Best Historical
Documentary and Best Director of a Documentary (for Bibbs) from the
New York International Independent Film Festival and, most recently,
The Gold Kahuna Award for Filmmaking Excellence from the Honolulu
Film Festival. This version has been presented on 44% of all PBS stations
and in Canada and was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
In addition to
the title "world's foremost authority on
Pleasant," Susheel has received grants and other commendations-- grants
from the African American Museum and Library at Oakland and the National
Parks Service as well as commendations for her contribution to women's
history from the L.A. Afro-American Museum and the City Museum of
St. Louis.
Dr. Bibbs' three-DVD
archive on Pleasant, which demonstrates the research background for
her chautauquas, is housed at the African American Museum and Library
at Oakland, CA and at the San Francisco Public Library; her films
on DVD are available there, at the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley,
on www.mepleasant.com and on Amazon.com for purchase.
