Dr. Elaine Cawley Weintraub
Dr. Weintraub is a historian and co-founder of the Martha’s Vineyard African American Heritage Trail, a model public history project and physical trail. She chairs the history department at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, and involves her students as research assistants, journalists, and muralists. Her research on the African American history of the Vineyard has been published in the New England Journal of History, Mystic Seaport Museum, the Organization of American History and, most prominently, in her book Lighting the Trail – the African American Heritage of Martha’s Vineyard. In 1993 and 1996 she was a Paul Cuffe Fellow, a Fellowship granted by the Munson Institute at Mystic Seaport, in recognition of her original scholarship in the field of “minority contributions to the maritime history of New England.” A finalist for the Massachusetts Teacher of the Year program in 2001, she was Massachusetts Global Educator in 2003, and was recognized for her services to anti-racist, inclusive education by the Anti Defamation League’s World of Difference organization in 1998. She received the Margot Stern Strom Award for services to intercultural understanding from the Facing History & Ourselves organization in 2006.
Carmen Tankard Amadeo
Carmen Tankard Amadeo grew up in the Highlands area of Oak Bluffs following her family’s move from Newark, New Jersey. She has first-hand knowledge of the African American culture of that area. She has traveled extensively and coordinates travel groups through Europe, Mexico and many other destinations. She is interested in the quality and inclusive education of young people.
Carrie Camillo Tankard
Carrie Tankard is the vice-president of the Martha’s Vineyard Chapter of the NAACP. She is an activist within the Island community, and has worked tirelessly over many years to promote intercultural understanding. She is the keeper of the archives and the cofounder of the African American Heritage Trail.
Major General Joseph C. Carter
Major General Joseph C. Carter assumed duties as The Adjutant General of the MA National Guard in September 2007. Prior to that he served as Chief of Police for the MBTA Transit Police Dept. He is also a former Chief of Police for the Town of Oak Bluffs. As AG he is the Governer’s senior military advisor responsible for ensuring the Guard forces are prepared to deploy worldwide in support of the National Defense Strategy. Serving under the AG are approx. 8000 soldiers, airment, and full-time civilian employess throughout the Commonwealth.
MG Carter is a life member of the First Corps of Cadets and the NAACP. He is also affiliated with 21 other civic and military organizations, recently completing service as the elected President of the 21,000 member International Assoc. of Chiefs of Police. He is a Board member emeritus of the AAHT.
Deborah Finley-Jackson
Deborah Finley-Jackson is a lifetime summer resident of Martha’s Vineyard. She is an ordained minister in the AME Church and in that capacity has worked with committees and programs related to women and youth, including Rites of Passage Program, Breast Cancer Awareness Support Group, Sunday School, and Women’s ministry. In addition, Debbi has been an educator for the past twenty-seven years. Her mission has been to inform and expose those in her classrooms to heritage and history as a way of lifting self-esteem and encouraging personal best in the children she has taught over the years. She is committed to giving back to her community and serving on the Board of the African American Heritage Trail gives her an opportunity to thank the Martha’s Vineyard community for its contribution to her development.
James Jennings
James Jennings is a novelist, artist, educator, and entrepreneur from Hartford, Connecticut. A renaissance man, in 2017 James spent more months in Mexico City and France than in the US, where he commutes between Oak Bluffs and New York City. Follow him on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Facebook @jameswjennings.
Dr. Keith Motley
Dr. J. Keith Motley served as Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Boston from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2017. Dr. Motley is a distinguished professor at UMass Boston’s College of Management. New Balance Corporation created the Dr. J. Keith Motley Chair for Sports Leadership in his honor in 2018. The Sports Leadership program has grown to over 200 students in four years.
As the first African American Chancellor of UMass Boston, considered New England’s most diverse public research university, Dr. Motley highlighted academic excellence, access, and inclusion among key mission-related goals.
Dr. Motley serves on numerous boards of organizations with local, regional, and national reach, including the Board Chair of Carney Hospital, The Boston Foundation, The Sports Museum, Stonehill College, Eastern Bank, and the Freedom House. Dr. Motley is a Consultant to the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts. Dr. Motley was named to the Boston Business Journal’s “Power 50” list of Boston-area influencers five years in a row. In 2016 and 2023, he was named to the “Get Konnected! 100” list of Boston’s 100 Most Influential People of Color. Most recently, the University of Massachusetts Boston Named its Residence Hall Complex in honor of Dr Motley and his wife Angela.
Dr. Motley holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Northeastern University and a Doctor of Philosophy from Boston College. He also has Honorary Doctorates awarded by Northeastern University, Stonehill College, Robert Morris University, Pine Manor College, the President’s Award for Distinguished Civic Leadership from Emerson College, and the Morehouse College Legacy Of Light Award.