HISTORY CREATES BROTHERHOOD.

Emmanuel George is a Dominican-American archivist, filmmaker & arts organizer based in Hollywood, Florida. Emmanuel’s love of history began in childhood when his father, Emanuel George, Sr., would teach him Black history in efforts to highlight what he thought Emmanuel would not be taught in public school. Emmanuel credits his father’s teachings to his ability to seek out overlooked narratives. In 2015, after taking a leave of absence from pursuing his bachelor’s degree in film from Full Sail University, Emmanuel found himself joining a group of local activists in Miami-Dade County who were advocating on behalf of its residents to fight displacement. During this time, Emmanuel spoke with local residents and learned about the history of Black Miami. This curiosity led Emmanuel to begin submerging himself in learning the Black history of his home community, Broward County. In 2016, Emmanuel George produced his first film under the Black Broward Film Project, entitled A Tale of Sibling Communities: Danie and Liberia, a documentary about the shared relationship between two Black communities in Broward County. The film featured oral interviews of local pioneers and historical landmarks that are staples to the community. Emmanuel followed this up with his 2021 film entitled Stories from Our Ancestors: An Ode to Attucks High School, a film focusing on how the closing of a historically Black high school impacted the community of Liberia and its neighboring communities: Danie, Carver Ranches, Hallandale, Ojus, and Davie. In 2021, under the mentorship of esteemed historian Kitty Oliver, Emmanuel landed a fellowship with Lake Wales Museum, where he interviewed and archived stories of residents from the historic Lincoln Avenue community. From there, Emmanuel would complete a fellowship with Cogenerators (formerly Encore) and work with Florida International University's Wolfson Public Humanities Lab, the Delray Beach Historical Society, the African American Research Library, and the Old Dillard Museum, further expanding the ways he shares and preserves local Black history. Most recently, Emmanuel completed a fellowship with Temple University, serving as the Community Archivist for the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). Currently, Emmanuel founded and runs the Black Orchid Foundation, a nonprofit centered on preserving the stories of Black high schools in the South that were phased out after the Supreme Court case of Brown vs. Board of Education, ruling that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. Emmanuel is also the youngest person in Broward County to have his own special collections archive, the Emmanuel George Collection at the African American Research Library, where he actively collects physical and digitally archived data on the history of Attucks High School. Emmanuel’s goal is to continue bridging the generational divide by connecting the youth from the rising Black Student Union populations in Broward County with the pioneers from the Historic Black High Schools (Attucks, Dillard, and Blanche Ely) through an oral history workshop, in hopes of inspiring young archivists to narrate their own stories and preserve their history at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center.

Detroit-born with South Florida roots, Samuel Woods is an entrepreneur and philanthropist dedicated to community revitalization. A student of history and a master of the kitchen, he uses his platform to champion economic independence and celebrate cultural heritage. For him, leadership is about resilience, vision, and inspiring tangible change.