Reverend William Kearney (Chair) |
Angella Dunston (Vice Chair) |
Rev. William Kearney is a partner in several UNC community-engaged research partnerships and engages and consults with universities, organizations, and partnerships across the U.S. Rev. Kearney serves as associate minister and health ministry coordinator at Coley Springs Missionary Baptist Church and past vice president of the United Shiloh Missionary Baptist Association Church Union. He is also a research associate and community outreach manager at UNC's Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Rev. Kearney has co-authored numerous research manuscripts and articles and has co-produced various documentaries.
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Angella Dunston is a proud product of rural America having grown up on the borders of both rural North Carolina and Virginia. She began her journey as a social justice advocate and environmental steward during the birth of the Environmental Justice Movement (EJM) in Warren County. Her lived experiences during the EJ Movement fueled her desire to continue to advocate against injustices which impact marginalized communities all across the country.
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Wayne Mosely (Secretary)
Wayne Mosely, born and raised in Warren County, was among the first group of protesters to be arrested during the September 1982 PCB toxic landfill protests. Now retired after 40+ years of collegiate recruitment management and consulting at the Living Arts College (a school he helped found) in Wake Forest, NC, Wayne still advocates for environmental and social justice. He has helped produce two Warren County: Birth of a Movement documentaries
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Consherto Williams (Treasurer)
Consherto Williams is the 15-year-old face in the Warren County PCB protest picture taken by photographer Jerome Friar in September of 1982. She grew up in the local Shocco township where the chemical landfill was created In Warrenton, NC, and led youth protest day along with other youth from the town. Her picture is currently used as the “Environmental Girl” on the national EPA website and many other publications as the most requested work from Friar’s collection.
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Dollie Burwell
Dollie B. Burwell was born, raised, and attended public schools in Vance County North Carolina. In l982 Dollie led her community in a protest against the state of North Carolina in what the Washington Post called the greatest civil rights movement since the l960s. Arrested and jailed five times and spent nights in jail when she blocked trucks carrying PCB laced soil that was to be put in a dump in her community by lying down in front of the trucks. This was the beginning of the “Environmental Justice Movement.” She served as Chair of the Joint Warren County/State PCB Landfill Working Group, a task force that worked to secure more than 25 million dollars from the state of North Carolina to detoxify the Warren County PCB Landfill which was successfully completed in 2004. Stories of her life and work have been published in several books including, “Crazy for Democracy, Women in Grassroots Movements,” Temma Kaplin, “The Politics of Motherhood, Activist Voices from the Left to Right,” Alexis Jetter, Annelise Orleck and Diana Taylor, and others.
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Theresa McDonald |
Stacy Seward PhD
Stacy Seward (she/her), Ph.D. is a scholar, educator, and community organizer whose work centers the Afro-Caribbean diaspora in Massachusetts and the broader global majority. She earned her doctorate in Psychology from UMass Lowell and holds a master’s degree from UNC Chapel Hill. Her research lives at the intersection of decolonial and liberation psychology, education, justice, and environmental equity, with a particular focus on belonging, collective efficacy, and the ways Black, Afro-Latine, and immigrant communities of the global majority create liberatory space in the face of structural harm. Dr. Seward is the Founder and Executive Director of The Dream Network in Lawrence, where she advances transformative justice initiatives grounded in the leadership of those impacted by the carceral system by rooting the work in ecological well being.
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Congresswoman Eva Clayton (Honorary Member)
Former Representative, North Carolina First Congressional District. First, African American woman to represent the state of North Carolina in congress.
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special consultants
Cameron OglesbyCameron Oglesby is an award-winning environmental justice advocate, oral historian, and journalist whose storytelling centers histories of injustice, joy, resilience, and land stewardship in Black, Indigenous, rural, and southern communities. She started working with WCEAT in 2022 as a student event coordinator for the 40th anniversary celebrations; following the 40th commemoration, she has continued to support WCEAT's storytelling and strategic development efforts.
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Breanna ByrdBreanna Byrd holds a PhD in Feminist Studies with an environmental justice focus. They were drawn to the work of WCEAT in 2022 just before the 40th Anniversary of the protests and the commemorative events. Their research into the 1982 protests led them to deepen their partnership with Warren County activists. Breanna specializes in community engagement, event planning, cultural education, and sustainable living.
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Jenny LabalmeJenny Lebalme photographed the 1982 Warren County protests as par of documentary photography class she took as a student at Duke University. Shortly after graduating from Duke, she received a grant to publish the photos in a small book called, A Road to Walk. Lebalme spent most of her career working as a journalist for magazines and newspapers in North Carolina, Alabama, Indiana, and Mexico,City, Mexico.
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Patrick BarnesPatrick Barnes was the Science Advisor to the Joint Warren County State PCB Landfill Working Group from 1995-2003. On behalf the community Mr. Barnes oversaw the assessment and detoxification of the landfill facility. He continues to support EJ communities throughout the South as a science advisor.
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