Rev. Chebon Kernell (Seminole/Muscogee) is executive director of the Native American Comprehensive Plan of The United Methodist Church. With Global Ministries, he supports education and related programming focusing on Native American culture and history affecting the City of Atlanta and the region. Kernell is an enrolled member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma and is of Muscogee Creek heritage. In 2016 he was honored by receiving the Religious Literacy Award sponsored by the Westar Institute for his tireless efforts to educate the general public about Native American and Indigenous peoples. Kernell has worked with the World Council of Churches, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and The United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops assisting in efforts to improve relationships with Native American and Indigenous communities through dialogue, study and recognition. In addition, Kernell spends his time raising awareness, increasing advocacy and supporting the empowerment of Native American and Indigenous communities globally. Kernell received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Oklahoma City University and a Master of Divinity from Phillips Theological Seminary. He is a cultural practitioner and member of the Helvpe Ceremonial grounds. He and his wife, Sara, have five children.
Leslie Halfmoon (Caddo Tribe of Oklahoma) is curatorial team and media coordinator at First Americans Museum in Oklahoma City, where she also serves as museum consultant, research associate and content manager for the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum. Previously, she served as Tribal Heritage project manager for the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center in Shawnee, Oklahoma. She received her academic training from the Institute of American Indian and Alaska Native Culture (master’s in creative writing and Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing); University of Central Oklahoma (English Literature); and University of Oklahoma (Native American Studies).
Craig Womack (Muscogee Creek) is the author of Red on Red, a literary history of the Muscogee Creek Nation and an analysis of the work of queer playwright Lynn Riggs; author of Oklahoma, Drowning in Fire (Arizona 2001), a coming out novel contextualized by the history of the Creek Nation. He co-authored American Indian Literary Nationalism (New Mexico 2006), a discussion of hybridity debates in relation to Native American sovereignty; Reasoning Together: The Native Critics Collective (Oklahoma 2008), an interactive communally composed volume on ethics in Native American literary criticism and The Song of Roe Nald (Oklahoma), a critical study of narrative depictions of the Native American artist. He teaches American Indian literature, critical theory and jazz studies. His undergraduate courses include “Readings in Popular Literature and Culture,” “Jazz Literature,” “Native American Literature: Native American Literature of the Southeast” and “Intersections of African and Native American Literature.”
Mary T. Newman (Cherokee) is a Native American artist whose work includes textile and other media. In the community, she is a frequent speaker encouraging better understanding of Native cultures and encouraging communities to recognize this rich heritage. Newman has served as secretary of the Conference Committee for Native American Ministries for the Tennessee Conference of The United Methodist Church where she also is coordinator for Native American and Indigenous Ministries. She serves as a director on the board of directors of Global Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jeffrey Donaldson is exhibition content developer for the This Land Calls Us Home exhibit team. His work integrates experience in heritage communications, exhibit production, cultural tourism and environmental design in Atlanta, New York, and San Francisco. He has coordinated and produced public programming projects featuring regional heritage, Indigenous culture, contemporary art forms, and popular media.
Kimberly Terbush is the exhibition loan coordinator for This Land Calls Us Home. Ms. Terbush is the president of Terbush Art, LLC, a museum collection consulting business. She spent 30 years working in the field with many major museums on the East Coast. She organizes fine, decorative, and material art collections by rectifying records, planning logistics for packing and shipping, installing exhibitions, and evaluating object condition. Kim has worked at the Weatherspoon Art Museum, VA Museum of Fine Arts and the New York Historical Society. She has also worked as a contractor with the Mint Museum, Edgar Allan Poe Museum, Robert Russa Moton Museum as well as with private and for-profit companies. Ms. Terbush attended art school at Virginia Commonwealth University where she received her B.F.A., and she attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, where she received her master’s in museum studies with a specialty in historic costumes and textiles.
