Mandy Carter is a self-described "out, southern, black, lesbian, social justice activist." 2008 marks her 40th year of working in multi-issue and multi-racial grassroots organizing. Although she was first introduced to social justice activism in 1965 when the Quaker-based American Friends Service Committee visited her high school in Schenectady, N.Y., it was the 1968 Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Poor People's Campaign that officially marked the beginning of her activism.
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Bishop Donagrant L. McCluney,
Field Organizer of Southerners on New Ground (SONG)
"Bishop McCluney is a proud native of North Carolina who enjoys Pentecostal worship and lively theological discussions. As a same-gender-loving believer, Bishop McCluney stakes his claim in the Faith that was once delivered to the saints and is adamant about being saved by Grace through faith alone. The bulk of his life’s work (27 years) has been in the Pentecostal Holiness Church Movement and he presently enjoys serving with Bishop Yvette Flunder and The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, Incorporated. His passion for education has driven him to attain a Masters of Divinity from the CH Mason Theological Seminary in Atlanta, GA and a Masters of Arts in Elementary Education from the NC A&T State University in Greensboro, NC. His present pursuit is a PhD in Leadership Studies from the NC A&T State University. Bishop McCluney’s main desire as the NC Field Organizer with SONG is to challenge the faith community of the rural South with a more genuine and relevant representation of the unconditional love of Jesus Christ that leads to social justice for all people everywhere at all times."
Mandy Carter,
Co-Founder of Southerners on New Ground/National Coordinator NBJC Bayard Rustin 2013 Commemoration Project
She is a former Executive Director and one of the six co-founders of the Durham-based Southerners On New Ground (SONG). Founded at the 1993 NGLTF Creating Change Conference in Durham, SONG is purposed to build progressive movements across the South by developing transformative models of organizing that connect race, class, culture, gender, and sexuality identity. Specifically, SONG integrates work against homophobia into freedom struggles in the South.
Together with Matt Foreman, Executive Director of NGLTF, Carter was one the two gay and lesbian people to speak at the 2003 Lincoln Memorial Rally for the 40th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. SONG and NGLTF had been asked by the 40th Anniversary Steering Committee, including Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King, III, to mobilize LGBT participation at the rally, which they did in honor of Bayard Rustin, the black gay pacifist who coordinated the 1963 March.
The information in this profile was gathered by the National Black Justice Coalition.
Keynote Speakers
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