Leadership Team
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Jeff Steinberg founded Sojourn to the Past is 1999 and continues as the lead educator on the ten-day academic immersion journeys. He retired from a 14-year career as an AP History teacher/Department Chair in the San Francisco Bay Area to work full time with Sojourn. He has designed the Sojourn moving classroom experience with a rigorous curriculum for students that is aligned with California and national curriculum content standards. Since its inception, Mr. Steinberg has led over six thousand students through Sojourn’s living history lesson, along the path of the Civil Rights Movement, through five states in the American South. Currently, Sojourn to the Past is active throughout California, in New York, Ohio, and Massachusetts. Additionally, Mr. Steinberg makes hundreds of interactive presentations annually across the country on the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement and their relationship to current human rights issues and conditions. Upwards of 300,000 people have participated in his presenations. Mr. Steinberg and the Sojourn Program are the recipients of numerous state and national honors and awards. To contact Mr. Steinberg: Jeff@sojournproject.com
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
Christine Themoleas manages the operations of the Sojourn office and the Director’s schedule, she coordinates all details for students, speakers, and educators related to the ten-day journeys including their transportation, lodging, meals, and security. She manages scheduling of the Sojourn speakers to coincide with the delivery of the curriculum. Mrs. Themoleas also serves as advisor to students who wish to pursue college credit for their participation in Sojourn and with implementation of their direct action plans. She manages the gathering of data that records students’ progress and accomplishments pre, during, and post their Sojourns. To contact Mrs. Themoleas: christine.sojournproject@gmail.com
PUBLIC AFFAIRS & DEVELOPMENT
Nancy Ann Kraus has several decades of experience in the field of public affairs, public relations, and project management supporting the mission and goals of non-profit organizations whose focus is on the welfare of youth and social justice. Her areas of leadership to the Sojourn team include grant writing and implementation; developing and strengthening relationships with local, state and national leaders and organizations; enhancing outreach to schools; and media relations. To reach Ms. Kraus: nkraus@sanbrunocable.com
SPEAKERS ON THE TEN-DAY JOURNEYS
Key to the living history component of the Sojourn academic immersion journeys are the ten lecturers who meet and offer historical insight to the subject matter based on their personal experiences during the Civil Rights Movement. Among these are US Congressman John Lewis (young leader during the Movement); Minnijean Brown Trickey and Elizabeth Eckford (Little Rock Nine); MacArthur Genius Award recipient Jerry Mitchell (whose investigative reporting brought to justice the murderers of civil rights leaders); Rev. Billy Kyles (close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr).; the family of Vernon Dahmer Sr. (who was murdered for registering people to vote); the McNair Family (whose daughter was killed in the Klan bombing of the
16th St. Baptist Church while she was in Sunday School). For the complete roster of speakers, click here.
