Leadership Team
Team & Contact Scholar Advisors Board of Directors Contact Sojourn
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
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
TECHNOLOGY & CURRICULUM SPECIALIST
Steve Schulz is a graduate in US History from the University of San Francisco. His position with the Sojourn organization encompasses a multitude of responsibilities including management of all aspects of technology related to Sojourn’s mobile classroom presentations and immersion journeys; website maintenance; data bases; and social media. Steve supervises the work of college interns working for the program and his extensive background in history lends itself to the curriculum side of Sojourn including some teaching on the journeys as well as serving as an advisor to students who wish to pursue the college credit component associated with their participation in Sojourn. To contact Mr. Schulz:
steve@sojournproject.com
OFFICE MANAGER
Brianna Campbell brings a background of communication studies at California State University, Long Beach and in retail management to overseeing the office operations of Sojourn. She is responsible for the Director’s calendar including scheduling and arrangements for mobile classroom presentations and journey related details. She is the staff liaison for Sojourn with schools, parents, teachers and students. To contact Ms. Campbell: brianna@sojournproject.com
RESEARCH & PROJECT LEADER
Max Thrush is a graduate of the University California, Santa Barbara where he majored in Philosophy (Ethics and Public Policy) and Black Studies. His senior Black Studies thesis analyzed the affects of the current economic recession on Black-owned business and was selected for publication in the UCSB Black Studies Review. In addition to researching grant opportunities for Sojourn, Max is Sojourn’s liaison on the immersion journeys between students, teachers, and parents; he assists with the logistical planning of the journeys; supervises interns and volunteers in the office; and oversees the college credit component of the program. To Contact Mr. Thrush: Max@sojournproject.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.
