AAAS faculty member Tiyi Morris assisted a group of undergraduate students in producing 2 documentaries in 2015 and 2022 on the Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans. In the fall semester, Dr. Morris traveled to Portland, Oregon to present the most recent installment at the Engagement Scholarship Conference alongside the students and Associate Dean of Ohio State Newark Virginia Cope. All the films were selected for the 2025 Pan African Film & Arts Festival held Feb. 4-17, 2025, in Culver City, California.

Read the full article to learn about the documentaries, their accolades, and this unique student engagement at the Ohio State Newark website. 

Tiyi M. Morris is Associate Professor of African American and African Studies at The Ohio State University at Newark and the co-director of the Ohio Prison Education Exchange Project (OPEEP). She is a civil rights historian who studies Black women’s social and political activism. Teaching in African American and African Studies, a discipline that emerged from social justice movements, Dr. Morris’ curricula underscore the need to create a more just and equitable society. She believes her role as an educator is to help dismantle systems of oppression by liberating the minds of students and empowering them to challenge the oppressions they face and/or perpetuate.