Our Speakers

Dr. Charles Chavis

Dr. Charles L Chavis, Jr. is an author, filmmaker, activist, and professor. He is the author of the ground-breaking book The Silent Shore: The Lynching of Matthew Williams and the Politics of Racism in the Free State, which was praised by  Sherrilyn Ifill, President NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., as a story that “resonates with power and caution for our contemporary efforts to address racial violence and discrimination." The Silent Shore is currently being adapted into a documentary series called, Hidden in Full View, which investigates and reconstructs the full story of one of the last lynchings in Maryland. Dr. Chavis is the founding Director of the John Mitchell, Jr. Program for History, Justice, & Race, at The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, and Assistant Professor of History and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University. Dr. Chavis is National Co-Chair for the United States Truth Racial Healing and Transformation Movement and Vice Chair of the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He also serves on PBS’s Exploring Hate Advisory Committee.

Ryan McElveen

Ryan McElveen serves as associate director of The Brookings Institution's John L. Thornton China Center, where he is senior administrator, coordinates with the Institution’s office at Tsinghua University in Beijing, manages the U.S.-China Leaders Forum and other track II dialogues, and conducts research on Chinese politics and society and U.S. foreign policy. He is also managing director of Global Leaders of Fairfax County, and his experience spans the public- and private-sectors, NGOs, and academia. He has served for eight years as an at-large member of the Fairfax County School Board, where he fought for and implemented curriculum internationalization; healthier school food; LGBTQ protections; sustainability initiatives; student mental health programs; student discipline reform; dress code reform; later high school start times; gun violence prevention; human trafficking prevention; name changes for schools named after confederate figures; and excused absences for students participating in civic engagement activities. Ryan holds a Master’s of International Affairs in human rights from Columbia University, a B.A. in Anthropology and East Asian Studies from the University of Virginia, and is an IB Diploma graduate of George C. Marshall High School.