As we approach our 250th anniversary as a nation in 2026, the Us@250 (pronounced “us at 250”) initiative is focused on reimagining the American narrative based on three core themes: pride in the nation’s progress from its origins; reckoning with historical and contemporary wrongs that have caused the nation to fall short of its ideals; and aspiration for a multiracial, inclusive democracy.

The U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board are pleased to announce that Mi'Jan Celie Tho-Biaz of University of San Francisco has received a Fulbright Specialist Program award. Dr. Mi'Jan Celie Tho-Biaz will complete a project at Universidad de las Artes in Ecuador that aims to exchange knowledge and establish partnerships benefiting participants, institutions, and communities both in the U.S. and overseas through a variety of educational and training activities within Education.

Citizen University is one of our newest national partners whose mission is to build a culture of powerful, responsible citizenship across the country. The Collaboratory resulted in a number of exciting connections with people and organizations across the country who are dedicated to civic engagement and community building. Oral historian, Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz, Ed.D., is featured this month. Commissioned by PolicyLink with aims to advance social equity, Mi’Jan recorded and is amplifying stories from BIPOC cultural leaders and community members.

On March 11, 2020, a group of 25 artists and community members met to discuss “Universal Language,” also known as the Alice Street mural, located at the intersection of Alice and 14th St. in Oakland, California. The four story mural depicts African dancers and drummers, Black American protestors, and traditional Chinese dancers and drummers –

On Jan. 15, 2018, Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz delivered the keynote address for Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday celebration in the Rotunda at the New Mexico State Capitol. The Chicago native told a story about her father’s great-great-grandmother, Emma, who had been enslaved in Alabama, where she was taught to read and write by the slave master’s daughters.

Across The Rockefeller Foundation, equity is a core value in our work. We define it as “broad and fair access to resources and networks that facilitate inclusion of diverse people and perspectives.” We see equity—this broad and fair access—as one of the critical conditions for people, communities, and institutions to become more resilient in the midst of physical, social, and economic challenges. Contributing to this goal, The Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center invites cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary, and cross-sector dialogues.

Oral historian and teacher Mi’Jan Celie Tho-Biaz is used to collecting stories from people who have faced challenges or trauma, and are on their path to “wholeness and wellness.”

The girls who showed up for her small poetry class would range in age from 13 to 18; they ranged in writing ability from third-grade level, or lower, to phenomenal.

“I always say before you collect your story or anyone else’s, you have to get to the ‘tune in’ place to figure out how to listen,” she said. Since phones aren’t allowed in the detention facility, where kids between the ages of twelve and eighteen are typically held for a week or two while they await court judgments, Tho-Biaz kept time by counting to 40 in her head while the young women scribbled away.

I sometimes wonder how much I've chosen my path and how much my path has chosen me.

What’s a story hustler, you ask? It’s a phrase that came up at the spring SFAI140. Mi’Jan, who spoke of love that night, also spoke of being a story hustler. The word hustler, however you want to cast it, typically conjures questionable intent, shady means for shady ends. It can refer to making money on and off the books, working in formal and informal economies. On the streets a hustler sells; sometimes there is a measure of gambling or even drugs. A hustler, to put it succinctly, is resourceful within certain circumstances.

The common discourse in the field of education in the United States during the years 2002 through 2013 centered on the approach of making schools accountable for their students' performance, while aiming to bring proficiency to all students regardless of their socio-economic background. Prior to this study, little research existed on cultural workers who teach, and their associated outcomes with marginalized populations of learners. To fill this gap in the research literature, this study explored the question: How do cultural workers define their work, and in what ways do they connect their stories to the current academic discourse on the purpose of education and gaps in our mainstream educational system? For the purposes of this study, cultural work based education may be defined as an educational initiative, project, or program whereby people who are involved in artistic and sovereignty endeavors practice spoken word poetry, circus arts, public mural arts, contemporary dance and choreography, or self-determination community organizing.