Carol Prejean Zippert, Festival Director
A native of Lafayette, Louisiana, Carol Prejean Zippert spent over fifty years as a community organizer in Greene County, Alabama. Her leadership roles include former Director of the Society of Folk Arts & Culture, which sponsors Greene County’s Black Belt Folk Roots Festival. From this position, Carol facilitated the Festival for over 40 years. She also served two terms on the Greene County School Board. Other notable roles include founder and board chairperson of the Black Belt Community Foundation, and board member and former board chairperson of the U.S. Urban/Rural Mission of the World Council of Churches.
Jane Sapp, Festival Founder
Nationally recognized musician, recording artist, educator, cultural worker, and folklorist, Jane Sapp came to Greene County, Alabama in 1972 as an instructor for Miles College’s extension program in Eutaw. In her capacity as a folklorist, Jane identified and recruited area blues and gospel musicians, as well as folk artists, for the first Black Belt Folk Roots Festival in 1975. She continued in her role as Festival Director until Miles College’s Eutaw campus closed in 1982. Beyond her work in Greene County, Jane has led widespread cultural work and grassroots education in Birmingham, Selma, Little Rock, New Orleans, Mississippi, and the Northeast.
Bertis D. English, PhD, Historian
Bertis D. English is a professor in the Department of History and Political Science at Alabama State University in Montgomery. He is an authority on the post-Civil War through Civil Rights eras in Alabama’s Black Belt. English has served as editor of various academic journals, including the Journal of African American History and the International Journal of Africana Studies. He has also served as associate editor of the Journal of Race and Policy and The Griot: The Journal of African American Studies.
Henry “Hank” Sanders, Former Alabama State Senator
Baldwin County native and Harvard Law School graduate, Hank Sanders has dedicated thirty-five years to public service and over fifty years to private law practice. As a member of the Alabama State Senate from 1983 to 2018, Sanders served in various leadership roles. In 1972, he established Chestnut, Sanders, & Sanders L.L.C. in Selma. At one time the largest black-owned law firm in Alabama, it has served the state for over fifty years in civil rights and social justice litigation. As a community activist, Sanders founded and nurtured organizations including Alabama New South Coalition, 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement, Black Belt Human Resources, and the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute.
Joey Brackner, Folklorist
Joey Brackner is an Alabama folklorist, humanities scholar, and media maker. As Director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, a division of the Alabama State Council on the Arts, Joey oversaw research and preservation of the state’s folk and traditional arts. Joey is also widely recognized as the host of two statewide series – Alabama Public Television’s Journey Proud, about the customs and folk traditions of the state, and Alabama Arts Radio.
Richard Bailey, PhD, Historian
Richard Bailey is a historian, author, speaker, and civil rights activist whose scholarship and writing center on Alabama’s African American leaders during the Reconstruction era. After earning a doctorate in history from Kansas State University, Richard began promoting civil rights awareness in his hometown of Montgomery, Alabama. He is a renowned speaker and educator, specifically on Montgomery’s historic black neighborhoods and influential civil rights activists.
Debra Eatman, Festival Program Coordinator
A native of Greene County, Debra Eatman has worked with Carol Zippert and the Festival since its early days. As a member of the Society of Folk Arts & Culture, Debra is passionate about preserving the history and heritage of Greene County.
Johnnie Knott
Johnnie Knott operates Woman to Woman, a human services nonprofit based in Eutaw, Alabama. As a youth, she participated in the 1965 Eutaw student protests against Jim Crow laws. She proudly recalls being present when Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke at First Baptist Church in Eutaw in support of those protests.
Rob Riser, PhD, Historian
R. Volney (Rob) Riser is Professor of History at the University of West Alabama, where he teaches a broad range of U.S. History courses. From 2008 to 2014, he served as department chair and, from 2012 to 2017, as Editor of the Alabama Review, the Alabama Historical Association’s academic journal. As a researcher, he specializes in U.S. Constitutional History, American Political History, and the history of the American South.