Adapted from the Uncrowned Queens website, which may be visited for a fuller biography.
http://wings.buffalo.edu/uncrownedqueens/...
Dr. Bertram is an independent scholar, researching and writing on the Dungy family of Virginia . Her particular interest is the life and writings of Drusilla Dunjee Houston, author of the obscure and forgotten text, Wonderful Ethiopians of the Ancient Cushite Empires . She is author of a book chapter on Houston to be featured in the Oklahoma Encyclopedia Project, part of the 2007 celebration of the founding of the State of Oklahoma . She is also author of a book (in press) on Houston entitled, Drusilla Dunjee Houston: Uncrowned Queen in the African American Women's Literary Tradition . She has lectured on her scholarship at numerous universities and colleges throughout the United States , Africa, Europe, and Canada .
In 2001, Morgan State University awarded her the university's first Distinguished Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to African American History and Culture . Other scholarly interests include the Old Testament dynasties of the ancient Kings of Kush. Her book chapter on the Kings of Kush appears in the Journal of African Civilizations , edited by Ivan Van Sertima (1997).
Dr. Bertram has been instrumental in building organizations to benefit community development. These include co-founding of the WASET Cultural Heritage Society, Saturday School for African American Children; Concerned Parents and Citizens for Public Education; and more recently, the Uncrowned Queens Institute for Research and Education on Women, Inc. The Uncrowned Queens Institute is derived from the Uncrowned Queens Project a web-based application of history and cultural enrichment for the African American community, http://wings.bu f falo.edu/uncrownedqueens .
Peggy Brooks-Bertram completed a B.A. in Political Science from Goucher College in Baltimore , Maryland , and received a masters and doctorate from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. In June 2002, she completed a second doctorate in American Studies at the University at Buffalo . Currently, she is an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of African American Studies at the University at Buffalo .
Dr. Bertram is a multi-talented individual with interests across a broad spectrum including public education, special topics in public health, journalism, creative writing, and independent scholarship on various topics in African American history. She is the founder and CEO of Jehudi Educational Services , an independent consultant firm specializing in K-12 curriculum development, staff development and training, conference and seminar planning, and specialized grant and proposal development.
Dr. Bertram is devoted to public education and has a distinguished record of advocacy for parents of children in public schools. She has chaired and served on numerous committees. Her interests and activities in public health include African American women and depression and developmental disabilities and African Americans. She has written book chapters on these topics. She also maintains a special interest in the families of children with neurological impairments. Dr. Bertram is a member of the St. John Baptist Church, where she is chair of the St. John Hospice Development Committee. In this position, she has a leadership role in developing the first faith-based hospice and palliative care center for an African American community in the nation. Other community activities include memberships on the board of directors of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society and the Kaleida Health Trustee Council
Dr. Bertram is no stranger to broadcast media. For several years she maintained a byline, MAAT , with the Challenger newspaper. She produced her own radio program, Peggy's Place , which focused on issues pertinent to the African American community. She also was co-producer and host of an educational television program, Education in Review , which informed the community of major educational issues in Buffalo and beyond.
She is a playwright, poet, and dramatist. Her creative writing includes five children's books entitled, African On My Stairs . Illustrations from this series hang in the Rev. Bennett W. Smith Family Life Center at St. John Baptist Church . In 1988, her play, Dynasties of Kush , was selected to be included in the University at Buffalo , First International Women's Playwright Conference. It was performed at the Langston Hughes Institute.
Community service awards include M.O.C.H.A. (Men of Color Helping All) of the Year Award, African-American Fire Fighters; Clifford G. Bell Community Service Award; and the National Association of Counties, Individual Achievement Award for Family Support Programs for Families of Children with Prader-Willi Syndrome. Other awards include the University at Buffalo , UB Service Excellence Award for the Library Internship/Residency Program, 2001. In addition, she is the recipient of the UB Star Award 2001 for outstanding work on the Pan-American Exposition centennial celebration with the Uncrowned Queens Project. Awards from women's organizations include the Xi Epsilon Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Excellence in Education Award, the Mary B. Talbert Civic and Cultural Club's Award for Community Service, and the prestigious Buffalo Urban League's 2002 Community Life Award. She also is the recipient of the William Wells Brown award from the Afro-American Historical Association of the Niagara Frontier.
She is the co-author, along with Barbara Seals Nevergold , of a recently published book, Uncrowned Queens: African American Women Community Builders of Western New York . And she is co-authoring a second book on the African/African American experience at the Pan American Exposition. It is entitled African, Darkies and Negroes: Black Faces at the Pan American Exposition of 1901 .