As a non-resident fellow of Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, which is under the direction of Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Reisha is the researcher for the Daughter Dialogues oral history archive, the creator of DaughterDialogues.com, and host of the Daughter Dialogues podcast, and - documenting the oral histories of members of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) who have African American lineage. Reisha is a direct descendant of Thomas Turpin, a Revolutionary War patriot and president Thomas Jefferson's uncle, through an enslaved woman named Mary, which led her to join the DAR. She is the past Maryland State Society DAR Organizing Secretary-the first African American officer in the state of Maryland and the fourth known in the history of the society for any state. Mrs. Raney is also the founder of Encyde Corporation, a systems engineering company- ranked in the top 4% of all women-owned businesses in the country. Reisha has been featured in USA Today, The Washington Post, The Washingtonian, The Japan Times, Politico, NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, Cheddar TV, and ABC and NBC News affiliates in Washington D.C. Reisha earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Spelman College and a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, both in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a boat captain, owns an RV, and has traveled to over 50 countries spanning all seven continents.
Experience
2014 - current: Non-resident fellow of Harvard University's W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research conducting research and interviewing for the Daughter Dialogues oral history archive.
Services
Public Speaking, Interviewing
Regions Available for Work
Other Regions: United States: Mid-Atlantic
Specialty
I am the founder of Daughter Dialogues an oral history project preserving personal accounts of women with African American lineage, whose patriot ancestors American Indian, Black, and white men and women contributed to the American Revolution. These women have proven their ancestry by their membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). The Daughter Dialogues collection of oral history recordings is archived in the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute and also published in the form of a podcast.
Purpose of Contact
- I am available for hire - as an oral historian,
consultant, presenter, educator, or related services
- I am available to collaborate - on research, community projects, artistic endeavors, or other joint undertakings with peers
