Dear Black Boy

Dear Black Boy is primarily a book for parents, caregivers, and trusted adults to begin a conversation surrounding race in America with their children. Although this book was not specifically written for children, it is our hope that the content in this book will create conversation between parents and their children, as well as community leaders and the communities they serve, in an effort to promote healing that has been caused by generations of racial trauma.

Cheri Langley, PhD, MPH, CHES, is a wife to her husband of 11 years and a mother of two young black children including her 6 year old daughter and her 4 year old son. She is a self-proclaimed writer and an advocate for social and political justice. Her life work has been working with socially disadvantaged populations, particularly black adolescents and their families. For the past 20 years, Dr. Langley has been involved in practice and research involving HIV/AIDS and STI awareness and prevention and adolescent youth risk behavior. Dr. Langley also has a great deal of experience in community based participatory approaches particularly in underserved and minority populations. She is a lover of Jesus Christ who believes that all men should be created equal regardless of their past or present circumstances and particularly, regardless of their race or ethnicity. It is her life work to create social change in the environment around her through her work in the behavioral sciences as well as her work through the written word. As a native of Louisville, Kentucky, she currently resides in the area with her husband and two children. Christa Harris is a professional visual artist residing in Louisville, KY. She earned a BFA with emphasis in Painting & Graphic Design from the University of Kentucky in 2002. She sold her first print at 12, recently, illustrated and published a children's book, 'My Magical Hair', available on Amazon, and has curated and exhibited in various shows and festivals, including RAW, Natural Born Artists.

She is currently working towards her Masters in Arts Administration at the University of Kentucky, and is in pursuit of a second Masters in Art Therapy which she anticipates to obtain from the University of Louisville. She also works as a Marketing specialist intern for the nonprofit organization Art Inc. Kentucky, in an effort to establish its Louisville base. Christa aspires to earn a PhD in Arts Administration from the University of Kentucky, and eventually own and operate a Gallery with her private practice nestled within. Randy Gray II is a cartoonist and caricature artist from Louisville, KY. He is a graduate of duPont Manual High School's Visual Art program and has a degree in Graphic Arts from University of Kentucky. Randy has ran several online comic strips since graduating from college like RandGray Comics, My Quest for Cool (an auto-bio strip) , and Lil Dude which he turned into a self- published comic book series, Lil' Dude and Rooney. His comic book Lil Dude and Rooney Explore Black History was put into Jefferson County School Libraries. Randy has conducted workshops on cartooning and comic book creation for summer camps and held a month long artist residency at the Louisville free public library. Most recently Randy has been illustrating children's books and doing caricatures for events and parties around town. Randy has a wife and three children and loves to exercise, practice drawing and spend time with his family.