A HUMAN RESOURCE CENTER AND INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE ADVOCACY RESEARCH
Instilling within everyone courage to run toward freedom
CELEBRATING FIVE YEARS OF HTE AND
THE RESILIENCE OF BLACK WOMEN
Multi-sensorial artist and founder of the Harriet Tubman Effect, Nicole Javanna Johnson, is thrilled to announce the premiere of her powerful animated video on June 19th, in celebration of the Harriet Tubman Effect’s fifth anniversary working across various industries to dismantle systemic oppression. This poignant visual narrative honors the resilience of black women throughout history, weaving together themes of unity, struggle, and empowerment.
The animated piece begins in 1921 with a black librarian witnessing the devastating Tulsa massacre, as her family’s library burns down—symbolizing the erasure of cultural heritage. The story then transitions to 1954, where a schoolteacher loses her job during the Brown v. Board of Education era, highlighting the challenges faced by future generations. Finally, the narrative arrives in 2020, depicting a black woman facing workplace oppression. As she confronts injustice and finds her voice, the video beautifully illustrates her journey toward liberation and connection with the past.
Through this transformative experience, viewers see the protagonist connect with her ancestors, including representations of the librarian and schoolteacher, culminating in a sunlit epiphany that underscores the strength of black women. The video utilizes animation and original music crafted through collaborations with animator Diego Perez and musicians Evan Crommett and Alexandra Chrichlow to immerse audiences in this emotional journey.
OUR MISSION
To dismantle systemic oppression and usher in a new era of empathy by producing participatory-action research, human resource initiatives and reallocating wealth to Black and Brown DEIA* consultants and researchers across American industries.
*diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility
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WHAT'S NEW
Make a tax-deductible donation and support our LANTERN FUND
The Lantern Fund is an initiative that allows community members to reallocate their resources to support the diversity, equity and inclusion needs of American industries. It provides mental health resources for BIPOC workers, workplace trauma support, DEI assessment tools and sustainable social change networking events. The Lantern Fund also supports LanternTix: our Broadway affordable ticketing initiative.
What does the
LANTERN FUND support?
LANTERN TIX
Lantern Tix is a strategic ticketing initiative that lights pathways for community groups to attend theater. Our work prioritizes sustainability, equity, and care by removing barriers to create spaces of joy and belonging. Lantern Tix creates relationships with productions to provide access to free or discounted tickets to HTE approved individuals and communities - See more below.
LANTERN POC COACHING
Lantern Coaching supports POC in their self determination journeys by providing them with underwritten coaching in legal, mental health, financial sustainability, workplace trauma and resource development needs. The program functions like a concierge service supporting participants through an application process that leads to customized coaching sessions offered by leaders of all racial background across industries.
LANTERN LIBRARIES
The Lantern Library is a pop up museum and multi-faceted education experience for guests who are interested in dismantling systemic oppression. Lantern Library is designed to help leaders engage with stories of the past to help our problem solving and equity work of the future and to provide BIPOC leaders a space to network, share their work, showcase themselves and recruit employment opportunities. The Lantern Library serves as an orchestrated network for the practice of reallocating wealth across identities and professions.
LANTERN GUIDE
Lantern Guide is a digital assessment tool that helps organizations interested in dismantling systemic oppression share and track individual and organizational progress in workplace wellness. The tool is inspired by the Negro Motorist’s Greenbook and utilizes personal stories to illuminate pathways toward sustainable social change in the workplace.
LANTERN ORGS
Lantern Orgs allows HTE to support organizations who would not otherwise be able to raise funds and gain mainstream attraction on their own. HTE chooses each partner org carefully based on alignment of their mission and our own values. In partnership with these organizations, HTE produces educational content, videos, pitch packets and social media content to activate brand awareness that strengthens the infrastructure of our collective dismantling systemic oppression goals.
OUR VALUES
RESIST WHITE SUPREMACY
Always Challenge Tradition
RESEARCH AS LEARNING
Including Community
EFFICACY
Completing
Relevant Work
CULTURE CHANGE
An Era of Empathy
REALLOCATION OF WEALTH
The Five Pillars of Wealth
OUR HISTORY
OUR COLLECTIVE
Nearly 160 years ago, on June 1, 1863 Tubman coordinated the Combahee River Raid. Her covert interactions had given rise to vital information: torpedoes had been placed at specific locations along the riverbanks. The knowledge enabled three Union gunboats to safely navigate the waters, and in the process, transport soldiers who successfully destroyed several estates owned by prominent secessionists. As those soldiers were offloaded from the boats, enslaved people boarded. That night, more than 700 enslaved people were rescued and freed.
Our work is rooted in this spirit of historical justice advocacy; Tubman and countless others have instilled within us the courage to not only run toward our due freedom, but to also liberate our brothers and sisters along the way. We take our own first steps now - as researchers, practitioners, and leaders who collectively commit to resisting white supremacy, developing relevant work for our communities, and galvanizing empathy across cultures.
We are thrilled that you have decided
to join us on this journey.
Thank you for joining us, honoring Harriet Tubman, her legacy and it's continued impact on our efforts to dismantle systemic oppression.
WHAT WE DO
Current Industries & Institutions
HTE's collective work is a mechanism for behavioral change in American workplaces. Our team is at the center of this effort: their research and revision generates the Harriet Tubman Effect (HTE), or a transformation defined by dismantling systemically oppressive structures - and supplanting them with tangible pathways for empathy, empowerment, and justice.
The HTE is thus housed within organizations and industries that seek to undergo such a transformation. The business partnership is unique: each organization serves as fiscal support for HTE personnel, initiatives and programming in their own uniquely designed format. Organizations who choose to engage with HTE might interact via consultation, co-production, sharing of best practices, etc.
The HTE is embedded in the following industries and institutions:
Theatre, Film,
Television
K-12 Education
Higher Education
Corporate America
Houses of Worship
OUR COLLECTIVE
Founders
Black and Brown DEIA entrepreneurs and leaders
working outside of American institutions to
dismantle systemic oppression.
Justice Advocates
Employees of American institutions who are dismantling systemic oppression and serve as allies to marginalized communities.
Fellows
Black and Brown employees who are affected by systemic oppression and are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion work.
Nicole Johnson (she/her)
Adventurer and Igniter
Founder of HTE, focus on corporate America, theater and higher education, curriculum design and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Belén Moyano (she/her/ella)
Torch Bearer and Builder
Curriculum Designer of EDIFY and advocate for immigrants and anti-racism to provide opportunities to marginalized communities.
Vanessa Pereda (she/her)
Educator/Amplifier/Community Builder
A lifetime educator who fiercely advocates for equitable systems of schools, charitable giving, and democracy.
Nagela Dales (she/her)
Educator and Mentor
Building on the visionary ideas of advocates and creating resources to help serve their communities.
Bee Harris (she/her)
Illustrator and Policy Advocate
Creating vibrant art that inspires herself and others to embrace a life of color and to see the full spectrum of existence.
Maria Porto (she/her)
Disabled Activist & Advisor
ACCESS Broadway NY Founder she focuses on developing pathways for intentional accessibility for theater venues across the country.
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Sarah Powell (she/her)
Information Seeker/Communicator/Healer
Education Operations Director of the Harriet Tubman Effect with a focus on Music Theatre and Corporate America.
Carlita Victoria (she/her)
Mental health advocate and Founder of Darkness RISING Nonprofit, consistently fighting for equitable and plentiful resources for marginalized communities.
Mental Health Educator
Emma Barishman (she/her)
Amplifier and Researcher
Researching white supremacy in the musical theater industry and its effect on professional wellness.
Zuri Washington (she/her)
Speaker of Truth
K-12 Charter School Equity Advocate and media content curator in the Musical Theater Industry for truth seeking and resisting white supremacy.
Cate Benioff (she/her)
Illuminator and Content Creator
Client & Event Imagination Strategist. Cate is passionate about creating safe spaces of belonging for all theatre workers.
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Daryl A Ritchie (they/them)
Navigator and Mediator
Performing arts administrator and strategist. Providing support and crafting policies that affect sustainable institutional change.
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Ponderer, Puzzler and Problem Solver
Justin Davis (he/him)
As Finance Director and Deputy to Founder, Justin manages all financial actions of HTE and supports Nicole in making and carrying out company wide decisions.
Joe Hetterly (he/him)
Builder, Experimenter, Disrupter
LanternTix Program Manager. Joe is passionate about creating theatrical change by using budgets as moral documents.
Nia Williams (she/her)
Illuminator and Reimaginator
Illuminating transformative conversations through challenging the status quo and reimagining resources to dismantle structural inequities.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Immigrant Support GroupMultiple DatesJul 01, 2025, 9:00 PM – 10:00 PMhttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/83615164266
