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James Bernard Pratt Jr

@dr.prattack

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Founding Director | The Justice Propulsion Lab | Professor Exploring Violence in the Black Belt...here to share pieces of beautiful complicated life.
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A Picture is Worth #1000Words...here are a few. For years, a few of us fought to make Juneteenth a local holiday in #Albany, Ga. We lobbied local governments and officials, laid out the reasons why Juneteenth is important for residents of Albany, and called for action including developing policies that contend with the lingering effects of slavery including ones that would confront public safety (e.g., marijuana, sagging, alternative methods of law enforcement) and our civil society Yet, the calls fell on deaf ears. It took a literal act of Congress to make #Juneteenth "official" and we see now, top to bottom, commercialization over actual policy and action. We also called for the removal of this bust of Nelson Tift along with the renaming of parks, streets and more that honor slave holders. Tift is considered to be the founder of the City of Albany and he was one of the most significant figures that fought to not only maintain slavery, but more, he directly invested in the Confederacy by building ships, funding rations, while also describing black people as naturally evil, dumb, and violent. He helped lead the development and continuation of a culture that frames black people as undeserving and fought hard around the state of Georgia and in the US Congress to maintain the physically and psychologically violent and destructive institution of slavery and all the aspects of anti-blackness. The vestiges of his labor exist today. We must reckon. 📸: I decided I wanted one of my pictures to be by this bust because my dissertation in part discussed Tift and his racist legacy that was deeply integrated into his economic "success" and impact. We must remember, as I note in my work, the #AmericanDream is intimately connected to slavery and anti-blackness and #Tift is a figure that brings this to fore. Our celebrations must be filling and joyous...but also, our work must be critical and radical enough to call for reparations and the deep work necessary for Justice. They must not be empty and end when the day ends. by @dr.prattack
4
4 years ago
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New official #Fisk headshots just came in. Haven't posted in a while so, here's sumn for the TL. Professor Pratt taken in Fisk University by @dr.prattack
25
3 years ago
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Today, I was honored with the "Post Liberatem Pax" (After Liberation, Peace) Award from the Kelly Miller Smith Foundation on Kelly Miller Smith Day. I'm grateful to Fisk, Professor Jamal Sheats, VP Frederickson, Provost Carr, Dean Brown, and my Chair Dr. Dathis for this honor and for always pushing me while also supporting and pouring into me. #FiskForever Brother Kelly Miller Smith is a #Morehouse Brother and #AlphaPhiAlpha Brother and was a phenomenal activist, pastor, and leader that helped to significantly impact Civil Rights in #Nashville and beyond. He was an old country southern man as I have been (I love my deep South)... So honored to follow in his footsteps. My dear brother advised Martin Luther King, Jr. and was a mentor to Fisk students, particularly John Lewis. He believed in action and not simply talking. He was an musician who demonstrated the polymathic possibilities that allow us to take many forms. He ordained women deacons at a time when it was discouraged, he spoke about the Price of Prejudice, he trained young leaders and showed them what they might face...he was truly a progressive leader. He did not believe in settling. I'm excited to build a relationship with KMSF and look forward to all the work that we will do in the future. Shout-out to Ms. Asacia Brown who won the student award! She's a blossoming scholar and leader in her own right! taken in Fisk University by @dr.prattack
40
3 years ago
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Yesterday was an absolute treat! 💛💙 A few years ago, I had the honor of being recognized as a Kelly Miller Smith Social Justice Fellow through the Kelly Miller Smith Foundation's inaugural Post Liberatem Award. What began as a recognition has blossomed into wonderful relationships, meaningful partnerships, and opportunities to build community and advance justice. This year, we've been especially excited to welcome Adena Wright Williams as Scholar-in-Residence with Fisk's Justice Propulsion Lab. Ms. Adena has mentored, taught, challenged, and helped us build community with purpose and care. Yesterday, Ms. Adena and I joined students from our co-taught Conflict Transformation and Mediation course at Vanderbilt Divinity School for the 40th Anniversary Opening Lecture of the Kelly Miller Smith Institute on Black Church Studies! Rev. Dr. Tyshawn Gardner reminded us that Rev. Dr. Kelly Miller Smith, Sr. was "More Than Just a Preacher"—an organizer, educator, civil rights leader, and builder of institutions, communities, and possibilities! And, we're using his book! Our students also had the joy of meeting Dwight Lewis, the distinguished journalist and longtime Tennessean columnist. What a gift for young people discovering the power of their voices to encounter those who have helped tell our communities' stories! Pictured are members of the Smith family, Vanderbilt representatives, community partners, and our brilliant Justice Propulsion Agents—learning not simply to navigate conflict, but to transform it and the world around them! At the Lab, we connect Violence × Voice × Vocation through Research × Policy × Practice. Because a legacy isn't simply inherited or commemorated. It's something we must continue to build, question, practice, and propel forward. And the celebration continues! Join us October 22 at 10 a.m. in Fisk Memorial Chapel for our Third Annual Kelly Miller Smith Day Convocation, featuring Dr. Eddie S. Glaude Jr. We'll also celebrate Kelly Miller Smith Week, October 21–27, with events throughout the week! Spread and stay tuned! 🙌🏾 Steadfast in the work. Propelling justice. Building community. 💛💙 #KellyMillerSmith #JusticePropulsion taken in Vanderbilt Divinity School by @dr.prattack
0
2 days ago
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Wise Women Watching Water We Weathered, Waded, Washed, Wept Within... Swordfish, Sweet potato, Some yellow flower lol Justice Propulsion Lab takes Arizona! Agents learned, taught, guided... I smiled, yapped, and prevented sunburn. How do we find our way together? Big Umbrella and she holds a lot... Lab Manager Ms. Jointer proud Fisk Alumna. A Thesis. Research Visit for the Doc. (Just the Surface? More later...) Black Econ... Good Coffee and PBnJ whew...yeah. brb. Banjo Lesson... by @dr.prattack
0
4 days ago
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Does Criminal Punishment Keep Us Safe? Join me for a powerful conversation inspired by the PBS documentary Crime and Punishment in America. I’ll be joined by Rahim Buford, Founder & Executive Director of Unheard Voices Outreach; Preston Shipp, Chief Legal Counsel at Fair and Just Prosecution; and James Bernard Pratt, Jr. PhD, Founding Director of the Justice Propulsion Lab at Fisk University. This is a conversation about crime, punishment, accountability, rehabilitation, redemption, and what public safety really means. Admission is FREE, but reservations are required. 🍕 Pizza will be provided by @pizzaassurda. RSVP: https://lnkd.in/gn5Xq_6i A Slice of the Community is supported by the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and R.H. Boyd. by @dr.prattack
0
4 days ago
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I came to Nashville three years ago to pursue a passion for writing music. When I came here, I was determined to become a film composer. That vision is now more refined and includes a broader array of work, but it always remained a dream of mine to score films. And I finally got the opportunity to do it. This past year I’ve been working on scoring a documentary as part of a collaboration between Belmont University and Fisk University. I got to work with students from both schools and meet people I would have never thought would be so amazing. And most of all, I got to write the music. This past week was the public premier of the film at both the Nashville Film Festival (we were even nominated for an award!!) and the International Black Film Festival, where I got to serve a spot on the panel after the screening. It has been an absolutely amazing, eye-opening, and rather unexpected experience to be a part of this entire project. Thank you to everyone who made it so special and let’s keep the momentum going! #nashvillefilmfestival #filmcomposer #goodtrouble #filmscore by @dr.prattack
23
7 days ago
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Does Criminal Punishment Keep Us Safe? Join me for a powerful conversation inspired by the PBS documentary Crime and Punishment in America. I’ll be joined by Rahim Buford, Founder & Executive Director of Unheard Voices Outreach; Preston Shipp, Chief Legal Counsel at Fair and Just Prosecution; and James Bernard Pratt, Jr. PhD, Founding Director of the Justice Propulsion Lab at Fisk University. This is a conversation about crime, punishment, accountability, rehabilitation, redemption, and what public safety really means. Admission is FREE, but reservations are required. 🍕 Pizza will be provided by @pizzaassurda. RSVP: https://lnkd.in/gn5Xq_6i A Slice of the Community is supported by the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and R.H. Boyd. by @dr.prattack
2
15 days ago
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Since 2020, the Mississippi Coalition to End Corporal Punishment has put in the work to build communities where safety, justice and belonging begin with Black children. We push policy change, provide community programming and non-violent praxis. Together, we can shift the culture and build community power around the dignity and well-being of Mississippi's Black children. #LetsTalkAboutIt #AreTheChildrenOK taken in Jackson, Mississippi by @dr.prattack
4
a month ago
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Corporal punishment still exists? Yes! In more than a dozen states, largely in the South. Often, when people hear that paddling children in school still exists, they scoff in disbelief. But for many students across the country, corporal punishment remains a reality. Mississippi has the highest number of reported cases, which is why the work of our grantee partner the Nollie Jenkins Family Center, based in Mississippi, is so important. Last month, advocates from across the state gathered to align on a strategy to end corporal punishment not only in Mississippi but across the @dr.prattack , Director of the Justice Propulsion Lab at @fiskuniversity , attended the gathering to discuss the coalition’s successes, the data behind corporal punishment and its impact on students. by @dr.prattack
10
a month ago
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First documentary produced...and it's been a blessing, with lessons from lived wisdom along the way. Over the last school year, students from Fisk University and Belmont University came together through the Fisk-Belmont Social Justice Collaborative with a vision: to celebrate the people whose courage, service, and commitment to justice helped shape Nashville, even when their names do not always appear in our textbooks or on our monuments. That vision became Steadfast & True: The Searcy Story. The film tells the story of Joyce and Walter Searcy, who met as Fisk students in 1967, became student activists after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., thereafter forming and working in People's College, and went on to devote their lives to public service and to Nashville. I had the privilege of producing this project alongside my colleagues Mary Ellen Pethel and Carolyn Spellings, working with 30 Fisk and Belmont students to research the Searcys’ lives and the larger history surrounding them. Our students explored the 1960 bombing of civil rights attorney Z. Alexander Looby’s home, examined who Nashville chooses to memorialize—and who gets left out—and traveled to the historic Promised Land community. Along the way, history became more than dates, monuments, and famous names. It became personal. Our students encountered people who had once been students themselves—young people who questioned, organized, challenged institutions, and acted with both passion and compassion. Directed by Barbara J. Hall, Steadfast & True brings those generations together around a simple but powerful idea: “The work of justice does not end. It passes from one generation to the next.” I’m incredibly proud of what our students imagined, researched, and helped bring to life—and excited that we now get to share it with Nashville. 🎬 Steadfast & True: The Searcy Story 📅 September 27, 2026 🕛 12:00 p.m. 📍 Nashville Film Festival at the National Museum of African American Music From one generation to the next. Steadfast and true. See the link to the website on my profile. Grab your tickets now. by @dr.prattack
10
a month ago
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Looks and faces, faces and looks...update for the archive book. by @dr.prattack
3
a month ago
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