Educator, writer, artist, mentor. handily fills all of these roles and more.

Professor Gomez-Jefferson was born in Detroit, Michigan but returned “home” to Ohio as a child when her father, Joseph Gomez, a pastor in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, was transferred back to the state.

There are several areas of her work and life where her influence and contributions have been especially profound. They are in the fields of education, civil rights, the performing arts and the literary arts – and these areas frequently overlap. As a television writer and producer from 1967 to 1974, Professor Gomez-Jefferson was responsible for groundbreaking programming at Public TV Station WVIZ in Cleveland, programming that advanced the cause of civil rights. As an educator and mentor, she has taught many young actors to perfect their craft while teaching at the College of Wooster from 1974 to 1995.

Professor Gomez-Jefferson is currently working on her autobiography, Born Alive, a phrase taken from her birth certificate. She has contributed her editorial skills, essays, and poems to several publications, and is the author of two biographies; In Darkness With God: The Life of Joseph Gomez, a Bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and The Sage of Tawawa: Reverdy Cassius Ransom, 1861-1959, both published by Kent State University Press.

“Her art and life are inseparable,” says nominator Cynthia Davidson-Reid.