Jerry L. Hawkins is an artist, educator, archivist, historian, Presidential Leadership Scholar, and executive producer and narrator for the “Recovering The Stories: Exploring the History and Resilience in Dallas Communities” PBS/KERA Documentary Series. For seven years, Jerry served as the founding executive director of Dallas Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation, an initiative of W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Jerry is the writer of “Archiving The Future” for Nasher Sculpture Center’s Magazine, and was selected as one of D Magazine’s “Dallas 500 Most Powerful Business Leaders” in 2021 and 2022. Jerry was formerly the founding project director of Bachman Lake Together.
Elsie Faye Heggins led the charge to reshape South Dallas in the image of its Black residents, proposing to rename several streets and eventually succeeding in renaming Forest Avenue to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in 1981.
