Peggy Brooks-Bertram Dr. P.H., Ph.D,

Dr. Peggy Brooks-Bertram is a native of Baltimore, Maryland residing in Buffalo, New York.  She attended public schools in Baltimore, including School 101 on Ashland Avenue, Dunbar Junior/Senior High School, and she graduated from Eastern High School. She completed a B.A. in Political Science at Goucher College in Baltimore, and later earned both a Master’s in Public Health and a Doctor of Public Health from The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. In June 2002, Brooks-Bertram received a second  Doctor of Philosophy in American Studies from the University at Buffalo.  She has worked in higher education both in faculty and administrative positions and in special services to developmentally  disabled populations. She is also a lecturer in health, education, and community activism and is a poet/playwright, and is a nationally recognized scholar on Ancient African History, namely the Cushites of ancient Ethiopia.

Dr. Bertram is the Co-Founder of the Uncrowned Queens Institute for Research and Education on Women, Inc., a non-profit corporation engaged in the preservation of the history of little known African American women.  She is the co-editor and author of the book series entitled Uncrowned Queens:  African American Women Community Builders of Western New York, Vols. 1-3 and a fourth volume, Uncrowned Queens:  African American Women Community Builders of Oklahoma: 1907-2007.  Dr. Bertram, along with her colleague is also Executive Producer and Co-Host of a local cable television program entitled, Illuminations.  She also co-authored an article with Barbara Seals Nevergold, “Preserving Regional History, One Person at a Time,” in Western New York Heritage Magazine, summer, 2008.  She is the co-editor of a new book entitled, Go, Tell Michelle, African American Women Write to the First Lady.  This is a compilation of 100 letters from African American women across the United States and Africa.  Her blog for the book can be found at http://GTMsisterhoodnetwork.blogspot.com.  

Brooks-Bertram is also an independent scholar researching and writing on the life and works of Drusilla Dunjee Houston.  More recently, she has begun working on her life in East Baltimore during the 1940s and 50s.  The book is tentatively titled, “Life in the Alley House, 1641 Barnes.”  The book is a personal narrative of the first thirteen years of Houston’s life at 1641 Barnes Street.

In recognition of her many contributions, Dr. Bertram was inducted into the Western New York Women’s Hall of Fame in March, 2007.  In 2006 she received the Keeper of the Flame Award from the National Women’s Hall of Fame and in 2005 she received the NCCJ Sisterhood/Brotherhood Education Award.  In 2001, Morgan State University awarded her the university's first Distinguished Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to African American History and Culture.  

Peggy Brooks-Bertram currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society and is a member of the Afro-American Historical Society of the Niagara Frontier, Inc. She is also a member of the St. John Baptist Buffalo Hospice House Project.  We are inspired by her presence at the 2009 UMBC McNair conference.