Coming Home: Discovering Oneself in the Family Legacy with Lacretia Johnson Flash
Spend an evening with Dr. Lacretia Johnson Flash, the great-great-grand-daughter of Amy and Tapp Craig, as she reflects on the journey of learning about her family’s fascinating life and legacy.
After their emancipation from slavery, the Craigs became one of the first Black landowners in Perry County, Tennessee with the purchase of a farm that has remained in the family since 1871. Following the death of her mother, Dr. Lacretia Johnson Flash — along with a team of journalists, distant family, and friendly strangers — journeyed through rural Tennessee to uncover a path of discovery, healing, and transformation.
Dr. Lacretia Johnson Flash’s story has been featured in the Reuters series on Slavery's Descendants, American Dreams, and NBC Nightly News, captivating audiences nationwide. For this special Shelburne Farms event, Dr. Lacretia Johnson Flash connects her long standing relationship with Shelburne Farms to the story of discovering her family’s hidden legacy.
About Dr. Lacretia Johnson Flash
For more than twenty years, Dr. Lacretia Johnson Flash has served as an educator and leader in higher education, working with groups, institutions, and organizations across the U.S. Her creative, scholarly, and professional work focuses on how individuals, groups, and organizations can become more open, inclusive, compassionate, and authentic in their individual and collective practices. She approaches this critical but often challenging work with a spirit of compassion, humility, grit, and joy.
In addition to her professional career, Lacretia has maintained two enduring passions. The first was nurtured by her high school English teacher, Mr. Poniatowski, who gave her the writing assignment to keep a journal. She has continued this practice of journal writing since age 15. She also has a deep love for the visual arts. Upon graduating from college, Lacretia became an artist-in-residence specializing in beadmaking with the Studio G program in Washington, DC and later Art is the HeART and Washington Very Special Arts. With a team of artists, she worked with children and their families in hospital, homecare, and hospice settings.
Lacretia has been a Vermont resident since 2003. Lacretia currently works at Berklee College of Music, a premier institution of performing arts education in Boston, Massachusetts, as its inaugural Senior Vice President for Community, Culture, and Climate. In her free time, Lacretia enjoys creating art (watercolor painting, collage, and beadwork), writing, spending time at Shelburne Farms and being in nature.