Acclaimed activist-artist and speaker, Peggy Trotter Dammond Preacely is a former Freedom Rider and working member of the historic Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (“SNCC”) that included among its founding members two civil rights legends—Rep. John Lewis and the late Julian Bond, both of whom Peggy worked with during that history-changing time.
Due to her grassroots activism for civil and voting rights, Ms. Preacely was jailed in Maryland and Georgia. She also worked in various communities across the Deep South in the ‘50s and ‘60s to facilitate community empowerment and register Black voters. Beyond her own involvement in history-making events, Ms. Preacely is the descendant of an historic multi-faceted family tree, including esteemed early civil rights activist, William Monroe Trotter, and famed abolitionists, Ellen &William Craft.

Ms. Preacely has also served as an advocate and administrator in the public health sector for over 30 years in various programs, both for government agencies and nonprofits. She was a program manager for the LBDHHS from 1994 to 2011 in the Tobacco Education Program.