Dé Bryant, Ph.D. is a community psychologist and leader of social justice initiatives with over 20 years of bringing together individuals with diverse mindsets in order to facilitate equity and empowerment. She is the director of the Social Action Project, dedicated to understanding the deep roots of how justice is betrayed by society and using the healing power of the arts to restore the balance. She is a healer, an activist, and an academic affectionately known as «Rasheeda» (wise woman) by members of her healing circle.
She has taught courses from undergrad to Master’s levels in social justice, trauma-informed psychology, and interfaith activism at Indiana University South Bend since 1990. She has built platforms to increase public discourse on social justice such as the Public Intellectuals forums at the IUSB Civil Rights Heritage Center. She has pioneered ways to extend teaching beyond textbooks and into communities, earning Indiana University’s highest teaching award (The FACET) and the highest award for linking teaching-research-community building (The Lundquist Award).
Bryant’s experience building communities in difficult political environments has taken her to Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, and Ayiti(Haiti). In 2023 she was invited to the Cumbre por la Paz (Peace Summit) in Mexico City, along with other members, as a co-founder of Black Lives Matter-South Bend. Her current work includes the Ubuntu Spirit project using storytelling to overcome trauma, an initiative of the Social Action Project. She is also part of the Grupo de Trabajo Afrodescendientes, a working group on mental health awareness and alternative medicines among Afro-Latin peoples.