Dr. Lee Francis IV/Courtesy photo
LAPS NEWS
Dr. Lee Francis IV will present a talk on “Native Representation in Popular Culture” at Los Alamos High School on Friday, March 13. Hosted jointly by the English department, Topper Library and the Native American Club, Dr. Francis will speak during three class periods. There will also be a luncheon for Native American students and their families to meet with Dr. Francis in the library.
Each talk will be held in the Topper Library, and participants will have an opportunity to ask questions during each session. Teachers are encouraged to sign up their classes to attend; however, space is limited to 125 students per class period. The deadline to register is March 10.
Dr. Francis (Pueblo of Laguna) is the CEO and Founder of Native Realities LLC, an Indigenous Imagination Company, dedicated to unleashing the Indigenous imagination through popular culture, including comic books, graphic novels, games, toys, and collectibles. Founded in 2015, Native Realities has published the largest assortment of Indigenous-centric comic books in the world. Through Native Realities, Dr. Francis also founded the Indigenous Comic Con in 2016 and opened Red Planet Books and Comics, the only Native comic shop in the world, in 2017.
He also serves as the National Director of Wordcraft Circle of Native Writers and Storytellers, a 25-year old organization dedicated to promoting the work and words of Native and Indigenous people throughout the world. He has served in this position for the past fifteen years since the passing of Wordcraft Founder, Lee Francis III, in 2003. During his time, Dr. Francis has supported and mentored more than a hundred writers and storytellers, conducted dozens of school-based workshops, and promoted thousands of written works by Native writers and storytellers.
Dr. Francis is an award winning performance poet and slam champion. He was a part of the 2006 Albuquerque City Slam Team and the 2008 College National Champion Slam Team. He served as the coach for the 2008 Albuquerque City Slam Team. He has been performing for more than thirty years and has been active in the Albuquerque theater scene for more than a decade after spending a year touring the United States as part of the Repertory Theater of America. He is also a highly regarded storyteller and has performed stories at numerous venues around the U.S.
In 2014, he received his Ph.D. in Education from Texas State University with a focus on Indigenous education systems and Indigenous leadership. He has been published in several peer-reviewed, academic journals over the past decade and his work on Natives in pop culture is highly regarded by universities throughout the United States. As an evaluator, Dr. Francis specializes in Indigenous evaluation methods and has been contracted by numerous local and national Native/Indigenous organizations to conduct system and program evaluations.
For more information about Dr. Francis’ upcoming visit, contact Shannon Seitz at s.seitz@laschools.net or Margo Batha at m.batha@laschools.net.