Dr. Janice Neal-Vincent

Dr. Janice K. Neal-Vincent is a keynote speaker, journalist, poet, and award-winning performance artist who grew up in Jackson, Mississippi memorizing speeches and poetry. While emphasizing the dignity and worthiness of humanity, she loves to engage audiences in the social reality of underlying messages. She has traveled abroad and participated in storytelling projects on social justice themes, thereby vocalizing many messages.

Throughout the years, she has sat in the midst of famous poets who have performed their works and invited her to visit their dwelling places. The renowned Dr. Margaret Walker invited her over for tea and shared passionate information with her. Poet Mari Evans invited her to come to her Indiana, Indianapolis home and coach her one summer. Gwen Brooks – Poet Laureate of Chicago, Illinois – wanted to know if she had “missed her calling” after she introduced her on the dais and wanted her to join the Black Arts Movement. Dr. Maya Angelou of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina almost missed her plane out of Mississippi as she critiqued some of Neal-Vincent’s poetry. Haki Madubuti – founder of Third World Press – was Neal-Vincent’s guest artist at her Creative Arts Festival which features numerous Black artists - at Jackson State University.

The guest artist performed as a member of The Daughters of Margaret (a professional performing arts ensemble) for almost two decades. Performing many works by Black authors, the ensemble was asked by their namesake, Margaret Walker, to take the Educational Television production that they did in her honor on the road. Consequently, the ensemble received raving reviews after rendering productions throughout Mississippi and nationally.

Neal-Vincent has taught at Northern Illinois University and Ohio University. A retired Jackson State University professor and Coordinator of Communication Studies, she was the First Speech Scholarship major and earned her B.S. degree as a Magna Cum Laude graduate. She earned her M.A. degree from Eastern Illinois University in Rhetoric and Public Address as a Summa Cum Laude graduate. Graduating as “The Most Outstanding Student in the School of Interpersonal Communication” at The Ohio University, Neal-Vincent was The Claude E. Kantner Fellow and Summa Cum Laude scholar.  A former student, Kimberly Ross-Brown, referenced the artist as “one of three most outstanding teachers in the nation” in her communication text.