Uncrowned Community Builders

A native of Alexandria, Louisiana, Dr. Barbara Seals Nevergold moved to Buffalo, New York in 1947 at the age of three. Her parents, Rev. Willie B. and Clara Ellis Seals relocated to the city as pioneers in the Great Migration Movement. They moved into an apartment at 266 Walnut Street with Rev. Seals' sister, Alice Jones, and her family, John Jones and Dorothy Whittington. In addition to Rev. and Mrs. Seals and Barbara, the Seals family included older siblings, Willie, John, Mildred, and James.

Dr. Seals Nevergold is a graduate of the Buffalo Public Schools and Buffalo State College, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in French Education. She is also an alumnus of the University at Buffalo with Master of Education degrees in French Education and Counseling Education. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree at UB in Counseling Education. Dr. Seals Nevergold also studied French at Laval University in Quebec, Canada, and at the University of Dijon in Dijon, France.

Dr. Seals Nevergold began her career as a French teacher in the Buffalo School System. She also worked as a guidance counselor in the system. Subsequent positions included: Executive Director of the Niagara Frontier Association for Sickle Cell Disease, Inc.; Vice President for Children's Services at Friendship House of Western New York, Inc.; CEO of Planned Parenthood of Buffalo and Erie County, Inc.; and Regional Director for Berkshire Farm Center. Dr. Seals Nevergold retired as the Director of Student Support Services at the University of Buffalo's Educational Opportunity Center.

Dr. Seals Nevergold is an educator, administrator, and community and political activist. She has been a vocal advocate for parental involvement in the public schools. In 1989, she also co-founded, with Dr. Brooks-Bertram, Concerned Parents and Citizens for Quality Education, Inc. CPCQE was credited with increasing public awareness of educational issues and organizing parents as effective advocates. In addition, she served on a number of committees and task forces established by the Buffalo Board of Education. An un-successful run for school board in 1993 was nonetheless successful in demonstrating the importance of parental involvement in local school politics.

The Uncrowned Queens Institute, founded in 1999 by Dr. Seals Nevergold promotes the collection, preservation, and dissemination of the individual histories of African American women, women's organizations, and women's collective history. The organization also aims to teach and educate women on the use of technology to preserve and disseminate their histories. In 2009, the Institute added documenting and preserving the biographies and histories of men, Uncrowned Kings to its mission. The Institute created its signature, "techo-pedia" to archive these biographies on its webpage at www.uncrownedcommunitybuilders.com

Throughout its 25-year history the Institute's leaders have collected hundreds of biographies, conducted original research that has uncovered little or unknown history, created digital projects to collect, document, and preserve regional African American history, and launched numerous programs to preserve and share that history.

Dr. Nevergold was appointed an at-large member of the Buffalo Board of Education in 2012. She served as the President of the Board from July 2013 to July 2014. In May 2014, she was elected to a five-year term and served as Board President from 2015 to 2019. She was an active participant in many of the district's task groups and committees. Dr. Nevergold also served as the Treasurer and President of the NYS Conference of Big 5 School Districts. She was a member of the Resolutions Committee of the New York State School Boards Association and the District's representative to the Council of Great City Schools.

Dr. Seals Nevergold has served in leadership roles on numerous local and national boards. She served on the boards of the Buffalo General Hospital, Sheehan Memorial Hospital, the Buffalo Psychiatric Center, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., The Council of Great City Schools, St. John Christian Academy, the YWCA of Buffalo and Erie County, and the Buffalo Rotary Club. Current memberships include the Afro-American Historical Association of the Niagara Frontier, the Buffalo History Museum, and the Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens.

She is the author of numerous published articles on local African American history: "From Pan Am Protests to the Niagara Movement: the Buffalo Connection", the Western New York Heritage Magazine, 2005; "Fantastic Color & Special Effects: The Seals Ebony Studio", the Western New York Heritage Magazine, 2002; "To Be an Instrument for Their Voices: Finding, Writing and Sharing Family Histories" in Afro-Americans in New York Life and History, July 2001.

She is the author of: "An Uncrowned Hero: The Untold Story of James Benjamin Parker", the Western New York Heritage Magazine, Winter, 2018; "The Power of the Pen: Crusading Journalist A.J. Smitherman Gave a Voice to His People", the Western New York Heritage Magazine, Winter, 2013; "A. J. Smitherman: A Pen Warrior Wielding the Power of the Press in Defense of His People" The Chronicles of Oklahoma, Fall 2011; "East Presbyterian: The Forgotten Congregation", Western New York Heritage Magazine, Winter, 2022, and "Faith and Perseverance", New York Archives Magazine, Vol 23, No. 3, Winter 2024. She has an article forthcoming in a special Erie Canal Bicentennial edition of the Western New York Heritage Magazine.

She is the co-editor, Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women Write to the New First Lady, Albany, NY, SUNY Press, 2009. The book (which is also in audiobook form) features a compilation of letters and poems written to First Lady, Michelle Obama from 100 women throughout the United States and Africa. A play of the same name was co-authored by Dr. Robert Knopf, Dr. Seals Nevergold, and Dr. Brooks-Bertram. She also is the co-author of four volumes, Uncrowned Queens: African American Community Builders of WNY and Oklahoma, 2002 - 2007. Ida Dora Fairbush: Buffalo's First African American Teacher (2019), is a monograph published by Uncrowned Queens Press.

A family historian, Dr. Seals Nevergold is currently writing a family history of her maternal family. She has also given numerous presentations and workshops at community programs and conferences.

Dr. Seals Nevergold has received numerous awards including Medgar Evers Award, Buffalo NAACP, Buffalo State College Distinguished Alumnus; Letitia Woods Brown Memorial Book Award for "Go, Tell Michelle"; NYS Governor's Women of Excellence Award; Erie County Bar Association - Special Justice Award; Western New York Women's Hall of Fame; NYS Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award; National Women's Hall of Fame, Keeper of the Flame Award; Community Service Award Buffalo Chapter NAACP; Education Award, Buffalo Urban League; Brotherhood-Sisterhood Award for Education from the National Conference for Community and Justice; the Trailblazer's Award and the Community Service Award from the Mary B. Talbert Civic and Cultural Club; the Community Service Award from the Community Action Organization; the Williams Wells Brown Award in recognition of her efforts to preserve local African American history; and the UB Star Award 2001 for outstanding work on the Pan-American Exposition centennial celebration.

In 2007, Dr. Nevergold received special recognition from the Erie County Bar Association for her advocacy and petition to clear the record of Andrew Jackson Smitherman, a survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre. Smitherman and 54 other Black men were indicted for inciting the Massacre. After 86 years the State of Oklahoma expunged the men's records thanks to the work of Dr. Nevergold.

Dr. Nevergold was inducted into The HistoryMakers in 2018 and her biographic interview is included in the organization's Library of Congress archive. In 2020 she was elected to the New York Academy of History as a Fellow. In July 2024, Dr. Seals Nevergold was appointed to the Erie County Historical Commission by Hon. Mark C. Poloncarz, County Executive.

Dr. Seals Nevergold has been a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Xi Epsilon Omega Chapter for over 25 years. She is a member of St. Philip's Episcopal Church and St. John's Baptist Church. Dr. Seals Nevergold is married to Paul R. Nevergold and they have two adult children, Alanna Elizabeth Nevergold Marrow and Kyle Robert and four grandchildren, Naia Ellison Reese Marrow, Cameron Josef Nevergold, Nahri Elizabeth Ann-Marie Marrow and William James Nevergold.