Our Team
We are a highly qualified team of historians with diverse perspectives, experiences, and areas of expertise. As historical consultants, we aim to cultivate a culture of understanding, reconciliation, and collective action that shapes a more equitable and compassionate world for generations to come.
Paul Ringel, Ph.D.
Principal Consultant
Dr. Ringel has worked as a consultant and public historian for more than two decades, with clients including PBS, The International Civil Rights Center and Museum (ICRCM), the city of High Point, and Oregon Public Broadcasting. He worked as a consultant for the PBS television program The Time Warp Trio, helped to design curriculum for ICRCM, and leads the William Penn Project, an oral history initiative dedicated to preserving and sharing the stories of alumni from High Point’s all-black high school from 1892 through 1968. He was a contributing scholar to the 2023 One High Point Commission Report that examined the need for community reparations for the African American citizens of High Point. Current projects include a biography of the Moores, an African American family from Wilmington and High Point, North Carolina, that covers eight generations from emancipation through Black Lives Matter; a monograph on Boston’s Royal Rooters, a group of celebrity sports fans from the early 1900s; and a reboot of the popular 1970s children’s program Schoolhouse Rock! Dr. Ringel received his AB from Princeton University, his J.D. from Boston College Law School, and his Ph.D. from Brandeis University.
Virgina L. Summey, Ph.D.
Principal Consultant
Virginia Summey is a historian based out of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She has conducted research for a variety of organizations including the Center for Racial Equity in Education (CREED), the City of High Point (NC) and the Glacier National Park Conservancy. She received her B.A. in Political Science from Catawba College in Salisbury, NC, her M.A. in History with a post-baccalaureate in Women’s and Gender Studies from the University of Montana, and her Ph.D. in United States History with a post- baccalaureate in African American and African Diaspora Studies from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. She is the author of The Life of Elreta Melton Alexander: Activism Within the Courts (UGA Press, 2022). She has also taught a variety of college-level courses focusing on Women’s History, North Carolina History, Legal History, and Civil and Human Rights.
Lance Wheeler, M.A.
Principal Consultant
As a public historian and community curator, Lance has worked effortlessly with civil rights families and organizations like the Medgar & Myrlie Evers Institute to connect communities and engage youth. In addition, he worked with Black, Brown, and Indigenous farmers to deepen their understanding and analysis of their individual truth and legacy through the lens of the Civil Rights Movement. Lance also participated as a thought leader for the National Day of Racial Healing for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation where he discussed the essential role museums have in the healing process for all people.
Tell us about your project
Whether your historical work includes discovering and sharing the story of an individual structure, researching the origins of a public policy, or uncovering the systemic roots of contemporary injustices, we empower our clients to share their stories, cultivate empathy, and build bridges across society’s many divides.