JoAnn Artis Stevens is a visionary. The daughter of the Late Moses Artis Sr. and Annie Artis, she grew up with 7 brothers and spent a a lot of time with her Mom and older Aunts and Cousins. She was able to learn family histories, knowing your families and maintaining cultures and relationship. She learned the importance of cleaning family cemeteries, living on the land by going into the woods with her Aunts, Sarah Mewborn and Mattie Locust “huckle-berrying (picking”wild berries such as cherries, plums, blueberries, etc. was common at that time)”. JoAnn at the age of 6 started handing tobacco on the farm her family lived on, standing on a bucket, her speed and precision, landed her a job beside her mom. She was an old shoe with her dad and family friend James Woods naming her “Miss Ann”. JoAnn started school during the time of segregated schools, the death of President John F. Kennedy and the height of the Civil Rights Era. She understood the ramifications of that era, the significance of strong leaders and what they were advocating for. This has equated into JoAnn’s love for history and quest to uplift it, preserve it, and tell the full history in meaningful ways. Her mission and goals are to advocate for the alleviation of poverty, inequities, and social ills that still exist today. JoAnn is an ordained minister and seeks only to be a light in her community.
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