ADEC is pleased to announce the following Keynote presentations for the 2026 Conference:

Thursday, March 5, 2026 Keynote:

A Fight for Burial Rights: The Importance of Autonomous Black Burial Grounds Then and Now

Presented by: Kami Fletcher, PhD

A 1701 law in Maryland denied “negroes and mullatoes” the right to certify their death within the written record. The law made explicit what the institution of American slavery had made implicit – that Black death, like Black life, did not matter and just as Black people were to live enslaved they were to die unmourned, unmissed and unremembered. Right to one’s name on the colonial church burial rolls was just the beginning. Black people wanted an autonomous burial ground where they would be protected, ritualized in dignity and memorialized in respect. In this talk, Dr. Fletcher will foreground the oldest autonomous burial ground for people of color in Baltimore discussing Black Baltimoreans’ fight for burial rights while also making connections to the ongoing struggle for preserving and restoring such historical burial grounds today.

Learning Objectives:

1. To think critically about how white supremacy shaped burial laws in colonial America.
2. To understand the ways in which death becomes a vehicle for Black freedom and autonomy.
3. To understand the legacy of Black burial grounds in America.

About the Presenter:

Kami Fletcher, PhD started her higher educational career in the city where she was born and raised – Pine Bluff, Arkansas. She received her BA in English from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in 2001. In 2003 and 2006, respectively, she received her MPA (University of Arkansas at Little Rock) and her MA in Women’s Studies (Texas Woman’s University). In 2013 Dr. Fletcher received her Ph.D in History from Morgan State University.

At present, Dr. Fletcher is an Associate Professor of African Diasporic Histories & Coordinator of Africana Studies at Goucher College. She teaches courses that explores the African experience in America and unpacks social and cultural U.S. history at the intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality. She is also the President of the Collective for Radical Death Studies, a non-profit organization whose mission it is to decolonize Death Studies and center BIPOC voices in death work and practice.

Her research centers on African American burial grounds, late 19th/early 20th century Black female and male undertakers, and contemporary Black grief and mourning. Her latest publications are the co-edited Grave History: Death, Race & Gender in Southern Cemeteries from Antebellum to the Post-Civil Rights Era (University of Georgia Press, 2023) and peer-reviewed journal article “Black Women Undertakers of the Early Twentieth Century Were Hidden in Plain Sight”.

Currently, Dr. Fletcher is working on the Culture Keeper’s Oral History Project interviewing African American funeral service workers from across the country.

Friday, March 6, 2026 Keynote:

The Role of Sociology in Understanding Death, Grief and Bereavement

Presented by: Neil Thompson, PhD, DLitt, CMgr 

The experience of death, grief and bereavement is a profoundly personal matter and therefore a topic that psychology can cast light on through research and theoretical development. In this presentation Dr Thompson affirms the value of psychological insights but argues that they need to be complemented by a sociological understanding if an adequate understanding of the complexities involved is to be achieved. He presents two sociologically informed analytical tools that can help us to engage with those complexities in ways that offer both enhanced theoretical understanding and insights that can strengthen the effectiveness of professional practice.

Learning Objectives:

1. To appreciate the important role of sociology as a complement to psychological understandings.
2. To understand social factors as active elements in people’s experiences of death, grief and bereavement and not simply a passive backdrop.
3. To be able to use sociologically informed analytical frameworks to develop a fuller understanding of death, grief and bereavement.

About the Presenter:

Neil Thompson is an award-winning author and educator based in Wales. He was formerly a university professor but currently works in an independent capacity as a developer of online learning resources. He has published extensively in the field of death, grief and bereavement and has a particular interest in sociological aspects of the subject, especially in relation to loss and grief in the workplace and the role of leadership. His professional background is in social work and he has a Lifetime Achievement Award from BASW Cymru, the Wales branch of the British Association of Social Workers. His academic background is in social theory, drawing in particular on existentialist thought. He is a Fellow of the International Work Group on Death, Dying and Bereavement and holds the Dr. Robert Fulton Award for excellence in relation to Death, Grief and Bereavement from the Center for Death Education and Bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He is currently a visiting professor at the Open University in the UK where he is a member of the Open Thanatology research group. His website, with his acclaimed Manifesto for Making a Difference, is at www.NeilThompson.info.

Saturday, March 7, 2026: 

Advancing Bereavement Policy & Systems Change in America

Presented by: Joyal Mulheron

Bereavement in America affects millions, with far-reaching health, economic, and social consequences. Beyond personal tragedy, bereavement is compounded by policies and systems that result in declines in social well-being, poor health, and economic challenges. Since 2020, Congress, The White House, and federal agencies are increasingly recognizing bereavement as a policy concern. This session will provide historical context, insights, and trends into national developments and how they are reshaping bereavement care. Participants will understand the emerging national policy landscape, how to engage these national developments, and offer a new lens for the care they provide to grieving people.

Learning Objectives:

1. To articulate why bereavement is a public health crisis – Participants will understand how grief and bereavement affect not only individuals but also social units, institutions, and society, across the lifespan and how addressing its short- and long-term health, social, and economic impacts can redirect the trajectory of life outcomes.


2. To identify systemic hardships impairing effective grief adaption and processing – Participants will examine how existing policies, responses, systems, and structures compound victimization, if not cause cumulative trauma, for bereaved individuals, and how, as frontline providers, they can facilitate functional coping and adaptive processing in the aftermath.


3. To understand national developments accelerating bereavement policy and systems changes – Participants will be able to articulate national policy and systems changes reshaping today’s and tomorrow’s grief and bereavement experience in America.

About the Presenter:

Joyal Mulheron spent twenty-five years advising high-ranking politicians, including governors and The White House, and translating basic science into public policy. She has enjoyed leading significant initiatives for the National Governors Association, the National Academies of Science, and the American Cancer Society. Joyal holds a master’s in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University and degrees in Biochemistry and English from Virginia Tech, as well as a minor in Chemistry. After a series of high-profile death events and the death of her daughter, Joyal founded Evermore to change policy, advance research, and improve the lives of all bereaved people. She has championed multiple legislative actions via Congress, facilitating the adoption and prioritization of grief and bereavement as a policy concern within the U.S. government. Her work has been featured by PBS NewsHour, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, and other major networks.