Tarabu Betserai Kirkland

Tarabu is the last of Mamie Kirkland’s nine children and has been developing the One Hundred Years From Mississippi project for the last several years.

Tarabu hails from Buffalo, New York and resides in Los Angeles, CA.

Tarabu’s background as a Media Artist, Producer and Administrator includes twenty years in Public Radio having served as General Manager of radio station KPFK-FM in Los Angeles, Assistant Manager of KPFA in Berkeley where he co-founded the Third World Media Department and helped establish national radio training programs for producers of color, and General Manager of the Community Information Network.

He is also the author and composer of the musical Jukebox which stared Danny Glover, author and producer of the stage play Ritual of a Bop Solo, producer of the stage play Jungle Bells, and producer and musical co-director for the National Public Radio drama Quiet Thunder, and has been the writer and producer for numerous radio documentary projects and video industrials.

In addition, Tarabu has worked in the cultural and social service sector as the Director of Programs at A Place Called Home, Managing Director of Great Leap, Inc., and Managing Director of the Black Theatre Artists Workshop.