Centering, Uplifting & Celebrating Brown Girls
When we say Black Lives Matter, we are talking about the ways in which Black people are deprived of our basic human rights and dignity. It is an acknowledgement Black poverty and genocide is state violence. It is an acknowledgment that 1 million Black people are locked in cages in this country–one half of all …
Continue reading "Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi — Black History Month"
My name is Assata ("she who struggles") Olugbala ( "for the people" ) Shakur ("the thankful one"), and I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from the political repression, racism and violence that dominate the US government's policy towards people of …
An international symbol of the Black Liberation movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s. Angela Yvonne Davis was born in Birmingham Alabama on January 26, 1944. At the young age of 4, Davis and her family moved out of the projects of Birmingham and into a large house in a nearby neighborhood. However, Birmingham was very …
With an original movie set to premier on HBO starring Oprah, there's much ado about the immortal cells of Henrietta Lacks. A wife and mother who had her life cut short by cancer, she left a piece of herself that still exists today. HeLa, cells do not die after a certain number of divisions, given this immortality, her …
I remember hearing of Ruby Bridges for the first time in elementary school. I was in 5th grade and just a few years older than she was when at the age of 6, she walked through the doors of William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, LA. The Ruby Bridges Story by Robert Coles was …
Today, we recognize Anarcha, Lucy and Betsey, the mothers of modern gynecology. These three women were used by J. Marion Sims to refine his surgical practice of repairing vesicovaginal fistula, a condition that can occur during traumatic child birth. These three women endured nearly 100 surgeries between them. Anarcha suffering through 30 of them, without …
Continue reading "Anarcha, Lucy and Betsey — Black History Month"
Fannie Lou Hamer became an active participant in the Civil Rights Movement in after being harassed and losing her job for her attempt to register to vote. By 1963, she had become a registered voter and field secretary for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She spent the next and last 14 years of her …
Ida B. Wells was a journalist who bravely stepped forward to shine light on the lynching crimes during Reconstruction. The turning point in her career occurred when she bit a train conductor who attempted to forcibly removed her from a train car because she was Black. Ida immediately filed suit against the rail company and one, …
Octavia Butler is known for being a prolific writer in a genre dominated by white men, science fiction. Ms. Butler was the first sci-fi writer to earn the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant. Rather than delving into the adventure of fantasy, Ms. Butler used her work as a mirror to reflect issues affecting humanity. …
Brown Girls Out Loud 