WE WHO BELIEVE IN FREEDOM CANNOT REST
A 2-Part Special
Listen to the full show (uploaded Mondays)
This week, "WE WHO BELIEVE IN FREEDOM CANNOT REST: Commemorating Our Foremothers. Celebrating Ourselves" featuring Carol Maillard of Sweet Honey in the Rock; Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole, Sister-President emeritus of Spelman College and so much more; world-renowned poet-educator-activist Sister Sonia Sanchez; Janet Dewart Bell, Elle Cole, Latorial Faison, Karen Falcon and the Jubilee School, Joanne V. Gabbin, Brenda Greene, Helen Higginbotham, MaryAnne Howland, Irma McClaurin, Matt Mixon, Lois Moses, Nya Patrinos, Kimmika L. H. Williams-Witherspoon, and Chip Williford.
This 2-part special was recorded LIVE on Zoom before an audience spanning the globe in the aftermath of Vice President Kamala Harris’ historic presidential candidacy.
December 3, 1831: Sarah Mapps Douglass and a small group of Black women, co-founders of the Female Literary Association of Philadelphia--the first known book club--dare publish their constitution in The Liberator an anti-slavery newspaper, inspire other women to do the same, launch the women's rights movement and ignite women's political activism, later joined by White women like Lucretia Mott co-convener of the 1848 women's rights convention at Seneca Falls, they host an anti-slavery pro-Women's Rights Conference. Are nearly killed for their courage, then erased from history.
December 3, 2024: 193 years later to the day, in the wake of Kamala Harris's historic vice presidency and presidential campaign, where do we go from here? How do we move forward? As it is said in the Akan language of West Africa, we must go back. Sankofa. Go back in remembrance. Go back in commemoration. Go back in praise of the shoulders on which we stand. Come, let us celebrate ourselves.
For links to our guests and their work, download the event program here.
This special was produced in cooperation with The Institute for History and Healing, Inc.
Special thanks to the Center for Black Literature, Furious Flower Poetry Center, Jill Newman Productions, The Toni Morrison Society, When Black Women Gather, Wintergreen Women Writers Collective. For their production expertise, sincere thanks to: AT, Matt Mixon, Nya Patrinos, and Chip Williford.