and medicine
HEALING AND RECONCILIATION HAS ALWAYS REQUIRED
TRUTH, ACCOUNTABILITY AND ACTION
words of fire conference schedule
Words of Fire Conference Program
April 28 - April 30th
Spelman College
Friday, April 28, 2017
5:00 - 6:00 P.M. Altar-Building Ritual
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center Auditorium
5:00 - 7:00 P.M. Pre-Conference Registration
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center Lobby
7:00 - 7:30 P.M. Volunteer Orientation
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center Room 206
6:00 - 7:00 PM Feature Poetry Performance: "A Brewing Storm of Smallgirls Coming by Vangile Gantsho
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center Auditorium
Saturday, April 29, 2017
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Registration 8:00 A.M - 3:00 P.M.
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center Lobby
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9:30 - 9:45 A.M.
The Opening
The Healing Drum Collective
Sevonna Brown, Birth Doula, The Black Women's Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Location: Sisters Chapel
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Keynote Address
Gender-Justice in the Trump Era: Black Feminists, Womanists and Civil Rights Women Respond to The State of The Nation..
SPEAKERS:
Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Chair, Women’s Research and Resource Center at Spelman College, Author, Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought
Farah Tanis, Co-Founder, Black Women’s Blueprint, Chair, Black Women's Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Sexual Assault (2010-2016)
9:45 A.M - 11:00 A.M.
Opening Plenary
From National Black Feminist Organization to the Combahee River Collective; From Words of Fire to a Black Women's Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Sexual Assault.
IN DIALOGUE:
Michele Wallace, Founder, National Black Feminist Organization
Margo Okazawa-Rey, Founding Member, Combahee River Collective
Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Founder, #LoveWITHAccountability, Creator, No! The Rape Documentary
Ericka Dixon, Truth Commission and Policy Programs, Black Women's Blueprint
Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Chair, Women’s Research and Resource Center at Spelman College, Author, Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought
Farah Tanis, Co-Founder, Black Women’s Blueprint, Chair, Black Women's Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Sexual Assault (2016)
Loretta Ross, Chair and Facilitator, Co-founder, SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective
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SPECIAL ALL DAY FEATURE
HBCU Women, Community Organizing, Advocacy and Electoral Politics
11:15 A.AM. - 5:00 PM
WELLSTONE ACTION: Community Organizing, Policy Advocacy and Electoral Politics on HBCUs (restricted to pre-registered participants. (Registration is Closed)
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Dialogues and Multilogues
11:15 A.M. - 12:15 P.M.
Black Girlhood in the Trump Era
PANELISTS:
Issachar Curbeon and Elizabeth Byne
Black girl’s games as a means of social innovation and political resistance
Carrie Morris
Black Barbie Dolls: The Racialization of Popular Culture Aesthetic Figures
Cinnamon Williams
Beyond Pregnancy/STI Prevention: Making Space for Bad Black Girls in Sex Ed.
Patricia Lesesne
Shielding Black Girls' and Women's Bodies and Spirits in Public Schools
Lavon Morris, Panel Chair
The Little Girl: Healing from Childhood Sexual Trauma
11:15 A.M. - 12:15 P.M.
Black Feminst Struggles for Resistance and Black Feminist Geographies of African Diaspora
PANELISTS:
Al-Yasha Illhaam Williams
Bodily Integrity, Human Rights and Cultural Frameworks.
Junetta Jamerson
Ain't No One Comin': Ingenuity and Self-Preservation in Rural Black Communities.
M. Bahati Kuumba
Mapping the Transnational in African Women’s Activism: Uncharted Terrains of Struggle.
Judite Blanc
From the myth of black intellectual inferiority to slut-shaming of Black women in science Why Haitian women are not.
11:15 A.M. - 12:15 P.M.
Teach-Ins
Warrior Goddess: Transforming your Trauma into Triumph
Presenters: Faith Bynoe and Toni Lewis
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center 103
Achieving Reproductive Justice through a Movement to End Violence Against Women
Presenters: SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center 329
A Seat in the Waiting Room: Exploring How to Advocate for Your Sexual and Reproductive Health as a Same Gender-Loving Woman
Presenters: Krissy Leahy and La Ricca Young
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center 104
How to Create Civic Engagement Campaigns Using an Intersectional Gender Lens
Presenters: Malika Redmond and Carlandra Williams, Women Engaged
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center 214
Our Bodies as Burial Grounds: Black Fat Bodies & Consent
Presenter: Ashleigh Shackleford
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center 224
A Legacy of Change: The Truth of Queer Identity at Spelman College
Presenter: Taryn Lee Crenshaw
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center LL28
Narrative Power and Fannie Lou Hamer
Presenter: Tameka Bell
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center 219
Black Feminists Call In the Calling Out Culture
Presenter: Loretta Ross
Sister’s Chapel
Engaging Faith-Based Communities of Color in Sexual Violence Intervention
Presenter: Dr. Tyffani Dent, The Sisters of Tamar Support Circle Project
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center 206
Womanly Moves: Identity, Masks, and Rebirth in West African Dance
Presenter: Heike Currie
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center LL 29
Dialogues and Multilogues
12:30 P.M. - 1:30 P.M.
Breaking Silences Around Heteropatriarchy and Gender Based Violence
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center LL31
PANELISTS:
Mariah Webber
We Don't Love These Hoes: Exploring Misogynoir and Black Male Patriarchy Through Sexual Double Standards
Itane' Coleman
To Be Black, Female, and Already Dead: Black Women, Discourses on Value, and Disposability
Eva Dickerson
New Imaginings for Justice: Gender-Based Violence and Policy Change in the fight against State-Sanctioned Violence
Kelisa Wing
Overcoming Obstacles, Pursuing Success
Shannon Murdoch, Panel Chair
Do Work: Practical Tools for the Prevention of Violence Against Women
12:30 - 1:30 P.M.
Outside the Medical and Mental Health Model: Reclaiming our Bodies, Community, Culture and Spirituality
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed.D. Academic Center LL27
PANELISTS:
Teisha Parchment
Reclaiming our Bodies, Community, Culture and Spirituality
Salaam Green
Mother, May I Heal: Body Healing Through the Lens of our Mothers
Karen Rose
Reclaiming the Medicine of our Ancestors
Danielle Knox and Alexis McKinney
Black Minds Matter: Psychological Costs of Activism in the age of Twitter
Lindsey Lunsford, Panel Chair
Motherhood of Medicine: Exposing the True Roots of Modern Gynecological Medicine
12:30 - 1:30 P.M.
Critical Perspectives on Prison, Prostitution and Poverty in the Lives of Black Women
PANELISTS:
Tiera Tanklsey
“They Steady Tryin, But They Can’t Break Us”: Critical Perspectives on Prison, Prostitution and Poverty in the Lives of Black Women
Keeona Harris
Everybody Survived, but Nobody Survived: A Black Feminist Ethnography on Motherhood and Mass Incarceration
Andrea J. Ritchie
Recognizing and Resisting Police Violence Against Black Women
Shannon Murdoch
Do Work: Practical Tools for the Prevention of Violence Against Women
12:30 - 1:30 P.M.
CONCURRENT TEACH-INS
12:30 - 1:30 P.M.
#JaggedJusticeL Connecting the Dots Between the Work I do and Who I am - After All, “Ain’t I a a Woman Too?”
Presenter(s): Women of Color Network
12:30 - 1:30 P.M.
Movement Work: How to Fight for Liberation without Hurting Others and Ourselves
Presenter(s): Ericka Dixon
12:30 - 1:30 P.M.
RePurpose, ReDefine and Re Align YOUR life
Presenter(s): Rasheena Perry
12:30 - 1:30 P.M.
SelfCare After a Fuhk Boi: The role of Liberation Theology and Healing from Trauma Through an Emotional Justice Lens
Presenter(s): Ain Ealey
12:30 - 1:30 P.M.
Empowerment and Healing Through Drumming
Presenter(s): M. Ndigo Washington
12:30 - 1:30 P.M.
Restoring Black Latina Bodies: Culturally Specific Healing for All Black Women
Presenter(s): Lori Robinson
12:30 - 1:30 P.M.
Poly 101: Releasing the Stigma
Presenter(s): Renair Amin
12:30 - 1:30 P.M.
Parenting for Liberation and Parenting Emerging Sons
Presenter(s): Trina Greene Brown, Move to End Violence
12:30 - 1:30 P.M.
Black women’s liberation, and the politics of individualism and collectivism in a postcolonial society
Presenter(s):Stephanie Croney, Nnennaya Amuchie
12:30 - 1:30 P.M.
Reimagining FatBlackFemme Futures
Presenter(s): Brienne Colston
12:30- 1:30 P.M.
Forever Underground: Unearthing the Historical and Structural Dimensions of Violence Prevention in Black Communities
Presenter(s): Farah Tanis
12:30 - 1:30 P.M.
Yoruba, Drumming and Girls Rites of Passage
Presenter(s): Heike
1:30 – 1:45 P.M BREAK
1:45 - 2:45 P.M.
CONCURRENT TEACH-INS
1:45 - 2:45 P.M.
From Recy Taylor to Latesha Clay: Racialized Implications of Current Discourse around Prostitution and the Commercial Sex Trade and the Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline
Presenter(s): Maheen Kaleem
1:45 - 2:45 P.M.
What's cooking in your "Chitlin' Circuit"?
Presenter(s): Michelle Meggs
1:45 - 2:45 P.M.
I Will Tell If You Don't: Sexual Harassment and HBCUs
Presenter(s): Taylor Matthews
1:45 - 2:45 P.M.
Name Your Chains & Set YOURSELF Free
Presenter(s): Ericka Totten
1:45 - 2:45 P.M.
Engaging Communities and Stakeholders to Ensure Access to Safe, Compassionate Care and Justice for all Survivors
Speakers: Georgia Coalition Against Sexual Assault
1:45 - 2:45 P.M.
Mammy, Jezebel and Everyone in Between: Rewriting Racial and Sexual Narratives
Presenter(s):Janesta Edmonds
1:45- 2:45 P.M.
Woman, Coalition, Blackness, and Capital: Lessons from the
Combahee River Collective
Presenter(s): Treva Ellison
1:45- 2:45 P.M.
Afro Futuro: Redefining Beauty in the Image of the Black Woman
Presenter(s): Shaina Simmons
1:45- 2:45 P.M.
Black Feminists Call In the Calling Out Culture
Presenter(s): Loretta Ross
1:45- 2:45 P.M.
Escaping the Crooked Room: Redefining Authentic Leadership
Presenter(s): Kalia Harris
1:45- 2:45 P.M.
A Black Feminist Investigative Praxis: Recovering 11,000 Forgotten Rape Kits
Presenter(s): Enough SAID: Enough Sexual Assault in Detroit
1:45 - 2:45 P.M.
Queering Radical Black Love
Presenter(s): Ericka Hart
1:45 - 2:45 P.M.
The Role of Vodun in Black Women’s Revolutions
Presenter(s): Sherley Accime
2:45 – 3:00 P.M BREAK
3:00 P.M Keynote Address
SPEAKER:
Neil Irvin, Executive Director, Men Can Stop Rape
3:20 P.M.
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6:30 - 9:30 P.M.
A Praise Song for Black Feminists Gala Reception.
The Floyd Room
Join Us in A Praise Song for Black Feminists We Honor The Contributors to Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought
The first major anthology to trace the development, from the early 1800s to the present, of black feminist thought in the United States, Words of Fire is Beverly Guy-Sheftall’s comprehensive collection of writings, in the feminist tradition, of more than sixty African American women. From the pioneering work of abolitionist Maria Miller Stewart and anti-lynching crusader Ida Wells-Barnett to the writings of contemporary feminist critics Michele Wallace and bell hooks, black women have been writing about the multiple jeopardies—racism, sexism, and classism—that have made it imperative for them to forge a brand of feminism uniquely their own.
Sunday, April 30, 2017
A Words of Fire Sunday: Gender, Counterdiscourse and Bringing All Women Into The Core
9:00 - 10:30 AM
Opening Plenary
Cis-Ta 2 Sistah: Building Solidarity and Cistahood between Transgender and Cisgender Women of Color
Speakers: Trans Sistas of Color Project/Detroit
10: 30 AM - 12:30 PM
Black Feminists in Deliberative Dialogue: 30 Honorees to Gather with Community
Facilitator: Yolande Tomlinson, Esq. USHRN, Praise Song Host Committee
Whether in moments of triumph or of despair, women across the African Diaspora have always understood when it is time to reach for our prophets and seers as well as our teachers and advisors. In this tremendous political moment, never has there been such a time to reach for Black feminist activists. We invite you to talk with us on Sunday, April 30, 2017, 10:30 am - 12:30pm in community, and with those of us seeking Black feminist wisdom and a sustainable mandate for truth, justice, healing, liberation and reconciliation so we can move brilliantly in the future. Sunday morning, we invite you to witness and participate in the Black Feminists Call and Response through womanist and Black feminist Sermonettes. This dialogue will remaster continued call to action for the liberation of Black women and girls through a sermonic deliberative dialogue. We will set a mandate and a revival for both our intellectual and movement work moving forward, as well as the the thought leadership and critical analysis that will set the tone for a new praxis of Black feminism re-membered. Words of Fire is the catalyst for this mandate which reflects not only our survivorship, but our lived contexts at the intersections of race, sex, gender, class, ritual, spirit, education, and sexuality. Survival is what Audre Lorde calls “a now that can breed futures/like bread in our children’s mouths/so their dreams will not reflect the death of ours.” Bear witness to this breakthrough live, in action at the Words of Fire Conference.
