Clubs Celebrate Women of Color Empowerment Day

How many deaf women of color can you name? Or congresswomen of color? Poets? Journalists? Artists? 

Some of these may be hard to answer, which is why on April 5, the Fahari Libertad and New Paltz chapter of NYPIRG hosted the Women’s History Empowerment Fair in Sojourner Truth Library, specifically on highlighting women of color. 

“I figured it was really important for us to center a conversation around women of color and to include a diversity of different clubs to join this project,” said NYPIRG co-president Taliyah Lowe. 

Though led by NYPIRG and Fahari-Libertad, multiple clubs on campus participated in the fair. These included In Living Color, the ASL Club, the African Women’s Alliance, the Men of Color Club and Qomunidad. Each club set up its booth with a presentation and activities for attendees to highlight a woman of color of their choosing. 

In Living Color highlighted Jackie Shane, a transgender Black singer prominent in the jazz scene of the 60s and 70s. With the support of her mother, Shane expressed herself as a woman and played with the gender ambiguity of the R&B music scene. While on the road with a traveling circus, Shane chose to move from her birthplace of Nashville to Toronto, feeling discontent with her experience in Tennessee. In 2019, Shane was nominated for the Best Historical Album Grammy for the compilation of her unreleased music titled “Any Other Way.”

“I think it’s very important to look back and see that not hidden away but openly being herself, she was there, and there’s people like her that were,” said Sophia Gonzalez on why In Living Color chose to represent Shane. “There’s always gonna be people like her from the past that are experiencing similar things that people are experiencing now as a trans person.”

Allyson Strobel and Sania Abraham represented the ASL Club and spoke about various women of color in the Deaf community. The women whom they highlighted were Dr. Natalie Marbury, the first Black deaf woman to earn a doctorate in deaf studies, ASL poet Michelle Banks and Haben Grima, the first deafblind person to graduate from Harvard Law School. Along with their presentation, the club had coloring pages with the sign for “I love you,” which attendees could color and fill with names of inspirational women or quotes of empowerment. 

“I think that the Deaf community should have more awareness within society because not many people know ASL,” Abraham said. “Promoting a new language is very beneficial and highlighting people of color and women within the Deaf community is important because we’re creating awareness of individuals who made differences within this community.” 

Lowe represented NYPIRG and encouraged attendees to make zines answering the questions: “What campaign would you run on if you were pursuing office?” “What slogan would you use?” and “What issues do you care about?” Lowe presented on women historically underrepresented in congress. 

“Although more women than men vote, and although representation of women in Congress is at an all-time high, men still win the majority of elections,” Lowe said. “This year, Congress is making history. For the first time, two Black women are serving concurrently in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. Two states and one U.S. territory elected their first Black, Hispanic or Pacific Islander woman lawmaker.” 

Lowe also highlighted Shirley Chishholm, who in 1968 became the first Black woman to be elected to Congress and later became the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. 

Kimberly Cadogen and Keyanna Pemberton of the African Women’s Alliance presented on Melba Pattillo Beals, the least spoken-on member of the Little Rock Nine. After the Civil Rights Movement, Beals became a renowned journalist and authored “Warriors Don’t Cry,” her account of the Central High School integration experience. 

“I didn’t really see a lot of stuff on her. I thought it would be important to highlight her because she isn’t highlighted as much as her other members are,” said Cadogen.

The Men of Color Club, with members Elijah London, Azmir Mondesir, Elijah Charles and Djepi M Poincy, promoted the recently published workbook for young adults “A PLAN FOR MY FUTURE” by Black author Angel M. London-Winchester. 

Qomunidad, represented by Lukas Cortes, with the help of professor Marcela Romero-Rivera, highlighted transgender Argentine writer Camila Sosa Villada. 

Fahari Libertad had members John Leon, Mary Jacobo, Joss Wilson and president Diego Perez representing. They included a poem Mad Lib activity for attendees to fill out, inspired by the works of self-described “Black, lesbian, feminist, socialist, mother, warrior, poet” Audre Lorde. 

“I think she was an important figure, especially as a black woman in history, and we just wanted to highlight some important people that really changed the movement for poetry,” said Leon. 

Perez spoke about the significance of these events that uplift the accomplishments of women of color. “Having a space where it’s their space and you’re celebrating them and their accomplishments is really important, not just because those accomplishments are important, but because that’s inspiring. I have a little sister, and she’s Black, also. I want her to grow up in a world where those spaces are there for her.”