Listen to this week’s episode of COVID, Race, & Democracy from Pacifica Radio:
“Women’s history is a women’s right—an essential, indispensable heritage from which we can draw pride, comfort, courage, and long-range vision.”— Gerda Lerner
Poem: Cicely Tyson, “Ain’t I A Woman”
“Ain’t I a Woman?” speech was delivered extemporaneously by abolitionist Sojourner Truth at the Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1851. She was born in 1797 into captivity in New York State. Sojourner Truth fought and gained her freedom in 1827. Her speech did not have a title until 1863. Sojourner Truth became an ancestor in 1883.
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The origins of Women’s History Month began in 1978, Santa Rosa, California, when the Education Task Force of Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women planned a “Women’s History Week ” celebration during the week of March 8 to correspond with International Women’s Day.
Led by a local teacher, Molly Murphy McGregor, the weeklong celebration highlighted women’s contributions to American history, culture, and society through presentations at dozens of schools throughout Sonoma County, California.
Hundreds of students participated in an essay contest honoring local women, and the organization hosted a parade in downtown Santa Rosa. In February 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued a presidential proclamation declaring the week of March 2–8, 1980, as National Women’s History Week, due to an effort led by Gerda Lerner, Women’s Action Alliance, and others.
In this episode of COVID, Race, and Democracy we share the stories and struggles of women who have played a vital role in changing our society.
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Councilwoman Janeese Lewis George spoke out at a recent March 18th Hands off D.C. rally against the Republican Senate that led and passed a resolution to block a Washington, DC, crime bill. President Biden did not veto the bill, angering some party members who have stated that the district’s elected leaders have a right to govern without congressional interference. Ninety percent of D.C.’s residents voted for Mr. Biden.
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A large coalition of the left rallied in front of the White House to oppose the U.S. proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and mark the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Invasion of Iraq. Esther Iverem, producer and host of On The Ground, Voices of Resistance from the nation’s capital, spoke to the 2016 Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein.
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Women are on the front lines in the fight to protect public education and fight systemic racism. Teachers who are members of the Oakland Education Association walked out on Friday March 24, 2023 in a wildcat strike and rallied to defend their wages and school conditions for themselves and their students. A grandmother also talked about her fight against privatization. Pacifica’s Steve Zeltzer was at their action.
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Cultural anthropologist and documentarian, Dr. Sheila S. Walker has done fieldwork, lectured, and participated in intellectual and cultural events throughout the African Diaspora. Her goal is to educate the public about this diaspora.
Walker’s book, African Roots/American Cultures: Africa in the Creation of the Americas, resulting from her international conference on “The African Diaspora and the Modern World,” has a companion documentary, Scattered Africa: Faces and Voices of the African Diaspora. She spoke to Fahima Seck, co-host of WPFW’s What’s at Stake.
Dr. Walker was the Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for African and African American Studies, and held an endowed chair in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin, and was a Distinguished Visiting Professor, Professor of Anthropology, and Director of the African Diaspora and the World Program at Spelman College. She co-produced the documentary, Slave Routes: A Global Vision for the UNESCO Slave Route Project. And her Dr. Walker’s most recent documentary is Familiar Faces/Unexpected Places: A Global African Diaspora, which was shown at the United Nations as the 2018 Black History Month program for the UN International Decade for People of African Descent.
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In 1983 Wilma Mankiller became the first woman Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. There-by becoming the first woman to serve as a Chief of an Indigenous Nation in the United States. Under the Indian Relocation Act, Wilma’s family relocated to San Francisco in 1957. She became deeply committed to indigenous activism and joined the Occupation of Alcatraz in 1969. She also worked with the Black Panther Party’s food program for elders and children. Here is Wilma talking to a group of scientists and other people at NASA in 1988.
Wilma Mankiller has been given many high honors and awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998. In her memoir, “Mankiller: A Chief and Her People,” she wrote “I want to be remembered as the person who helped indigenous people restore faith in themselves.” Wilma joined the ancestors in 2010.
And that concludes today’s edition of Covid, Race & Democracy. We thank all of Pacifica’s sister stations and affiliates who contribute to the production of this show. Today’s program was produced by Akua Holt, Polina Vasiliev, Steve Zeltzer, and with contributions from co-producers Ester Iverim, Fahima Seck, Ali Abdel-Qader, and Jacquelyn Baptiste.
Thanks for listening!
Music:
Hugh Masekela Women of the Sun
Sweet Honey Give the People the Right to Vote
Sweet Honey in the Rock Women Should Be A Priority
Sweet Honey Give the People the Right to Vote
Joy Harjo, “Mankiller Honor Song”
