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Spelman Spotlight, Atlanta, GA
March 4,1993
CAMPUS NEWS
Forum Raises The Issue
Of Sisters In The Struggle
By Regina Gaskins-Joyner
AST Sisterhood sponsored a forum
Feb. 23 entitled "Sisters in the
Struggle" in the LLC-II auditorium.
Five panelists covered such topic as
"Sisters in the 19th Century,"
"Women Warriors in the AUC,"
"What We Should Do Now, New
Womanism," "The Depression of the
70s," and "Personal Struggles."
The forum began ceremoniously
with libations in honor of African and
African American ancestors. During
libations many well known names
were called out from the audience
including Sojourner Truth, Harriet
Tubman, and Ida B. Wells; however,
students did not name figures in their
own family legacies. The woman
performing libations noticed the
occurrence and remarked that we
often choose prominent historical
figures to look up to when we can
look around us or in our own
families.
One of the panelists, Spelman
history professor Dr. Tiffany
Patterson, gave an account of her
personal history in the struggle
against oppression and sexism. She
recalled being an activist as early as
age 13 and going on to graduate
school only to find out that she had to
work twice as hard as everyone else
because of her race and gender.
"Women could not compete
intellectually but could compete in
bed" in the eyes of men, she said.
Nevertheless, Dr. Patterson recalled
how she proved them wrong
graduating with the highest grade point
average (4.0) in her graduate program.
She noted that surviving meant being
willing to "pay the price" and
sometimes that involved being alone
and risking one’s health. This
statement was one of many spoken by
the panelists. They also spoke about
courageous sisters struggling and
surviving stress for the sake of self-
determination as blacks and as women.
Dorothy Naime, a professor at
Clark-Atlanta University, briefly
discussed courageous sisters in the
19th century who struggled for self-
determination and equality. Many of
the names she mentioned were not
ones we would normally be able to
find in history books. She described
such women as Mary C. Coy who
travelled extensively as a writer, nurse,
and gold processor; Susie King Taylor
who organized the first night school
for adults; and Lucy Terry who fought
for land rights.
Msinghi, one of the 23 founders of
AST, also gave a lesson on courageous
sisters. Her talk hit very close to
home. She gave accounts of women
warriors of the five historically black
colleges in the AUC during the Civil
Rights Movement of the 1960s.
According to Msinghi, the first sit-ins
began right here in the AUC with
women like Carolyn Long, Mary A.
Smith and Herschell Sullivan of Clark,
Morris Brown and Spelman colleges
respectively.
"On March 15, 1960 Sullivan and
Rose Ann Pope drafted ‘An Appeal to
Human Rights,’" she said. It was a
Declaration of Liberation.
These women convinced Dr. Martin
L. King, Jr. to participate in the sit-ins
although he was on probation for other
arrests. Women organized sit-ins and
were among the 77 women arrested in
the movement.
"Women were beaten inside the jail
as well as outside," Msinghi said.
Given such possibilities these
women sought out the help of faculty
members such as Dr. Lois Moreland,
Professor of Political Science here at
Spelman. Dr. Moreland advised the
women on their legal rights in case of
arrest.
Msinghi reiterated the point that
few texts present the work of Black
women but to counter this "we have to
find evidence of these women playing
a major part in the struggle."
To another panelist, Animata
Umoja, a teacher in Atlanta Public
Schools and member of the New
African Peoples Movement, sisters in
the struggle did more than just change
their names and wear African garb.
"Black women were active in the
fight for self-determination,." Umoja
said. "We must govern ourselves.
That’s self-determination."
Umoja emphasized the need for us
to continue to resist imperialism and
sexual oppression. Her talk took a
militant turn. She argued for land and
independence, control of human
resources, and a new African nation,
instead of the "blood-sucking concept
of imperialism." Umoja noted,
however, that we cannot fight
imperialism until we fight sexist
oppression - the subjugation of women
by men as the American way of
patriarchy.
The audience, predominantly
female, became aroused and vocal
during her talk clapping and shouting
in approval. The panelist defined
of a womanist theory by women and
men. She said she prefers the new
"womanist" term as opposed to the
"feminist" one coined by many white
women during the Women’s
Movement of the 60s.
The forum took somewhat of a
curious turn as panelists shared
differing opinions concerning the
necessity of theory and the use of the
word "feminism."
Dr. Patterson explained that
instead of doing away with the terms
used to describe women, we must
redefine them.
Panelist Njere Alghanee, Program
Director of the Georgia Hunger
Coalition, argued that we must not get
bogged down on defining terms and
having word wars. She further
acknowledged the need for us to put
our ideas into action.
"Now we must learn from the
mistakes of the 60s and 70s... we
must begin to pull all people in our
communities together including the
homeless, the poor, and the
uneducated," she said. According
to Alghanee, we fall victim many
times to studying too much and not
putting principles into action for the
masses of people. Her statement
subsequently received loud claps from
the audience.
Dr. Patterson interjected stating the
importance of theory in our
community. She noted that we must
understand what capitalism is and its
role in our lives in order to fight
sexism as it relates to the Black
community.
"Sexism is when men grab, choke,
hit, loud talk, throw things at Black
women...when they adopt a belittling
tone and the idea that a man is just
being a man...when they take the role
of teacher," Umoja said.
She also noted a "contradiction in
terms" when the wives are doing most
of work at home and not able to
develop as individuals; instead, they
are urged to stay home and have
babies. Umoja called for the adoption
against it.
For a moment the program turned
into a ‘struggle’ in itself as panelists
shared their personal feelings on the
two issues. Many students felt the
degree of tension involved when it
comes to defining terms such a
feminism and holding theory at high
esteem.
The forum ended in prayer and in
respect to ancestors.
SSGA Sponsors
Black History
Quiz Bowl
By LaNae Dora
Local News Editor
As the closing event in its
Black Herstory Week celebration,
the Spelman Student Government
Association on Feb. 26 sponsored
a Black History Month Quiz
Bowl at Peyton Forest Elementary
School.
In game show fashion, the
children were asked questions
such as, "When were the first
slaves brought to America?" and
"Who founded the Tuskegee
Institute and became the first
president of that college?" The
contestants then buzzed in giving
their answers. Correct responses
were awarded five points each.
In the first round, three teams
of fourth graders faced each
other, and three teams of fifth
graders competed during the
second round. The winning team
from each grade - the fourth
grade Quiz Crushers and the fifth
grade Quiz Masters - battled for
the last five questions as their
classmates cheered them on.
The Quiz Crushers won the
game with a score of 20 to 5. The
fourth grade class was awarded a
pizza party from the SSGA. All
of the participants were awarded
squeeze bottles.
The event was the beginning
of a relationship between Peyton
Forest and Spelman College, said
SSGA President Germayne Crow.
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