Newspaper Page Text
Volume XLIV No
www.spelmanspotlight.com
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
ov
'7.:.
B- '
14
THH
‘Purlie’ takes
center stage
Spelman students put their
on famous Ozzie Davis
Broadway play, “Purlie
jj
Edwards named
Morehouse SGA Ovarian cancer
President
After a long battle to the fin- C3USe Of COnCBITI
ish line, the results are in. f .. .
for black women
Toni Cade Bambara conference promotes activism
BREAKING NEWS:
MISS SPELMAN--
WHAT WENT
WRONG?
Who should wear the crown?
The latest information about the
Miss Spelman fiasco.
P3
Spelman College Jazz Ensemble
showcases their vocal talent at
their annual Spring Concert.
P6
aay lerps make
NCAA history in
2006 Women’s
Championship
Morehouse
crowns Mate
Spelman junior Eniola Mafe is
crowned Miss Maroon and
White 2006-2007
P4
Spelman students pose at Sixth Annual Toni Cade Bambara Scholar-Activism Conference
Nicole Barden
Staff Writer
March 24-26, 2006,
Spelman hosted the 6th
Annual Toni Cade Bambara
Scholar- Activism Conference
to promote activism among
students. The event was spon
sored by the Comparative
Women’s Studies Department
and The Toni Cade Bambara
Collective, a coalition of stu
dents who organized and led
the conference. This year’s
theme was centered on cele
brating previous and current
Spelman activists, as well as
community leaders.
The opening celebration
featured poetry, dance and
music, in the lobby of Cosby
Academic Center.
Performances were aimed at
promoting activism and
uplifting Bambara’s legacy.
Bambara was an author,
professor, filmmaker and
social activist who is generally
recognized for publishing the
first major feminist anthology,
The Black Woman, a collec
tion of essays, short stories,
and poems that was first pub
lished in 1970.
Featured contrib
utors include Nikki
Giovanni, Audre
Lorde, Alice Walker,
and Bambara herself,
among others.
It filled a void in
literature about black
women’s history
authored by black
female writers. S?
C
Bambara died in m
1995 of colon can- -§
-C
cer. °-
Bambara’s only
child, Karma, was
also in attendance for the
opening ceremony. For her,
watching people honor her
mother was a wonderful expe
rience.
“I always knew her as a
mother. To see what she
meant to other people amazes
me,” said Bambara. “She
meant so much to so many
people.”
On Saturday, people came
in large numbers to view panel
presentations, participate in
discussion forums, and attend
interactive workshops.
Panelists presented papers
centered around black
women’s struggles and oppres
sion.
Workshops also ran simul
taneously in the afternoon,
including a showing of
Bambara’s film “Bombing of
Osage Avenue,” a documen
tary about the police bomb
ing of the black, radical
organization MOVE in
Philadelphia, which killed 11
people including 5 children.
The film earned Bambara
an Academy Award for Best
Documentary.
The day concluded with a
viewing of “Sisters on the
Sojourn,” an award-winning
documentary by Spelman
alumnae. The film explored
the Nelly controversy as well
as activism on Spelman’s cam
pus. The visibility of progres
sive student organizations on
campus was also addressed.
There was also a discussion
in which President Dr. Beverly
Daniel Tatum took center
stage. When she asked how
the school could better sup
port students, holding the
administration accountable
and defending students’ rights
were the main ideas expressed.
“I think fostering a radical
see Bambara on Pg 2 »>
Abortion rights ignite Spelman discussion
As we saw in
the ’70s, when
they [didn’t]
have financial
means, they
[took] desper
ate measures.
We need to take
a stand or we
will let people
dictate our bod
ies,” said senior
Ayana Boswell. _§|
To advertise ;||
the event on
campus, FMLA |
attached photo- Morehouse student Mihiyar Alfinaidy speaks at the
graphs on hang-®P elman SGA Week event sponsored by the FMLA.
Kibkabe Araya
Staff Writer
On March 28, 2006, “Back
to the Hangers,” an event
sponsored by the Spelman
Feminist Majority Leadership
Alliance, focused on the prob
ability of women reverting to
illegal, unsafe abortions if the
reproductive rights granted
from 1973's Roe vs. Wade
Supreme Court decision were
to be taken away.
A panel discussion explored
the history of how reproduc
tive justice for women was
gained in the United States,
and the possibility of having
to deal with issues of the past
if the right to abortion is
reversed.
The panel included: Brenda
Dalton, director of health
services; Dr. Patricia
McFadden, Endowed Cosby
Chair in the Social Sciences;
Alisha Thomas Morgan,
Georgia State Representative;
Spelman alumna Becky Rafter,
executive director of NARAL
Pro-Choice Georgia; and
Malika Redmond, c' 2002, co
founder of Spelman’s FMLA.
Abortion is defined as the
termination of pregnancy, and
expulsion of an embryo or
fetus that is incapable of sur
vival. An induced abortion is a
deliberate termination of preg
nancy by the administration
of drugs or mechanical means.
“As a women’s college, espe
cially a black women’s college,
this issue hits us the hardest.
ers, of a young woman discov
ered dead in 1964 after giving
herself an abortion. The
image supported the fact that
many women in the past have
died from illegal abortions,
which has remained a hidden
see Back to hangers on Pg 2 »>