In 1951, the Sojourners for Truth and Justice wrote ‘A Call to Negro Women’ to protest the violence, racism, and sexism that Black women experience. Around 130 Black women joined them in Washington, DC to demand justice, safety, and freedom. In this zine, Ashley Farmer and I write essays about the significance of the Sojourners for Truth and Justice in the development of Black feminism and the legacy of Black women freedom fighters. The zine was designed by Jordan De Loach. The zine can be viewed online here.
For those who want to download the zine and share it with others, I only ask that you make sure to credit me for it. You can access it for downloading here. If you want to read the original Call to Negro Women, you can here.
When I first listened to the audio stories that are part of “Two Sides of Justice” a couple of years ago, I could not get them out of my head. The pain of the losses suffered and the grief that I heard expressed lingered. But I was also struck by the resilience that was clearly evident though I should not have been. I’ve worked alongside people who have been victimized by violence and who have perpetrated violent acts for over 25 years. Their stories are complex and nuanced.
I had been in community with both Kathryn Bocanegra and Grant Buhr and am a great admirer of their work. I asked them for permission to create a curriculum resource so that these stories could be engaged and used by more people in their organizing and in their communities. They gave the green light and I reached out to a teacher-friend and long-time Project NIA volunteer, Santera Matthews to develop a curriculum based on the audio stories.
This work is part of the Building Accountable Communities Project (BAC) spearheaded by Project NIA. The BAC Project promotes non-punitive responses to harm by developing resources for transformative justice practitioners and by organizing convenings and workshops that educate the public. Partners of the BAC Project include the Barnard Center on Research for Women (BCRW) and Interrupting Criminalization: Research in Action (ICRIA).
I hope that you find this resource useful in your work. I thank Kathryn and Grant for producing the audio stories. Thanks also to Santera for her work, to Claire Schwartz for editing, and to Rachel Hoffman for designing this resource.
In peace and solidarity,
MK
Download the curriculum resource here. You can also access it here: https://tinyurl.com/TwoSidesJustice.
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