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My
Thoughts on International Women's Day
By
Claire Carew
March 8th is International Women's
Day. All over the world women are celebrating our
accomplishments in various fields. We have come a long
way and yet we have a long way to ago. I grew up in the
era of the women's liberation movement. My mind has been
shaped by those who have struggled against oppression,
and who have survived triumphantly the worse forms of
brutality.
Those
of us who have studied the history of Africa and the
African Diaspora know of the ancient civilizations of
Africa, and also know that the slave captors grabbed the
strongest. Our African ancestors survived the barbaric
confines of the middle passage, and the brutality of
slavery because of their physical, mental and spiritual
strength. At least half of them had to be women. Their
resilience and ability to overcome slavery and climb the
hurdles of racism continue to inspire people of all
races and creeds today in 2010.
Through a multitude of teaching tools including watching
motivational speakers, my students are aware that they
can become successful in spite of any hardships they may
face. This year during African History Month, I had a
mini exhibition of several of my diplomas and degrees in
my classroom; in order to reinforce the truth that with
passion, persistence, and determination one can become
successful.
Yet not a day goes by when I do not think of the women
of my own family. Mother Carew my paternal grandmother,
the poet who gave gifts of her poetry to presidents and
market vendors. Nan Nan my maternal grandmother who
often opened the doors of her home to women who had
fallen on unfortunate circumstances. My sisters and
mother who today multi-task as professionals, mothers,
wives, and students to provide their children with the
best quality of life.
Let us all reflect on the women within our midst,
family, friends, and co- workers. May we all reach out
and give them a helping hand instead of admiring them
from afar. The struggle continues.
Happy International Women's Day!
March 8th, 2010
Claire Carew was born in Guyana and is
of African, Arawak and European ancestry. She began her visual
arts career over 25 years ago with a Bachelor of Arts from the
University of Guelph and studies at private art schools.
Carew also holds a Diploma in Education, a Visual Arts
Specialist from McGill University and has completed studies in
drama at the University of Toronto. Carew’s work has been
shown in Canada, Mexico and the United States. Her work is also
in private collections in Brussels, England, Guyana and Russia.
more bio
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About International Women's Day (8 March)
International
Women's Day has been observed since in the early 1900s,
a time of great expansion and turbulence in the
industrialized world that saw booming population growth
and the rise of radical ideologies.
1908
Great unrest and critical debate was occurring amongst
women. Women's oppression and inequality was spurring
women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for
change. Then in 1908, 15,000 women marched through New
York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting
rights.
1909
In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party
of America, the first National Woman's Day (NWD) was
observed across the United States on 28 February. Women
continued to celebrate NWD on the last Sunday of
February until 1913.
1910
In 1910 a second International Conference of Working
Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named
Clara Zetkin (Leader of
the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in
Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women's
Day. She proposed that every year in every country there
should be a celebration on the same day - a Women's
Day - to press for their demands. The conference of
over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions,
socialist parties, working women's clubs, and including
the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament,
greeted Zetkin's suggestion with unanimous approval and
thus International Women's Day was the result.
1911
Following the decision agreed at Copenhagen in 1911,
International Women's Day (IWD) was honoured the
first time in Austria,
Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on 19 March. More than
one million women and men attended IWD rallies
campaigning for women's rights to work, vote, be
trained, to hold public office and end discrimination.
However less than a week later on 25 March, the tragic
'Triangle Fire' in New York City took the lives of more
than 140 working women, most of them Italian and Jewish
immigrants. This disastrous event drew significant
attention to working conditions and labour legislation
in the United States that became a focus of subsequent
International Women's Day events. 1911 also saw women's
'Bread
and Roses' campaign.
1913-1914
On the eve of World War I campaigning for peace, Russian
women observed their first International Women's Day on
the last Sunday in February 1913. In 1913 following
discussions, International Women's Day was transferred
to 8 March and this day has remained the global date for
International Women's Day ever since. In 1914 further
women across Europe held rallies to campaign against the
war and to express women's solidarity.
1917
On the last Sunday of February, Russian women began a
strike for "bread and peace" in response to the death of
over 2 million Russian soldiers in war. Opposed by
political leaders the women continued to strike until
four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the
provisional Government granted women the right to vote.
The date the women's strike commenced was Sunday 23
February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia.
This day on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere was
8 March.
1918 -
1999
Since its birth in the socialist movement, International
Women's Day has grown to become a global day of
recognition and celebration across developed and
developing countries alike. For decades, IWD has grown
from strength to strength annually. For many years the
United Nations has held an annual IWD conference to
coordinate international efforts for women's rights and
participation in social, political and economic
processes. 1975 was designated as 'International
Women's Year' by the United Nations. Women's
organisations and governments around the world have also
observed IWD annually on 8 March by holding large-scale
events that honour women's advancement and while
diligently reminding of the continued vigilance and
action required to ensure that women's equality is
gained and maintained in all aspects of life.
2000 and
beyond
IWD is now an official holiday in China, Armenia,
Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan,
Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. The tradition sees men
honouring their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues,
etc with flowers and small gifts. In some countries IWD
has the equivalent status of Mother's Day where children
give small presents to their mothers and grandmothers.
The new
millennium has witnessed a significant change and
attitudinal shift in both women's and society's thoughts
about women's equality and emancipation. Many from a
younger generation feel that "all the battles have been
won for women" while many feminists from the 1970s know
only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of
patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater
equality in legislative rights, and an increased
critical mass of women's visibility as impressive role
models in every aspect of life, one could think that
women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is
that women are still not paid equally to that of their
male counterparts, women still are not present in equal
numbers in business or politics, and globally women's
education, health and the violence against them is worse
than that of men.
However,
great improvements have been made. We do have female
astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are
welcomed into university, women can work and have a
family, women have real choices. And so the tone and
nature of IWD has, for the past few years, moved from
being a reminder about the negatives to a celebration of
the positives.
Annually
on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the
world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. A
global web of rich and diverse local activity connects
women from all around the world ranging from political
rallies, business conferences, government activities and
networking events through to local women's craft
markets, theatric performances, fashion parades and
more.
Many
global corporations have also started to more actively
support IWD by running their own internal events and
through supporting external ones. For example, on 8
March search engine and media giant Google some years
even changes its logo on its global search pages. Year
on year IWD is certainly increasing in status. The
United States even designates the whole month of March
as 'Women's History Month'.
So make
a difference, think globally and act locally !! Make
everyday International Women's Day. Do your bit to
ensure that the future for girls is bright, equal, safe
and rewarding.
Source:
International Womens Day.com
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Women of the Underground Railroad
Abby Kelley Foster
This "fiery little
Irish Quaker" became a speaker for the anti-slavery
cause. A teacher in Lynn, Massachusetts, Abby Kelley
heard William Lloyd Garrison speak. She then began
meeting other local people involved in the abolitionist
cause. She joined the Female Anti-Slavery Society in
Lynn and started raising money and taking petitions door
to door for the group.
At that time women were discouraged from speaking in
public to groups of men and women. When Kelley dared to
do so at a meeting in Philadelphia, she was shouted at
and booed. Prominent abolitionist Theodore Weld
appreciated her courage and her competence, inviting her
to join the speaking circuit. She did so in 1839 and
promptly sparked a division between the American
Anti-Slavery Society led by Garrison and the American
and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society led by Lewis Tappan.
Foster traveled throughout New England, appearing with
Frederick Douglass and other famous abolitionists. In
1845 she began publishing an antislavery newspaper, the
Anti-Slavery Bugle, to provide news of the movement to
people in Ohio. She married fellow abolitionist Stephen
Foster in 1845. They continued to work against slavery
and may have harbored fugitive slaves in their
Worcester, Massachusetts, home.
Harriet Ann
Jacobs
Harriet Ann Jacobs
was born a slave in 1813 and eventually sent to live
with the Norcom family of Edenton, North Carolina. After
years of being mistreated and assaulted by her owner,
she ran away. She found a hiding place in a tiny space
above the shed next to her free grandmother's house.
Harriet later wrote of her sanctuary: "Between these
boards and the roof was a very small garret... [T]he
garret was only nine feet long... the highest part three
feet high... To this hole I was conveyed...[T]he air was
stifling; the darkness total... The rats and mice ran
over my bed."
She stayed there, friends slipping her food and drink,
for almost seven years. As she wrote: "I lived in that
dismal hole, almost deprived of light and air, with no
space to move my limbs, for nearly seven years... Yet I
would have chosen this, rather than my lot as a slave."
Harriet made a tiny hole that let her look into the
street, and in 1845 she finally escaped, smuggled on a
ship that sailed to New York.
Years later in 1861, she wrote Incidents in the Life of
a Slave Girl using the pen name of Linda Brent. In it,
she told the story of her long hiding and eventual
freedom.
Harriet Tubman (1815–1913)
Born a slave in
Maryland, Harriet Tubman knew first-hand what it meant
to be someone’s property; she was whipped by her owners
and nearly killed by an overseer. She first heard about
the Underground Railroad from other field-hands and
later traveled it by herself north to Philadelphia.
Harriet Tubman was known as Moses to her people. An
escaped slave herself, she led hundreds of slaves to
freedom. She “acted as intelligence gatherer, refugee
organizer, raid leader, nurse and fundraiser.”
Throughout her long life (she died at the age of
ninety-two) and long after the Civil War brought an end
to slavery, this amazing woman was proof of what just
one person can do.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911)
This poet and
lecturer was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to free
African American parents. After moving first to Ohio and
then to Pennsylvania, she learned about the Underground
Railroad and started writing about it in her poetry. As
she became more interested in the process of helping
enslaved people find freedom, she offered her help in
terms of food, money and clothing. She also helped the
cause by giving lectures on the importance of abolishing
slavery and promoting education.
One of her poems, "A Mother's Heroism," memorialized
Elijah P. Lovejoy, an abolitionist newspaper editor
murdered by a mob in Alton, Illinois, in 1837.
Among her books are Poems On Miscellaneous Subjects,
(1857), Sketches of Southern Life (1872) and
Moses: A Story of the Nile (1869).
Harper's novel, Iola Leroy (dealing with complex issues
of race, class, and politics in the United States), is
one of the earliest novels published by an African
American woman.
Ellen Craft
In 1848, Ellen, the
child of a slave and her owner, disguised herself as a
man traveling with his slave, who actually was William,
her husband. She was light-skinned and could "pass" as a
white person. Cleverly, they even figured a way to avoid
having Ellen sign her name, since she couldn't read or
write. She pretended to have broken her arm, so when
they registered at a hotel, the hotel keeper signed for
her.
Their 1,000-mile trip from Macon, Georgia, to Boston was
full of danger and several times they narrowly missed
being discovered. After the Fugitive Slave Law was
passed, they left the United States for Canada and from
there went to England.
Facebook
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Capitalism and the Ideal State:
Marcus Garvey / Negroes and the Crisis of Capitalism
(Du Bois) /
Economic Emancipation of
Africa
Liberty and Empire
/
Money is Speech
/
On Capitalism:
Noam Chomsky
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1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus
Created
By Charles C. Mann
I’m
a big fan of Charles Mann’s previous
book
1491:
New Revelations of the Americas Before
Columbus, in which he
provides a sweeping and provocative
examination of North and South America
prior to the arrival of Christopher
Columbus. It’s exhaustively researched
but so wonderfully written that it’s
anything but exhausting to read. With
his follow-up,
1493, Mann has taken it to a
new, truly global level. Building on the
groundbreaking work of Alfred Crosby
(author of
The Columbian Exchange and, I’m
proud to say, a fellow Nantucketer),
Mann has written nothing less than the
story of our world: how a planet of what
were once several autonomous continents
is quickly becoming a single,
“globalized” entity.
Mann not only talked to countless
scientists and researchers; he visited
the places he writes about, and as a
consequence, the book has a marvelously
wide-ranging yet personal feel as we
follow Mann from one far-flung corner of
the world to the next. And always, the
prose is masterful. In telling the
improbable story of how Spanish and
Chinese cultures collided in the
Philippines in the sixteenth century, he
takes us to the island of Mindoro whose
“southern coast consists of a number of
small bays, one next to another like
tooth marks in an apple.” We learn how
the spread of malaria, the potato,
tobacco, guano, rubber plants, and sugar
cane have disrupted and convulsed the
planet and will continue to do so until
we are finally living on one integrated
or at least close-to-integrated Earth.
Whether or not the human instigators of
all this remarkable change will survive
the process they helped to initiate more
than five hundred years ago remains,
Mann suggests in this monumental and
revelatory book, an open question. |
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The Warmth of Other Suns
The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
By Isabel Wilkerson
Ida Mae Brandon Gladney, a sharecropper's
wife, left Mississippi for Milwaukee in
1937, after her cousin was falsely accused
of stealing a white man's turkeys and was
almost beaten to death. In 1945, George
Swanson Starling, a citrus picker, fled
Florida for Harlem after learning of the
grove owners' plans to give him a "necktie
party" (a lynching). Robert Joseph Pershing
Foster made his trek from Louisiana to
California in 1953, embittered by "the
absurdity that he was doing surgery for the
United States Army and couldn't operate in
his own home town." Anchored to these three
stories is Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist
Wilkerson's magnificent, extensively
researched study of the "great migration,"
the exodus of six million black Southerners
out of the terror of Jim Crow to an
"uncertain existence" in the North and
Midwest. Wilkerson deftly incorporates
sociological and historical studies into the
novelistic narratives of Gladney, Starling,
and Pershing settling in new lands, building
anew, and often finding that they have not
left racism behind. The drama, poignancy,
and romance of a classic immigrant saga
pervade this book, hold the reader in its
grasp, and resonate long after the reading
is done. |
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The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
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Ancient African Nations
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If you like this page consider making a donation
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Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
1950
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1965
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2000
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Enjoy!
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The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
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The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
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Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
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The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
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