Racial Justice Quarterly Meeting (Online)

Category: Boston’s Inspirational Black Women Leaders
Question: In 1783, she was the first enslaved African American woman to successfully sue for her freedom (*find the answer below)

In honor of Women’s History month join members of the RJI community as we salute the exceptional Black women who have proven to be the leaders of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Learn about headliners such as Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, and less famous but equally important women like Elizabeth Freeman who true to her name was the first enslaved African American in the nation to successfully sue for her freedom. Come hear how fellow congregants Ed Gaskin with the assistance of Carol Clingan convinced the Kraft Family Foundation to underwrite a campaign to create 100 banners that will be displayed throughout the Grove Hall neighborhood featuring the portrayals of historic and contemporary Black women of Boston. This is your opportunity to engage in an enlightening conversation about the women who broke the “color barrier” right here in our own backyard: Gwen Iffel, the first African American to host the Washington Week in Review; and Mary Eliza Mahoney, the first formally trained African American nurse to graduate from the New England Hospital for Women or as it is now known, The Dimock Center. We promise you a stimulating evening learning the stories of these and other inspirational women of color.

Guiding our exploration of inspirational Black Women Leaders will be L’Merchie Frazier who currently serves as the Director of Education and Interpretation at the Museum of African American History, Boston/Nantucket. A visual and performance artist/educator/consultant, Frazier’s quilt exhibition, “The Scene/Seen” is currently featured at The SPOKE Gallery in South Boston. Click here to read the Boston Globe review.

*Answer: Who was Elizabeth Freeman?

Registration: This event will take place through a video conference call. Pre-registration is required. Please click the registration button above to pre-register. Once you have registered, your unique access link will be emailed to you. For classes that meet for multiple sessions, you only need to register once. You will be able to use the same Zoom link to access each session of the class. If you’re new to Zoom, watch a tutorial or read written instructions on how to join a Zoom video call.