Hey Panthers!
Win the Week Panthers!
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The 2022 Legally Black: Black Law School Summit aims to increase diversity within the legal field. The event will include invited speakers and panelists ready to continue advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession.
Topics include: promoting diversity in law schools and law offices, retaining and developing Black lawyers, and advancing social justice.
Hosted by the Multicultural Center and GSU College of Law.
For more information, please contact Dagem Araya at daraya1@gsu.edu
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As a part of our Community Connections (C2) Womxn of Color Mentoring Initiative, this week, we highlight Golden Globe Award-winning actress Tracee Ellis Ross (b. October 29, 1972) as our #WomxnChangingTheWorld!
Tracee Joy Silberstein, known professionally as Tracee Ellis Ross, is widely known for portraying Joan Clayton on Girlfriends as well as Dr. Rainbow Johnson on Black-ish. In 2018, Ross launched Pattern Beauty a line of hair care products meant to cater to those with curly and coily hair. Ross also uses the beauty line to promote and support organizations that empower Black communities. In 2021, TIME magazine listed her as one of the ‘100 Most Influential People of 2021’ with a feature written by curator Thelma Golden. Golden describes Ross as someone who “walks through life informed by a sense of purpose while embodying passion, warmth, boundless creativity and an incredible sense of humor.” Ross consistently uses her various platforms to encourage Black women to find their voice and advocate for themselves as well as remind them that there is an entire community supporting them despite what the system may want us to believe.
🌎 Culture & Identity: Tracee Ellis Ross was born in Los Angeles, California to renowned singer Diana Ross and music executive Robert Ellis Silberstein. Her father is Jewish and her mother is African American and a Baptist.
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This week in our Social Justice Corner we are highlighting voting and women's rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer!
Identity: Fannie Lou Hamer (October 6, 1917 - March 14,1977) is an African American woman known for her role as a leader in the civil rights movement, as well as the numerous political and social organizations that she founded.
Life: Hamer was born in Montgomery County, Mississippi, the 20th and last child of sharecroppers Lou Ella and James Townsend. She grew up in poverty, and at age six Hamer joined her family picking cotton. By age 12, she left school to work. Hamer faced a lifetime of cruelties based on her status as a black woman. In 1961 she was a victim to a particularly heinous offense where she received a hysterectomy by a white doctor without her consent while undergoing surgery to remove a uterine tumor. Such forced sterilization of Black women, to reduce the Black population, was so widespread it was dubbed a “Mississippi appendectomy.”. That summer Hamer began her road as a civil rights activist
Impact: While advocating for the voting rights for black people, Hamer was continuously threatened, assaulted, and shot at. On august 31, 1962, Hamer and 17 others attempted to vote, but failed the literacy test. Following the attempt, she was fired from her job and the target of a drive by shooting due to the gall that she must have had to attempt to vote. She left her hometown for a few months but returned to take the literacy test and told them "you'll see me every 30 days till I pass". and pass she did. She went on to become a co-founder of the Freedom Democratic Party and National Women's Political Caucus. Hamer was a staunch advocate for voting equality until the day she passed away, and was posthumously inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.
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This week in our Social Justice Corner we are highlighting a Trailblazer, Laverne Cox!
Culture & Identity: Ms. Cox is an African American Actress and LGBTQ+ advocate who rose to prominence from her spectacular performance in the Netflix series "Orange is the New Black".
Life: Laverne Cox was born on May 29, 1972, in Mobile, Alabama, and raised by a single mother and her grandmother. In 2014, she opened up about being bullied as a child and her attempt to commit suicide at the age of 11 in result of being called homophobic slurs.
Ms. Cox became the first transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in any category for her role as Sophia Burset, a transwoman firefighter who was incarcerated for credit-card fraud, in Orange is the New Black. When asked about the role, Ms. Cox stated: "Sophia is written as a multi-dimensional character who the audience can really empathize with—all of the sudden they're empathizing with a real Trans person. And for Trans folks out there, who need to see representations of people who are like them and of their experiences, that's when it becomes really important.". Following this nomination, Ms. Cox went on to be the first ever transgender person to bless the cover of Time Magazine.
Impact: Outside of her acting career, Ms. Cox is an outspoken activist pursuing justice for LGBTQ+ people, and gender equality. She has sparked conversations about transgender culture, the discrimination that transgender people experience, the intersection of transgender identities and race, as well as numerous other topics relating to LGBTQ+ experiences.
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You are cordially invited to the 2022 Virtual Groundbreaker Lecture
with Dr. Johnnetta B. Cole President Emerita of Spelman College and Bennett College for Women
4 to 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, February 15 via livestream for the Georgia State community
Dr. Johnnetta Cole, the first African American woman president of Spelman College and later as president of Bennett College, is the only person to serve as president of both historically Black colleges for women in the United States.
She is an accomplished educator and museum professional, noted speaker and author on issues of diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion, and a committed advocate for social justice. She currently serves as the National Chair and Seventh President of the National Council of Negro Women, an advocacy organization with more than 2 million members, working in the interest of women’s rights and civil rights.
Through the Groundbreaker Lecture Series, the university honors those whose actions have created and continue to create significant change in the world, while fostering conversations to address ongoing issues and potential ways to meet these challenges.
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Connecting with audiences is at the heart ofthe Ailey experience, so Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater's much-anticipated return to the Fox stage is reason to rejoice” “Celebrate Artistic Director Robert Battle's 10th anniversary season with new works, audience favorites, and beloved classics, including the timeless Revelations
You only have five chances to see Ailey in Atlanta! Learn more at the link below!
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Black History Month: February
Black History Month was first initiated by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the son of former slaves, who received a Ph.D. from Harvard University and is considered a pioneer in the study of African American History. He believed that truth could not be denied and reason would prevail over prejudice. Thus, he founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) and Negro History Week in 1925. In 1976, this week expanded into Black History Month, also known as African American Heritage Month.
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Valentines Day: February 14
On February 14, Americans celebrate love and friendship by exchanging cards, flowers, and candy. Although the origins of Valentine's Day are murky, ancient Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia, a spring festival, on the fifteenth of February.
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Parinirvana Day: February 15
Parinirvana Day is an annual festival, observed in some Mahayana countries, that remembers the death of the Buddha when he reached the age of 80. When the Buddha died, Buddhists believe that he entered a state called Parinirvana, which means Nirvana without end.
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Lantern Festival : February 15
The Lantern Festival is a traditional Chinese festival commemorated every 15th day of the first month in the lunisolar Chinese calendar. It usually falls in February, and it signifies the last day of the traditional Chinese New Year celebrations. Even as early as the Western Han Dynasty, it was already celebrated as a festivity with great importance. During the Lantern Festival in ancient times, the lanterns were moderately simple. It was just the emperor and great noblemen who had large elegant lanterns. In modern times, lanterns have become enhanced with several complex designs. Some lanterns are now frequently made in the shape of animals.
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Magha Puja: February 16th
Also known as Maka Bucha, a Buddhist holiday that marks an event early in the Buddha's teaching life when a group of 1,250 enlightened saints, ordained by the Buddha, gathered to pay their respect to him.
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National Random Acts of Kindness Day : February 17th
Each year on February 17th, National Random Acts of Kindness Day grows in popularity. It is celebrated by individuals, groups, and organizations nationwide to encourage acts of kindness.
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