01 Feb NYSCASA Honors Black History Month 2021: Every Day Should Be a Celebration of Black History
Black History Month begins today. A tradition founded by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Black History Month honors the contributions of Black people, specifically Black Americans. Black History Month was meant to correct the absence of Black people in the nation’s education curricula, to encourage the public to extend their study of the past to include Black histories.
This is especially important for the movement to end sexual violence. The history of the anti-rape movement in the United States is also a history of the struggle of Black women and Black people of other marginalized genders against systemic racism and patriarchal violence, including the historical and ongoing threat of racialized sexual violence.
We acknowledge and pay homage to Black history makers who have led this work in the past and present, including but not limited to: Sojourner Truth, Harriet Ann Jacobs, Ida B. Wells, Mary McLeod Bethune, Recy Taylor, Rosa Parks, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Anita Hill, Loretta Ross, Mariame Kaba, Beth Richie, Andrea Ritchie, Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Donna Hylton, Farah Tanis, Karma Cottman, Tarana Burke, Wagatwe Wanjuki, and many more who are not listed here.
NYSCASA believes that every day should be a celebration of Black history. We commit to intentionally sharing stories that are not told enough in media, classrooms, social media, and our daily conversations. We commit to centering the experiences of those who are most marginalized by white supremacy, anti-Black racism, and patriarchal violence. We commit to using our platform to amplify Black voices in the movements to end sexual violence and systemic racism. Every day, we affirm that Black histories matter—and, most importantly, Black lives matter.
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This month, join NYSCASA for two webinars with Donna Hylton, author of A Little Piece of Light: A Memoir of Hope, Prison, and a Life Unbound, which are part of our 2020-2021 virtual training series, Ending Violence Without Violence.
February 11 – A Little Piece of Light: A Memoir of Hope, Prison, and a Life Unbound
Donna Hylton will discuss her life, and how her early trauma impacted her life, later traumas including incarceration, and her connection to other victimized women and advocates doing the work to end sexual trauma and domestic violence.
This webinar will also support Donna’s work with young women by highlighting her story and her book to folks who may not have accessed it yet from NYSCASA. (NYSCASA member programs each received 1 copy of the book during previous resource mailings.)
Click here to register for this webinar.
February 12 – Decriminalizing Our Youth
Donna Hylton will discuss systemic oppression through foster care, educational, child protective and other institutions where racism, oppressive practices, cultural incompetence, and lack of trauma-informed perspectives that set up youth for involvement with the criminal legal system.
Click here to register for this webinar.
Be sure to also join the following virtual events hosted by our partners and allies:
- February 2: Historically Speaking: Four Hundred Souls – A Conversation with Ibram Kendi and Keisha N. Blain (National Museum of African American History and Culture)
- February 6: 13TH Viewing and Discussion (All Of Us)
- February 9: Between the Lines: FOUR HUNDRED SOULS – A Conversation with Ibram Kendi and Keisha N. Blain (Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture)
- February 11: The Unspoken Impact of Police Brutality Against BIWOC, TGNC, & Latinx Communities (Black Women’s Blueprint and NOW)
- February 16: Book Launch: Unsung: Unheralded Narratives of American Slavery and Abolition, edited by Michelle Commander (Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture)
- February 16: Viewing and Discussion: Fred Hampton (All Of Us)
- February 17: Centering Black Feminist Perspectives in Gender and Racial Justice Work (A Call to Men)
- February 18: Book Talk: Racisms Hidden Costs, with Author Heather McGhee (New York Public Library)
- February 20: Viewing and Discussion: James Baldwin (All Of Us)
- February 23: The Harry Belafonte Black Liberation Speaker Series: Charles M. Blow with Hilton Als
- February 23: Viewing and Discussion: Ida B. Wells (All Of Us)
- February 25: A Holistic Approach to Equitable Reproductive Healthcare (Black Women’s Blueprint and NOW)
- February 26: Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in School, Screening and Panel Discussion (Working Group on Girls in Schenectady, Inc.)
- February 27: The Origin of the Phrase “Women of Color” Viewing and Discussion (All Of Us)
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Resources and Recommended Reading
- Association for the Study of African American Life and History: Origins of Black History Month
- National Museum of African American History and Culture: Celebrating Black History Month
- California Coalition Against Sexual Assault: History of the Rape Crisis Movement
- North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault: Everyday is Black History
- New Jersey Coalition Against Sexual Assault: Honoring Our History: Leaders in the Anti-Sexual Violence Movement
- Boston Area Rape Crisis Center: Black Activists and Organizations Against Sexual Violence
- National Organization for Women: Black Women & Sexual Violence
- Jameta Nicole Barlow: Black Women, the Forgotten Survivors of Sexual Assault (American Psychological Association, February 2020)
- Shanon Lee: #MeToo Won’t Succeed If We Don’t Listen to Black Women (Healthline, June 2018)
- INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence: Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology (Duke University Press, August 2016)
- Danielle L. Mcguire: At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance–A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power (Vintage, 2011)
- Andrea Ritchie and Tammy Ko Robinson: Organizing to Stop the War Against Women of Color (Left Turn Magazine #15, 2005)
- INCITE! and Critical Resistance: Statement on Gender Violence and the Prison Industrial Complex (2001)
- Kimberlé Crenshaw: The Marginalization of Sexual Violence Against Black Women (National Coalition Against Sexual Assault: Spring 1994)
Contact Us
Please send any questions or comments by email to info@nyscasa.org.
About NYSCASA
The New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault is a private, non-profit coalition of community-based rape crisis programs located throughout New York State. NYSCASA’s mission is to end all forms of sexual violence and exploitation, and to address the impacts of sexual assault.
Get Assistance
If you are in need of assistance, call on experienced and caring professionals in your community.
- Call the New York State Hotline for Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence for 24/7, free, and confidential support: 1-800-942-6906
- Has your loved one experienced sexual violence while incarcerated in New York State? The statewide hotline is also available to them. The “777” direct-dial number is available every day, in English, Spanish and other languages, at all 54 facilities operated by the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS).
- Text or chat with a professional at the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence. New Yorkers seeking help can text 1-844-997-2121 or chat on OPDV’s new confidential website at www.opdv.ny.gov.
- Find culturally appropriate domestic violence and sexual assault support services:
- Black survivors can contact Black Women’s Blueprint: 1-347-533-9102
- Deaf and hard-of-hearing survivors can contact IGNITE: DeafIGNITE@gmail.com or 1-585-286-2713
- Latina/o, Latinx. and Spanish-speaking survivors can contact Casa de Esperanza: 1-651-772-1611
- LGBTQ and HIV-affected survivors can contact the Anti-Violence Project: 1-212-714-1141
- Native survivors can contact the StrongHearts Native Helpline by calling 1-844-7NATIVE (1-844-762-8483), or Seven Dancers Coalition: www.sevendancerscoalition.com/resources-in-nys
- Transgender and gender non-conforming survivors can contact the Trans Lifeline Peer Support Hotline: 1-877-565-8860
- Survivors whose primary language is not English can call Womankind’s 24-hour multilingual helpline: 1-888-888-7702
- Find parenting support in your community by calling 1-800-CHILDREN (1-800-244-5373) or find COVID-specific parenting resources on PCANY’s website: www.preventchildabuseny.org/covid-19-resources-and-response
- Individuals concerned for the safety of a child and/or worried about their own thoughts and behaviors can call the Stop It Now Helpline at 1-888-PREVENT (1-888-773-8368).
- To report suspected child abuse or maltreatment, call the New York Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment, commonly known as the Child Abuse Hotline, at 1-800-342-3720.