Toward the #8March, let’s continue fighting together.
On the 8th of March, we commemorate International Women’s Day. I would like to ask the question what is feminism? Is one question that has many answers, however, what are your thoughts about feminism? Share it with us!
I would like to thank Ana Silvia Monzón and Marcela García for creating and sharing this video.
Here are few black women’s who fight for civil rights. Let’s continue their legacy.
The civil war (1861-1865) and the abolishment of slavery in 1865, with the 13th Amendment in the United States of America marked a milestone for the black community; however, social injustice and discrimination didn’t end because the Jim Crow laws were established in 1877. These laws enforced racial segregation in the South where “black people couldn’t use the same public facilities as white people, live in many of the same towns or go to the same schools. Interracial marriage was illegal, and most Black people couldn’t vote because they were unable to pass voter literacy tests” (Civil Rights Movement: Timeline, https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement).
The Civil Rights Movement was initiated to combat the Jim Crow laws, so the black community could have equal rights. The movement organized boycotts, sit-ins, and pacific protests. For instance, in 1961, the Freedom Rides and in 1963, the March on Washington.
The movement was given impulse by black males and females. Among the male leaders, we have Marting Luther King Jr. Malcolm X, W.E.B. Du Bois, A. Philip Randolph, and Kwame Toure (formerly Stokely Carmichael). But why the stories of the males are mostly told and seldom times the female’s role mentioned?
In the book, Ain’T a Woman Black Woman and Feminism, by bell hooks, she expresses the invisibility of women in the movement:
Black females participated but did not strive to overshadow black male leaders. Black male leaders of the movement made the liberation of black people from racism oppression synonymous with their gaining the right to assume the role of patriarch, of sexist oppressor. They were not liberated from the system but liberated to serve the system.
nd., pp.177,181
A few years ago, I read an article that mentioned the role of Dorothy Hight in the movement. This took me to research who she was. During my research, I discovered that many other black females involved in the Civil Rights Movement played a pivotal role. Just to mention a few, Ella Baker, Josephine Baker, Ruby Bridges, Johnnie Carr, Angela Davis, Thelma Glass, McCree Harris, Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, Shirley Sherrod, Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, and so on.
Besides the above list, I would like to introduce six more females. Their role as strategists and advocates were crucial in the Civil Rights Movement in the United States of America.
She was a crucial figure in the Civil Rights in Selma, Alabama, and one of the leaders who convinced Martin Luther King Jr. to march from Selma to Montgomery, on March 7th, 1965. This is known also as “Bloody Sunday”. On the Edmund Pettus Bridge, over the Alabama River in Selma, the protesters were attacked by policemen and Boyton was brutally beaten. In 1964, she ran for a seat in Congress, being the first African American woman and the first female Democratic candidate from Alabama to postulate for this position.
Daisy Bates(1914-1999)
Bates was an activist, journalist, and publisher in Arkansas. Together with her husband, she founded The Arkansas Press, which was published on May 9, 1941, and mainly supported African American stories and advocated civil rights. In 1954, the Supreme Court landmarked segregation as unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education. Bates played a significant role in the desegregation at schools by mentoring and organizing the “Little Rock Nine” students to integrate Little Rock Central High School in 1957.
Septima Clark (1898-1987)
She was an educator in South Carolina who evolved the ACitizenship Schools, which taught and motivated Black Americans to learn literature, education, and citizenship rights to empower their communities. She also fought for equal pay for black teachers.
Dorothy Height ( 1912-2010)
She is known as the “Godmother of the Civil Rights Movement”. Her activism started in the 1930s, which advocated for women’s rights such as unemployment, illiteracy, and voter participation. For over 40 years, she was the president of the National Council for Negro Women and one of the organizers of the March on Washington. Moreover, she had a big influence on leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis.
Georgia Gilmore (1920-1990)
She was a cook at the National Lunch Company who was fired for participating in the bus boycott. She embraced her talent to cook from home and support the movement. She founded the Club From Nowhere, which motivated African women to cook and bake goods to be sold outside their houses and at protest gatherings. The fund from this action was used to support the bus resistance.
Diane Nash (1938-)
Nash got involved in the civil movements in Nashville, Tennessee, while studying at the Fisk University. She was a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and organizer of the Freedom Rides.
Who many black females are vice-president in Latin America?
Shirlene Green Newball
This past June, presidential election was held in Colombia, a South American country. It marks a milestone in Colombia because it is the first time the leftist party is in power, and the first time a black woman became the vice-president. Her name is Francia Márquez Mina.
Francia Márques is from the Cauca region, which is in the southwestern part of Colombia. She is 40 years old and comes from a humble background. Márques was a maid, lawyer, environmental activist and Afro-rights activist. Márques stressed on many occasions that she was running for the presidential office “because our governments have turned their backs on the people, and on justice and on peace” (New York Times, 21.06.2022).
Before becoming the vice president of Colombia, Márquez was as aforementioned, an energetic environmental activist in her region. In 2014, her community was jeopardized by illegal mining and the construction of a dam in the Cauca region over the primary river named Las Ovejas, thus she was the leader to inspire and mobilize 80 women from La Toma to march to Bogota to protest in front of Congress over both projects. In the end, the government was forced to meet with the community and later agreed on abolishing illegal mining. Marquéz and the group of women’s action ignited awareness among the population in other regions of the country where illegal mining was also an issue.
Con la premisa de convertir a Colombia en una potencia mundial de la vida, hoy, #7DeAgosto, @FranciaMarquezM, oriunda de #Suárez, #Cauca, e hija del pueblo negro, raizal y palenquero, se posesionó como Vicepresidenta de la República para el periodo 2022-2026 🇨🇴. Sigue el hilo 🧵 pic.twitter.com/leLUi4bvNo
— Vicepresidencia Colombia (@ViceColombia) August 7, 2022
In 2018, she was awarded the Golmad Environmental Prize 2018 for her work in the community and the environment. This same prize was received by Berta Cáseres 2015, who was a Honduran environmental activist, a year after she was murdered.
Even though Colombia has a large percentage of Afro population, the news output has shown that not everyone is happy with Márques being in position. During her presidential campaign, she was exposed to racism and classicism, however, these issues were not a barrier for her, because she went ahead and won. Historically, Colombia has been governed by elites and white individuals, but now there is a change of representation in the government with a black woman who comes from a poor family.
While Francia was campaigning in Colombia, not far away Epsy Campbell Barr, vice-president of Costa Rica, Central America was leaving her position. She was the first black female to assume this position in Costa Rica and in the Latin American region. She was the vice president of this country from May, 2018 to May, 2022.
Moreover, Campbell is one of the co-founders of the Costa Rica Citizen Action Party (PAC). Before becoming vice president Campbell was a congresswoman for two terms, and an advocate for African descent people, and woman rights at the local and regional levels.
I met Campbell before she became vice president, while I was working at the Afro Caribbean, Afro-Latin, and the Diaspora Women Network. At a conference, I heard her speak for the first time, and it was clear that she had the talent to be a leader and a good speaker. Years, after she became the vice president of Costa Rica. During those years she fights against racism and relentlessly advocates for the Afrocostarican population.
On the 25th of June, 2022 Campbell tweeted a photo of her and Francia Márquez, saying they will work together.
Gracias @FranciaMarquezM, primera Vicepresidenta Afro colombiana, quién hace historia por su compromiso con la igualdad, justicia climática, derechos de las mujeres, Afrodescendientes y personas excluidas!Trabajaremos juntas para avanzar en un mundo nuevo de paz, amor y justicia! pic.twitter.com/RIbiu7h1Wh
Both Márquez and Campbell as leaders, being black, and female, play a pivotal role for women’s empowerment in the Latin American region and further abroad. They have done and are still doing their part. We can join them from our community, workplace, and organizations.
This is not the beginning, it’s the continuation of what our ancestors had given to us, thanks to many powerful black women we are at this standing point today. Thanks, Harriet Tubmam, Matilde Lindo and others.
Name a powerful black woman you know!
Data about Colombia and Costa Rica
10.5 % of the Colombian population is black.
7,11 % of Costa Rica’s population is black.
Source: Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadísticas (DANE) and a report from the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECAC). The percentages are based on the 2010-2011 census.
Las voces de Ch´umilkaj y Sara tejen historias y sanan
Texto: Shirlene Green Newball
Fotos: Ajpu Nicho, Sandra Sebastían y Cristian Dávila
En enero de este año viajé a Guatemala a recopilar información para mi tesis de maestría. Durante mi estadía entrevisté a cuatro mujeres maravillosas y fuertes de quienes aprendí mucho sobre el contexto y rol de las mujeres guatemaltecas y en especial de las mujeres Mayas Kaqchikeles.
La música es parte de mí, yo me despierto y lo primero que hago es cantar”
Sara
En el caso de Ch’umilkaj expresa que empezó a cantar desde niña. Su mamá es maestra y cada día que llegaba a la casa les contaba historias a ella y sus hermanas/os, luego cada uno tenía que resumir el mensaje a través del arte.
En mi caso yo siempre decidí hacerlo a través del canto. Cantar en mi idioma me da el derecho de decir quién soy, de donde vengo y hacía donde voy.
Ch´umilkaj
Ch’umilkaj Curruchiche Nicho y Sara Curruchich son cantautoras jóvenes Kaqchikeles quienes tienen una trayectoria a nivel nacional e internacional. Ambas son de San Juan Comalapa, Chimaltenango que está localizadas a unos ochenta kilómetros de la ciudad de Guatemala y es conocida como la “Florencia de America”, porque hay muchos artistas Kaqchikels que viven allí.
Sara Curruchich
Los temas de sus canciones y sus videos musicales son inspirados en la naturaleza, la Madre tierra, las mujeres, la identidad, sabiduría indígena, la discriminación, la no violencia, entre otros.
Ch´umilkaj Curruchiche Nicho
Guatemala fue azotado por uno de los conflictos armados más brutales de Centroamérica. Durante los 35 años que duró la guerra se cometieron asesinatos, tortura, desaparición forzada que obligaron a las y los guatemaltecos a huir del país. Según el informe de la Comisión para el Esclarecimiento Histórico (CEH) más de 200,000 personas fueron asesinadas como acto de violencia política y 626 masacres fueron ejecutados por el Estado de Guatemala.
Las mujeres Mayas fueron víctimas de la dimensión más cruel del conflicto interno. Durante este periodo muchas de ellas fueron asesinadas, violadas y torturadas por los militares. Un ejemplo de ello es la masacre que ocurrió en la comunidad de Plan Sánchez, municipio de Rabinal donde se estima que 286 personas fueron asesinadas.
En los sus videos musicales las protagonistas son mujeres de la comunidad curanderas, tejedoras, defensoras, feministas etc., representando con orgullo sus roles en sus respectivas comunidades. También, en sus videos utilizan un hibrido lingüístico al cantar en su lengua materna kaqchikel y en español. El kaqchikeles es el tercer idioma Maya con un 17% de hablantes según el censo nacional del Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas de Guatemala.
En honor a las mujeres Mayas/ Ch ´umilkaj
Las letras de las canciones de Sara y Ch’umilkaj no solo revitalizan el idioma kaqchikel, también transmiten un mensaje de lucha contra la violencia hacia las mujeres. Estas canciones y todo lo que se demuestra en sus videos musicales son para curar las heridas que tanto ellas como sus abuelas, madres y tías vivieron o recuerdan del conflicto armado.
Ch’umilkaj me contó durante la entrevista que un profesor una vez dijo que los Mayas ya no existen, se murieron. Según el investigador Rusty Barrett (2016) en la sociedad guatemalteca prevalece la idea de sociedad homogénea basada en la afirmación de que los Mayas de hoy en día no descienden de sus ancestros pre-coloniales, igualmente sucede con el idioma, por lo que lo consideran “dialecto”, pero ella expresa, “soy Maya, soy Kaqchikel, porque conozco mi historia, canto y quiero trasladarlo”.
Son esas manos
que hilan y plasman en lienzos
los ciclos del tiempo
Jo’ tqatunu’ quchuq’a’
richin ntzolin pe
ruk’u’ x ri qab’ix
(Extracto de Mayab’ ixoqui’/En honor a las mujeres indígenas de Ch’umilkaj)
Sara manifiesta “cantar en kaqchikel es una forma de conectarme con mis abuelos (…) tiene una estructura lingüística, tiene toda su gramática (…) pues aquí está y no tiene un valor menor”. Para ambas cantautoras cantar en kaqchikel les da el poder de reafirmar su identidad, revitalizar su idioma y descolonizar el pensamiento que los idiomas Mayas son inferiores.
Cabe mencionar que en los videos de las cantautoras se usan instrumentos musicales ancestrales, se muestra el sistema decimal para el tejido de güipil que utilizan las tejedoras, el sistema astronómico que usan hoy en día para la cosecha, el uso del calendario. Muchas otras tradiciones que utilizan hoy en día no son nuevas, sino que vienen de la civilización Maya.
Las produciones musicales de Sara y Ch’umilkaj tienen un valor muy significativo, porque muestran la vasta cultura y prácticas tradicionales de las comunidades. Muestra la voz de las mujeres en defensa del territorio y la naturaleza. El canto al igual sirve para curar las heridas del conflicto armado de Guatemala que aún es vivido por sus abuelas, abuelos, padres, tías, y las de ellas misma. Sus videos musicales son la reafirmación de su identidad, sus voces, letras e imágenes tejen su identidad Maya, tejen resiliencia y un futuro.
Sara
Nuestra voz es importante, porque constantemente ha intentado ser silenciada por el mismo Estado, por el gobierno y por el mismo sistema racista y colonial, pero aquí estamos
Sara
Datos de Guatemala
La población indígena en Latinoamérica suma aproximadamente un total de 45.3 millones.
Guatemala, es el segundo país en Latinoamérica con un alto porcentaje de población indígena representado por 43%, después de Bolivia.
Guatemala tiene una población de 14,901 286. De este total 51.5 % son mujeres y 48.5% son hombres.
En Guatemala se habla 25 idiomas: 22 mayas, el xinca, el garífuna y el español.
womenwheel.wordpress.com 