In my D&P-eP I analyze existing diversity and inclusion responses to Black Women and people population at Build Your Archive located in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Greater Metro Atlanta as part of CIS 650 (Applying Diversity Leadership Theories & Praxis): [a.k.a. Diversity Leadership in Information Organizations]: Summer 2023. On this page, I provide background information about why I chose the diversity topic of how Black Women Artists navigate the intersection of Black Feminism, Queer Theory and Memory work.
We met beneath a framed photograph of Bessie Smith, who lived her life because it was hers., 1977
L-R: Toni Morrison, June Jordan, Audre Ballard, Ntozake Shange, Lori Sharpe, Nana Maynard, Verta Mae Grosvenor, Alice Walker. All for one, and one for all. So may it always be.
Top Row: Louise Meriwether, Pinkie Gordon Lane, Johnnetta Cole, and Paula Giddings
Middle Row: Pearl Cleage, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Toni Cade Bambara
Bottom Row: Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, and Mari Evans
Photograph by Susan Ross , 1988
Build Your Archive was conceptualized because of the two photographs, primary sources above. Although the groups were documented 10 years a part from each other, they cemented the significance of collective work and support amongst Black Women.
The choice to center Black Women Artist, Cultural Workers and Organizers was strategic because I wanted to continue the legacy of preserving narratives of collective third spaces, embody personal archiving practices through routines and habits and place emphasis on Black Memory Work within our families.
The continued investigation of these photographs began to answer questions such as: "Why did they decide to gather?" "What was a result of that gathering?" "Was their individual success as Black Women attributed to their gatherings and regular meetings?" "And how did the historical moments they were living through affected their personal and collective work?"
Fig 1. Venn diagram of how Black Women Artists interact with multiple spaces and people.
Currently I am working most closely with the following people and organizations: Printmaker, muralist and cultural worker Jasmine Nicole Williams. Writer and Director, Ebony Blanding, The Say Study: Black Women Health Experiences and Women of Color Initiative.
In addition to 1:1 offerings, I facilitate virtual and in-real life archiving and zine-making workshops, memory work labs and portrait sessions in community third spaces like, For Keeps Rare Books and yes please, bookhouse and carespace. This provides the opportunity for me to engage in inter-group offerings that work with women of color and people of other ethnicities.
An Atlanta and Well Known photographer, Susan Ross recently spoke with Atlanta Magazine about the day she photographed the group. She mentions, "This was the culmination of a decades-long discussion of who should lead this historically Black institution, and this was a celebration of the leadership of Black women in many different fields, particularly in scholarship, in literature, and in the arts." My interest in documenting these moments for Black Women Artists, Cultural Workers and Organizers always return to this sentiment that one gathering could be a once in a lifetime moment for those involved.
I believe that Build Your Archive is setting the precedent and imagining more of how liberatory memory work can effectively operate beyond the trauma of racism and capitalism, beyond violence of White Supremacy and beyond the walls of institutionalized archives as we know them today.
References
Walker, Alice, Alice Walker's Garden, https://alicewalkersgarden.com/home/alice-walkers-garden-home-page-2019/
Atlanta Magazine, In 1988, some of the most important Black women in American literature posed for a photo at Spelman. Here’s how it came about., September 26, 2023 https://www.atlantamagazine.com/news-culture-articles/in-1987-some-of-the-most-important-black-women-in-american-literature-posed-for-a-photo-at-spelman-heres-how-it-came-about/
