February was a busy month!

I did three Road Scholar presentations this month. Elmhurst Publoc Library. Galesburg Public Library. Rock Springs Nature Center.

I attended the Humanties Breakfast where I met National Endowment for the Humanties Chair Shelly Lowe.

I attended the Bill Johnson Black Film Festival with cast and crew of the short film, The Invitation.

I am tired now.

It was a good Black History Month.

You find out what you love when you are put to the test. If you love it, it stays. If you don’t love it, you allow it to go.

Phyllis Wheatley Peters wrote from the intersection of childhood, womanhood, slave, former slave, married woman, Christian and human being.

Phyllis loved writing. She wrote her entire life. But as a young girl she found herself in the room with some of the most powerful men in the country who thought she was incapable of writing so well.

She showed them who she was and that she was very capable.

I have a passion for telling the stories of African Americans. 

We have lived lives that need to be recited and passed on to encourage those coming along. Some of the stories I love because my people overcame evil, while others I do not because they did not.

 As the passion grows for the storytelling, the love will grow for the stories.

We will all love African American history.

Phillis Wheatley showed a passion for words and learning as a young girl.  Despite the trauma taking place in her world, she showed a love for the written words of her captors.

Love had a dark side as she probably missed all of her family. 

But it had a light side, teaching her to love communicating through words.

At the center of their work, this action verb is very prominent. All of these women had a love that drove their work. You can see it at the center of my best work. 

The word is love. It means a deep affection for or something that is liked or enjoyed very much.

It is where it sometimes begins.

In 2024, we meet at the intersection of gender and race to examine how these shaped the lives of women who achieved in spite of trying times.

The Theme for the year of 2024 is Intersectionality.  One of the best definitions I read was how multiple identities combine to create unique patterns of oppression. (global citizen.org) I realize that oppression is a hard word for some, but for others it is an everyday thing.

I am going to tell you stories of women who had to deal with oppression as a woman and as a woman of color.  These women were able to make a life for themselves and help others. What do we learn from this?

I hope a lot. Hopefully looking back at these lives will encourage us to keep on pushing in our daily lives.