A Long History of Affirmative Action – For Whites

Published from RACE – The Power of an Illusion with permission from California News Reel

Many middle-class white people, especially those of us from the suburbs, like to think that we got to where we are today by virtue of our merit – hard work, intelligence, pluck, and maybe a little luck. And while we may be sympathetic to the plight of others, we close down when we hear the words “affirmative action” or “racial preferences.” We worked hard, we made it on our own, the thinking goes, why don’t ‘they’? After all, the Civil Rights Act was enacted almost 40 years ago.

What we don’t readily acknowledge is that racial preferences have a long, institutional history in this country – a white history. Here are a few ways in which government programs and practices have channeled wealth and opportunities to white people at the expense of others.

Early Racial Preferences

We all know the old history, but it’s still worth reminding ourselves of its scale and scope. Affirmative action in the American “workplace” first began in the late 17th century when European indentured servants – the original source of unfree labor on the new tobacco plantations of Virginia and Maryland – were replaced by African slaves. In exchange for their support and their policing of the growing slave population, lower-class Europeans won new rights, entitlements, and opportunities from the planter elite.

White Americans were also given a head start with the help of the U.S. Army. The 1830 Indian Removal Act, for example, forcibly relocated Cherokee, Creeks and other eastern Indians to west of the Mississippi River to make room for white settlers. The 1862 Homestead Act followed suit, giving away millions of acres of what had been Indian Territory west of the Mississippi. Ultimately, 270 million acres, or 10% of the total land area of the United States, was converted to private hands, overwhelmingly white, under Homestead Act provisions.

The 1790 Naturalization Act permitted only “free white persons” to become naturalized citizens, thus opening the doors to European immigrants but not others. Only citizens could vote, serve on juries, hold office, and in some cases, even hold property. In this century, Alien Land Laws passed in California and other states, reserved farm land for white growers by preventing Asian immigrants, ineligible to become citizens, from owning or leasing land. Immigration restrictions further limited opportunities for nonwhite groups. Racial barriers to naturalized U.S. citizenship weren’t removed until the McCarran-Walter Act in 1952, and white racial preferences in immigration remained until 1965.

In the South, the federal government never followed through on General Sherman’s Civil War plan to divide up plantations and give each freed slave “40 acres and a mule” as reparations. Only once was monetary compensation made for slavery, in Washington, D.C. There, government officials paid up to $300 per slave upon emancipation – not to the slaves, but to local slaveholders as compensation for loss of property.

When slavery ended, its legacy lived on not only in the impoverished condition of Black people but in the wealth and prosperity that accrued to white slaveowners and their descendents. Economists who try to place a dollar value on how much white Americans have profited from 200 years of unpaid slave labor, including interest, begin their estimates at $1 trillion.

Jim Crow laws, instituted in the late 19th and early 20th century and not overturned in many states until the 1960s, reserved the best jobs, neighborhoods, schools and hospitals for white people.

The Advantages Grow, Generation to Generation

Less known are more recent government racial preferences, first enacted during the New Deal, that directed wealth to white families and continue to shape life opportunities and chances.

The landmark Social Security Act of 1935 provided a safety net for millions of workers, guaranteeing them an income after retirement. But the act specifically excluded two occupations: agricultural workers and domestic servants, who were predominately African American, Mexican, and Asian. As low-income workers, they also had the least opportunity to save for their retirement. They couldn’t pass wealth on to their children. Just the opposite. Their children had to support them.

Like Social Security, the 1935 Wagner Act helped establish an important new right for white people. By granting unions the power of collective bargaining, it helped millions of white workers gain entry into the middle class over the next 30 years. But the Wagner Act permitted unions to exclude non-whites and deny them access to better paid jobs and union protections and benefits such as health care, job security, and pensions. Many craft unions remained nearly all-white well into the 1970s. In 1972, for example, every single one of the 3,000 members of Los Angeles Steam Fitters Local #250 was still white.

But it was another racialized New Deal program, the Federal Housing Administration, that helped generate much of the wealth that so many white families enjoy today. These revolutionary programs made it possible for millions of average white Americans – but not others – to own a home for the first time. The government set up a national neighborhood appraisal system, explicitly tying mortgage eligibility to race. Integrated communities were ipso facto deemed a financial risk and made ineligible for home loans, a policy known today as “redlining.” Between 1934 and 1962, the federal government backed $120 billion of home loans. More than 98% went to whites. Of the 350,000 new homes built with federal support in northern California between 1946 and 1960, fewer than 100 went to African Americans.

These government programs made possible the new segregated white suburbs that sprang up around the country after World War II. Government subsidies for municipal services helped develop and enhance these suburbs further, in turn fueling commercial investments. Freeways tied the new suburbs to central business districts, but they often cut through and destroyed the vitality of non-white neighborhoods in the central city.

Today, Black and Latino mortgage applicants are still 60% more likely than whites to be turned down for a loan, even after controlling for employment, financial, and neighborhood factors. According to the Census, whites are more likely to be segregated than any other group. As recently as 1993, 86% of suburban whites still lived in neighborhoods with a black population of less than 1%.

Reaping the Rewards of Racial Preference

One result of the generations of preferential treatment for whites is that a typical white family today has on average eight times the assets, or net worth, of a typical African American family, according to economist Edward Wolff. Even when families of the same income are compared, white families have more than twice the wealth of Black families. Much of that wealth difference can be attributed to the value of one’s home, and how much one inherited from parents.

But a family’s net worth is not simply the finish line, it’s also the starting point for the next generation. Those with wealth pass their assets on to their children – by financing a college education, lending a hand during hard times, or assisting with the down payment for a home. Some economists estimate that up to 80 percent of lifetime wealth accumulation depends on these intergenerational transfers. White advantage is passed down, from parent to child to grand-child. As a result, the racial wealth gap – and the head start enjoyed by whites – appears to have grown since the civil rights days.

In 1865, just after Emancipation, it is not surprising that African Americans owned 0.5 percent of the total worth of the United States. But by 1990, a full 135 years after the abolition of slavery, Black Americans still possessed only a meager 1 percent of national wealth.

Rather than recognize how “racial preferences” have tilted the playing field and given us a head start in life, many whites continue to believe that race does not affect our lives. Instead, we chastise others for not achieving what we have; we even invert the situation and accuse non-whites of using “the race card” to advance themselves.

Or we suggest that differential outcomes may simply result from differences in “natural” ability or motivation. However, sociologist Dalton Conley’s research shows that when we compare the performance of families across racial lines who make not just the same income, but also hold similar net worth, a very interesting thing happens: many of the racial disparities in education, graduation rates, welfare usage and other outcomes disappear. The “performance gap” between whites and nonwhites is a product not of nature, but unequal circumstances.

Colorblind policies that treat everyone the same, no exceptions for minorities, are often counter-posed against affirmative action. But colorblindness today merely bolsters the unfair advantages that color-coded practices have enabled white Americans to long accumulate.

It’s a little late in the game to say that race shouldn’t matter.

 

For more information about Race – The Power of an Illusion, a three-part Documentary produced by California Newsreel visit http://newsreel.org/video/RACE-THE-POWER-OF-AN-ILLUSION.

Bringing Uganda home…

By Shayla R. Price, J.D. 

The hotel suite’s view was breathtaking, yet mind-boggling. Through the Victorian style window, I saw the rich, red clay of the roads crowded with playful children surrounded by dilapidated buildings in desperate need of repair.

Like most young Americans, I have always dreamed of traveling abroad. Now, I had my chance! In the summer of 2010, I had an incredible opportunity to travel to Kampala, Uganda, Africa. As a research team member of Southern University’s International Center for Information Technology and Development, I helped develop a case study about how mobile technology impacts health care in resource-poor communities.

Similar to other countries, Uganda has its challenges. Citizens are faced with health issues stemming from malaria, typhoid and yellow fever, and residents have an average life expectancy of 54-years-old. Nonetheless, local facilities and volunteers are continuing to build functioning community structures to bring access to quality health services to underserved populations.

As a result of my experience in Uganda, I have learned that the United States has role of preserving human equality and liberty around the world. Standing for the idea of political freedom, Americans shape and define the principles of independence and self-government. When America protects the interest of justice of people abroad, it secures the blessings of liberty at home.

In the past, I thought of volunteering as mentoring a child at a neighborhood school or joining a statewide nonprofit coalition. But, after returning from Africa, I understood that my volunteer efforts should reach a global scale. In January 2011, SCOUT BANANA, a non- profit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the lack of basic health care in Africa, welcomed me as a new member of its Board of Directors. I am proud to be part of a youth-led team supporting organizations working in communities to provide basic health needs in Africa.

Traveling abroad for me was a life-changing experience. When I look at the picture of my hotel view, I now see a sense of hope for Africa, and America’s capacity to change lives around the world. To learn more about mobile healthcare in Uganda, go to http://ires.icitd.com and visit SCOUT BANANA at http://scoutbanana.org/.

Shayla R. Price, J.D. is an advocate for civic engagement and was named one of Ebony magazine’s 2009 young leaders. Currently, she is a governor-appointed youth commissioner for the Volunteer Louisiana. Prior to government service, Price worked as a marketing director for ProgressiveU.org, a social welfare organization that seeks to give high school and college students a voice. Price is the first recipient of the National Black Women’s Town Hall, Inc.’s “Emerging Greatness” Award for up and coming future leaders along with countless other accolades. While in high school, she earned more than $100,000 in college scholarships and authored the book titled “The Scholarship Search: A Guide to Winning Free Money for College and More.”

Originally published: http://www.aidemocracy.org/students/bringing-uganda-home/

The Help Movie, and Why Black Women are Outraged…

 Article written by Sophia Nelson, author, attorney, former lobbyist, and commentator.

Why are some of the best and brightest black female voices in America so outraged over the new movie The Help based on Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel?

Well, according to the Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH), and others like Professor Melissa Harris Perry of Tulane University, both the book and the movie represent widespread stereotyping and historical inaccuracies. They also take issue with the fact that Ms. Stockett’s book which has sold over three million copies, and became a major motion picture that raked in close to $20 million dollars in its opening weekend debut has profited at the expense of the very women whose stories she purports to share so accurately in her novel. Couple this with the fact that Stockett is now being sued in a Mississippi court of law (on August 16, 2011) by a woman named Ablene Cooper, an African American nanny and housekeeper who works for Stockett’s brother  and sister-in-law, for stealing her likeness and story without her permission, and you have a perfect storm of emotions and resentment from a black female community that has often been silenced and shut out of “mainstream” book success and film adaptations when we share our own stories.

The ABWH further says in part in an “open” statement released on Friday, “that despite efforts to market the book and the film as a progressive story of triumph over racial injustice, The Help distorts, ignores, and trivializes the experiences of black domestic workers. During the 1960s, the era covered in The Help, legal segregation and economic inequalities limited black women’s employment opportunities. Up to 90 percent of working black women in the South labored as domestic servants in white homes. The Help‘s representation of these women is a disappointing resurrection of Mammy — a mythical stereotype of black women who were compelled, either by slavery or segregation, to serve white families. Portrayed as asexual, loyal, and contented caretakers of whites, the caricature of Mammy allowed mainstream America to ignore the systemic racism that bound black women to back-breaking, low-paying jobs where employers routinely exploited them. The popularity of this most recent iteration is troubling because it reveals a contemporary nostalgia for the days when a black woman could only hope to clean the White House rather than reside in it.

While I agree with most of the sentiments expressed by the ABWH there is a larger, more contemporary issue that we need to consider–and that is this: some of the most poignant and heart-stirring stories of black women’s lives both past and present have been told by the likes of Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, Anne Moody, Alice Walker, Lorene Cary, Maya Angelou, Jill Nelson and now women of my generation (self included) are starting to share our complex journey as young, urban, professional, upwardly mobile black women in America, living in the “Age of Michelle Obama.” Yet, very few if any of these books become mega-best-sellers or are adapted on film into a major motion picture.

Not to mention when we do get published, our books rarely get the marketing support and print runs of our white counterparts. This is not sour grapes, this is the reality black women live with everyday in America. And this is the real reason why so many black women are disgusted and maybe even angered by the success of a white female author who tells our story (as fiction) and is embraced and celebrated for doing so by the mainstream media, book reviews, film world, and the like.

This is no different than John Grisham’s A Time to Kill, Mississippi Burning, or Ghosts of Mississippi and the like. In all of these books, turned to film, there is a white hero who saves the black people from the bad guys. Even portrayals of the Civil Rights era give the Kennedy brothers and others a heap of credit for somehow liberating black people. NOT TRUE.

The truth is that black people liberated ourselves. We organized, we marched, we protested, we put the USA’s system of legalized segregation on trial — and we won.

That is what I think is at the crux of what bothers us all so much. It is not that our white brothers and sisters did not play a role in our liberation from slavery and Jim Crow, they did. But the challenge for us as black authors, historians, and film-makers is that we cannot often get our stories told or shared on a broad national platform because the people often making the decisions to publish, support or fund these stories do not see them as valuable or relevant.

I will end by sharing that I know of what I speak. Black Woman Redefined: Dispelling Myths and Discovering Fulfillment in the Age of Michelle Obama is my first book. It has nationally commissioned research that costs over $30,000 dollars, it includes groundbreaking insights and trends for today’s black woman, and it was published by a notable publishing house in May 2011 (but with a very small print run — my publisher hedged its bets). The book did much better than expected (for a black woman’s book), after being given a great reception by black radio, TV, and press and it has sold over 10,000 copies out the gate. The subject matter could not be more timely and relevant (it came out the same week Psychology Today said black women were scientifically unattractive), yet this book which tells the authentic story of modern-day black women of a new generation, our struggles, road-blocks, hopes and dreams has yet to be reviewed by a major news paper, or given time on a major morning show, or mainstream radio program. Those same producers and editors embrace Ms. Stockett and others like her so readily, while pushing those who live the reality into a corner to be silenced.

If I had a dime for every white female or white male editor who has told me or my publicist that the book is just “not for them” or that “it is nice but not for their audience,” I would be rich. And this is what is really driving the furor of black women scholars, historians, and journalists who once again have to sit by and hear how wonderful a white woman author is for “telling our story,” and watch her be embraced, validated, covered, and rewarded for doing so (even if inaccurately so). This is something that even in the year 2011, rarely happens to and for us as black women authors and screenplay writers.

www.sophianelson.com

Nelson who is a life-long moderate Republican, attorney, former lobbyist, turned journalist and commentator currently serves as Chairman of the Board of “I Am My Sister’s Keeper, Inc.”, a 7-year-old professional black women’s advocacy organization that provides life skills support to more than 3,000-women around the world (see http://www.iaskinc.org ). Nelson is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. sorority, the oldest Greek lettered organization for African-American women in the world.

Black Woman Redefined is available online, at bookstores nationwide, and through Perseus Distribution. Orders only, please call toll-free 1-800-343-4499 or email orderentry@perseusbooks.com.

How do we fit into Dr. Dorothy Height’s legacy?

When I heard the news on Wednesday, April 20, I was stunned, saddened, and speechless, yet I knew, in my heart, that at 98 years old, she had finished her business and now the rest was up to us.

Dr. Dorothy Height, activist, educator, negotiator, mentor, leader, and servant to our sisterhood. She wore her titles and accomplishments graciously, like her grand hats and wardrobe, while beneath them was a woman, sister, and friend with a humble heart and a fierce dedication to our empowerment without compromise.  She groomed greatness with an urgency that was persuasive and purposeful.

In 2008, I went to Dr. Height and the National Council of Negro Women, with the desire to share an amazing documentary, The Souls of Black Girls by Daphne Valerius.  She not only supported it, she hosted its screening and later said it was “the answer to a prayer.” 

Shortly thereafter, I came knocking again.  This time with a vision to create a national dialogue with black women that would keep our concerns and issues at the forefront of our consciousness and active engagement.  That vision was the National Black Women’s Town Hall Meeting.  Dr. Height agreed to partner with me in this sisterly effort and the rest is history. 

As black women, especially, we have a debt to repay to Dr. Height.  How? In actions and efforts.  I was one of the lucky ones who had the privilege of working with one of my sheroes, who also happened to be related to me through our African Mende ancestry.  But most importantly, I had the opportunity to say “thank you” while she was living and in my presence.

How do we fit into her legacy? We each do that by walking in our own shoes, but being mindful of who bought those shoes.  Dr. Height loved her hats, so I’m sure her shoes are matching her crown of glory! 

I will forever be grateful for her willingness to support my dream, to share my burden, and make space for me to spread my wings.

My Holiday Invitation from President Obama

Blanche in Blue Room at White House Holiday Reception

On December 3, I received a letter with my name handwritten from The White House.  Initially, I thought it was a Christmas card to thank me for including Tina Tchen and the White House Council on Women and Girls at my Second Annual National Black Women’s Town Hall Meeting held at Howard University in September.

You can imagine my surprise and honor when I began pulling out something that was much more formal and elegant than a holiday card.  It was a beautiful Christmas red invitation with gold lettering that read, ” The President and Mrs. Obama request the pleasure of your company at a Holiday Reception to be held at The White House on Tuesday, December 15, 2009.”

I was speechless and breathless at the same time.  I sat quietly for a moment to reflect on the significance of being invited during the most significant year in the history of the American presidency.  I had also covered him, as a broadcast journalist, in Denver and was front row at his Inaugural. 

What made this special was the fact that I was invited because of and in recognition of my efforts.    The impact of this was humbling and validating, to say the least.  When I arrived, I was able to be present and experience these magical moments as well as capture a few.  I began by writing a wish for our nation and rolling it to be put inside the “Christmas Wish Tree.”  My fellow guests and I were waited on at every corner with champayne, sweets, sushi, chocolate and more.  I met many amazing people, some I knew and admired while others I was pleased to get to know.  The President and Mrs. Obama came downstairs to cheers and were gracious hosts.  I was lucky enough to be front and center for handshakes and a few polite words.  You can see more of my photos and commentary on my personal Facebook page–(Blanche Williams).

Ironically, this Tuesday, there was a replay of Oprah’s Primetime Christmas Special at the White House.  I hadn’t seen it the Sunday before I attended the Holiday Reception.  What I didn’t realize was that Oprah and I were given the same access in the White House.  Her special highlighted and spotlighted many of the places I stood and the things I saw.  Of course, the biggest difference was that Oprah had the President, the First Lady, and Bo, all to herself. 

In the end, sharing this hope-filled Holiday, in this year, in this White House, serves as a fitting and long-overdue gift for the countless ancestors, slaves, freedom fighters, and dreamers, who lived and died believing there would one day be a meaningful season of change in our nation.

New Mammogram Guidelines, A Death Sentence for Black Women

The politics of breast cancer leads to survival for some, but death for Black women and others.   

Guest Commentary  by Eleanor Hinton-Hoytt, President/CEO, Black Women’s Health Imperative

The Black Women’s Health Imperative (Imperative) finds the recent announcement by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) updating its 2002 breast cancer screening recommendations unacceptable.

These recommendations, which are being supported by several national breast cancer advocacy organizations, do a serious disservice to Black women.

Two USPSTF assertions, in particular, could prove deadly for many Black women: 1) that breast self-exams do not save lives and are, therefore, unnecessary; and 2) that mammograms should be delayed until age 50 and, even then, performed only every other year. Three facts about breast cancer and Black women also make the task force’s recommendations inappropriate and potentially deadly. Black women: 1) tend to be diagnosed with breast cancer at a younger age; 2) are more likely to be diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, a more virulent form; and 3) are more likely to die of breast cancer than White women.

“I strongly disagree with the notion that preventing the psychological harms and inconvenience caused by false-positive screening results, as implied in the recommendations, outweigh the importance of saving one woman’s life. We should not be in the business of rationing care,” Eleanor Hinton Hoytt, president and CEO of the Imperative, said. “Historically, researchers have not studied Black women. Black women have not been at the forefront of the breast cancer movement, and our unique health experiences and outcomes have not been factored into policy and advocacy decisions. These recommendations completely ignore the impact of well-known breast cancer disparities affecting us.” 

Ngina Lythcott, PhD, the Imperative’s representative on the Integration Panel of the U.S. Department of Defense’s Breast Cancer Research Program, a survivor and advocate, agrees: “As a 21-year breast cancer survivor who was diagnosed and treated in my early 40s, I encourage the Imperative to continue to tell women to perform monthly breast self exams and receive annual clinical exams and mammograms to monitor their breast health. These recommendations are ill informed because they are based upon a macro review of breast cancer research that could not have included the experiences of Black women.”

The Imperative is tremendously concerned about how health insurance companies will interpret the USPSTF recommendations. Will they use them to refuse to cover the cost of mammograms before age 50, and then only every other year? Will younger Black women be denied appropriate breast cancer screening, detection, diagnosis and treatment, jeopardizing their lives?

“These new recommendations do not consider the data we have about younger African American women who have a more aggressive form of breast cancer,” asserts Zora Brown, 30-year breast cancer advocate and survivor and director of health and cultural affairs for INTEGRIS Health. “I think these recommendations are baffling, confusing and wrongheaded.”  

If Black women follow the USPSTF recommendations, breast cancer may kill many of them before they ever have their first mammogram.

The Imperative strongly recommends that Black women continue to perform monthly breast self exams, request an annual clinical breast exam performed by a health provider, and a mammogram starting as early as possible and no later than age 40.

Regina Hampton, M.D., surgical oncologist specializing in breast cancer surgery, agrees with the Imperative’s recommendations: “Mammograms are the best test we have. I am appalled that the task force would make these recommendations. I have many patients between the ages of 30 – 49, who have benefited from mammography and are survivors.”

Printed with permission from BHW Imperative 11/19/2009

Niara Sudarkasa- A Woman of High Purpose

Guest Commentary by Dr. Julianne Malveaux

Dr. Niara Sudarkasa, the first woman President of Lincoln University, has a name that reflects her reality. Niara means woman of high purpose, and that she is, indeed. After leaving Lincoln University in 1998, she traveled and consulted, and has recently been scholar-in-residence at the African American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Last week, she donated her papers and personal library, including more than 3800 books, 4100 issues of journals and periodicals, plaques and other collectibles, including the outfit she wore when she was enstooled as a chief in the Ife Kingdom of Nigeria. This is a sister and scholar whose name ought to be spoken frequently among African American people, especially those who have concerns about the African American family, and those who have interests in things African. We are more likely to know entertainers, however, than we are to know scholars. This is a scholar certainly worth knowing.

I had the honor of traveling to Fort Lauderdale to help salute Dr. Sudarkasa on the occasion of her very generous gift (valued at more than $270,000) to the library. In thinking about Niara’s life and career, I was especially focused on the work she has done as an Africanist and anthropologist, long before it was fashionable for African American people to look at our African roots. Indeed, Niara learned Yoruba as part of her doctoral work and studies the work that women did in African society for her dissertation. Her early work lays the foundation for contemporary work on linkages between Africa and the United States.

One of the things Dr. Sudarkasa developed is the concept of the seven R’s as foundations for family life. The R’s represent African family values that supported kinship structures. From a contemporary perspective, when we see the R’s absent, we can also explain some of the challenges that we face in family life. The R’s – respect, responsibility, restraint, reciprocity, reverence, reason and reconciliation – represent the highest and best in family life and indeed in civic life. Unfortunately, many are all too absent in relations and discourse today.

Niara Sudarkasa has had the blessing and the burden to be many “firsts” – the first black woman to teach at Columbia University, where she earned her doctorate; the first black woman to teach at New York University; the first African American woman to teach anthropology at the University of Michigan; the first woman to lead Lincoln University. Being a first isn’t easy – you are carrying the burden for the race, for the gender, being judged as a representative of everyone, not simply as a human being. In those first positions, stumbling is not an option. Niara has soared, and there are so many sister Presidents and sister scholars who stand on her shoulders.

Why write a column about this phenomenal woman? Because history has a way of swallowing women’s lives, and especially black women’s lives, unless we insistently step up, speak up, and tell our stories. Because Niara’s story is inspirational to young women and to not-so-young women. Because we ignore the real foundations of African American Studies if we ignore this woman’s wonderful work.

The Shriver Report was released a couple of weeks ago, a collaboration between California’s first lady, Maria Shriver, and the DC-Based Center for American Progress. It alleges that “it’s a woman’s world” because women are now the majority of American workers. Indeed, women have been the majority of our nation’s college students for about a decade. But women still earn, on average, less than men do, and women’s wages have been dropping faster than men’s in this recession. I thought of Dr. Sudarkasa as I skimmed the report, thinking of the pioneer that she is, and the ways the work world has changed (but also not changed) for women. Niara Sudarkasa is among those who paved the way for women like Maria Shriver, and so many others to contemplate the contemporary status of women.

My hat is off to this woman of high purpose, an educator, author, scholar and leader whose work has made this world a better place!

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist, author and commentator, and the Founder & Thought Leader of Last Word Productions, Inc., a multimedia production company.

Black Women’s Town Hall Convenes Leading Ladies

Photo by Fordham Images

At a time when Town Hall Meetings have been portrayed negatively, the Second Annual National Black Women’s Town Hall Meeting maintains its sisterly spirit with substantive topics, along with a solution and alliance building approach. As the moderator and Founder, I had a bird’s eye view to history being made once again with our theme clearly stating our intention, “Harnessing The Power of Change: Black Women Leading The Way Together.”

Howard University was the backdrop for our cross-generational conversation that included high profile, accomplished women alongside emerging student leaders representing Howard University, Bennett College for Women, Spelman College for Women, Prince George’s Community College, University of Maryland, Coppin State University, University of District of Columbia, Bowie State, University of Phoenix, University of Bridgeport, and Strayer University.

The evening began with my opening remarks followed by a vibrant welcome from Dr. Pamela Whetsel Ribeau, wife of Howard University’s President.  Dr. Charlene Dukes, first female President of Prince George’s Community College, helped me present the first “Emerging Greatness” Award to Shayla Price, Southeastern University Law Center.  I then presented our coveted “Landmark of Greatness” Award for Lifetime Achievement to the incomparable Faye Wattleton, President, Center for the Advancement of Women.  Her acceptance speech was gracious and rousing.  

Tina Tchen, Executive Director, White House Council on Women and Girls, brought her congratulations and reflection on our theme along with the vision for women and girls moving forward.  She also brought with her two colleagues, Karen Richardson, a Howard Alumni, White House Associate Director in Office of Public Engagement and part of ESSENCE Magazine’s October cover story, “The New Black Power,” along with Maggie Chen.   We also recognized Regina Smith, grand niece of Anna Julia Cooper, current USPS Black History Stamp Series.

Our two panels followed with insightful conversation including provocative, sometimes unexpected, comments and questions from the audience.  I was encouraged with the exchange of diverse perspectives, creative ideas, and the willingness to join forces.  We covered leadership, healthcare, domestic violence, self-esteem, mentoring, and more. 

We came away from the experience excited about the possibilities, humbled by the sisterly atmosphere that permeated the evening and a sense of direction moving forward.  Together, young, middle, and wise women were engaged in one of the most important conversations we can have; the one with each other. 

Stay tuned for the 2010 Third Annual National Black Women’s Town Hall Meeting in North Carolina hosted by Bennett College for Women.