New Directions in the Field of Black Women's History

Session Submission Type: Panel Session

Abstract

Since its inception practitioners of Black women's history have unveiled and unearthed innovative studies that have challenged and complicated the conventional understandings of the lives and experiences of Black women. The compelling narratives that emerged from these historical inquiries, methods, and interpretations have further enriched the contours of Black history. Papers for this panel engage with the intricate, complex, and multilayered histories of Black women, with a focus on epistemic violence, gendered violence, and political violence that raged during the long twentieth century. Presenters—Gloria J. Ashaolu, LaShawn Harris, and Jada J. Gannaway—explore the wide-ranging inequalities and the response of Black women and offer reflections on the process of chronicling the visible and invisible truths buried in the archive. Ashaolu examines the anti-racist systems of knowledge and educational practices of local Black women teachers during the Early Black History Movement. Harris traces the structural inequalities and discriminatory practices embedded within the stories of Black women’s homicides in the Interwar Era. Gannaway explores the transnational landscape of the Black Power Movement through Black women’s activism in two locales: Trinidad and London.

Sub Unit

• 109th ASALH Annual Conference

Chair

• Sharita Jacobs Thompson, Independent Scholar

Individual Presentations

• Black Women Educators' Pedagogy, Praxis, and Curriculum as Activism during the Early Twentieth Century - Gloria J. Ashaolu, Michigan State University

• The Capital City Murders: Black Women and Serial Murder in Interwar Era Washington, D. C. - LaShawn Harris, Michigan State University

• The Battle for Freedom: The Mangrove Demonstration (1970) - Jada Gannaway, Michigan State University

Commentator

• Pero Dagbovie, Michigan State University