Black liberation, covid diaries, Dance, In the News, Resilience, self-love, Social Justice, What is the work
I spent more than a year developing the Black Womanhood (Re-)Affirmation Project. Writing down what I wanted it to be, conducting interviews and surveys to find out if anyone else wanted the same thing, testing out an online course, and finally reconciling what I...
Black Lives Matter, Feminism, Gender, History, In the News, Race, Reproductive Justice, Social Justice, Tyranny
Upon the news of Justice Kennedy’s retirement, I, like most other freedom-loving people I know, fell into despair. Others were quick to remind those of us falling into the abyss that Black folks have endured and survived circumstances infinitely worse than what...
![The Role of the [Unknown] Artist](https://www.mariamwilliams.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Window-look-e1514861803736-1080x675.jpeg)
Education, Gender, Pop Culture, Race, Social Justice, The Writing Life, Tyranny
Posted Jan 1, 2018, 10:03 P.M. On December 7, 2017, I went to see Ntozake Shange in conversation with Yolanda Wisher, Philadelphia’s current Poet Laureate, at the Free Library of Philadelphia. At about the 22 minute mark, Wisher asks Shange, “What do you think...
![Cause of [Erica’s] Death](https://www.mariamwilliams.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Screen-Shot-2017-12-30-at-11.07.57-PM-930x675.png)
Black Lives Matter, In the News, Race, Social Justice, Trigger warning, Tyranny
Update, Dec. 30, 2017: Erica Garner died early Saturday, Dec. 30. A family spokesperson announced news of her passing via her official Twitter account. Erica Garner, 27, a well-known activist and daughter of the late Eric Garner, suffered brain damage following a...
Best Of, Black Love, Feminism, History, In the News, Pleasure, Race, Religion Faith and Spirituality, Sex, Social Justice, Tyranny, Writing Intimacy
For two weeks after the election, I wrote nothing. I was enrolled in two writing workshops for my MFA, and I wrote nothing. I submitted a poem I had written over the summer and didn’t bother to revise for my poetry workshop that week. The following week, I skipped my...
Best Of, Feminism, Religion Faith and Spirituality, Reproductive Justice, Social Justice
At a table on the quiet side of the room, five black women are talking. Sex. Helping a friend buy her first vibrator. Midwifery. Crunk Feminist Collective. Sexual health education. A sexual health education session in an AME church. The girls asked the sex...
Best Of, Black Lives Matter, In the News, Race, Social Justice, Trigger warning
Originally published June 20, 2015 I’m willing to let this one go. Earlier this month, Louisville Metro Police Officer Nathan Blanford shot Deng Manyoun, a Sudanese refugee, after Manyoun attacked him with a flag pole. Though I do believe, can envision, can imagine,...
Black Love, History, Social Justice
Originally published in the Courier-Journal on Sept. 28, 2014 and edited by Pam Platt. For the past several months, as staff at the University of Louisville Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, I have been compiling newspaper clippings, archival...
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