Open House: Looking for Black women in the archives

Professor Jamele Watkins and the students in the seminar GER 155/AAAS 155J/CSRE 155J: "Global Black Feminism" would like to invite the Stanford community to an Open House in the IC Classroom of Green Library. 

On display will be materials from Special Collections related to Black feminism in its local and international context. Often Black women are only found in archival holdings by looking at collections related to famous male figures, such as Huey P. Newton, Herbert Aptheker, and Marlon Riggs. In addition to looking at these items, we will explore underutilized women’s papers. Elaine Brown, Angela Davis, Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Smith, and other Black women scholar/activists are represented through their own writing, media, and in the eyes of others. 

Students will also highlight work done by those at Stanford in preserving the personal experiences of important civil rights activists, such as the Project South interview with Fannie Lou Hamer and others. Reading these materials together gives us a fuller picture of the work that Black women have done on campus and around the world. 

Please join us in celebrating Black History Month through our engagement with archival materials!

Image caption: Black Star Agency, Returns: Coretta Scott King with her daughter, Bernice, opening mail. Image from the Bob Fitch photography archive, © Stanford University Libraries.