Womanism Hear Me Roar

Over the next 9 months, The Atlanta Women’s Foundation will host a series to provide opportunities for dialogue and new learnings in conjunction with its Faith, Feminism and Philanthropy Initiative. The first group of dialogues will focus on the ‘isms’. The ‘isms’ are often described as those attitudes and actions which hold into place the oppressions that separate and deny equal access and opportunities—racisms, ageism, sexism, classism are just a few.

An undercurrent of both the Suffragist and Feminist movements is that neither was inclusive of women across race and class (Sojourner Truth’s Ain’t I a Woman, eloquently brought attention to this). We will begin this series by exploring Womanism which moves toward uniting and reconciling people across differences.

Womanism is a term which grew out of the frustration of disenfranchisement and provides a wider, more inclusive theory to include all persons committed to justice and equality. First coined by Alice Walker, she describes womanism as: womanism is to purple, as feminism is to lavender. Womanism is a social change perspective which invites all persons, men and women, to work toward ending oppression for all people and uniting who we are across a spiritual dimension. Even with this short definition, one can begin to glimpse why womanism is aligned with the deep, rich color of purple.

Dr. Layli Phillips, Associate Professor in the Women’s Studies Institute, at Georgia State University, has just released her book The Womanist Reader. Please join us, and bring someone who is different from yourself, for this thought provoking exchange of ideas. Knowledge is indeed power.

Dialogue with Dr. Layli Phillips on Womanism
Tuesday, March 6
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Light Supper
The Selig Center
1440 Spring Street, NW

Contact rsvp@atlantawomen.org or 404-577-5000, ext. 146 by February 28th to save a place on March 6th.

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