GirlTREK

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Day 21 | Octavia Butler Jun 30, 2020

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As we close out this 21-day series, and prepare for the next (yes, there is more of this goodness to come) we end not by looking back, but by looking forward as we examine the life and legacy of the extraordinary writer, Octavia Butler, a Black woman who dared to imagine a future that centered Blackness and the voices and experiences of Black women. The invitation into her sci-fi world was an invitation for all of us to think beyond the drab expectations of a cruel reality that does not see our magic or power, to create a future that makes space for all of our glorious gifts to be on full display.
The godmother of Afrofuturism. Octavia Butler was a pioneer who traveled from the future to warn us and prepare us for a time such as this. She knew what would happen if power went unchecked, if the earth continued to be neglected, and if the wealthy were allowed to cannibalize the poor. She knew. And throughout her illustrious career as a science fiction writer, which included her winning every major award in her field, she tried to warn us. Today we listen. Today we acknowledge that an awkward Black girl with an almost paralyzing shyness was given the gift to foretell the future and that she wrote it all down in a series of masterpieces that literally read like a blueprint for survival.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music or speech excerpt played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
Janelle Monáe - Q.U.E.E.N. feat. Erykah Badu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEddixS-UoU
Octavia Butler on Charlie Rose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1W9CNwl2e8

Day 20 | Ruby Dee Jun 29, 2020

Show notes

Ruby Dee was the zeitgeist of Black womanhood. She was our Ruth in Raisin in the Sun, our Queen in Roots, our Mother-Sister in Do the Right Thing, our Mama Lucas in American Gangster. Ruby Dee's face, her soulful voice, her spirited laughter is the very epitome of Black cinema.
Her Hollywood career was phenomenal but life painted an even more brilliant story. She was an activist. A forceful member of CORE, SNCC, NAACP, Urban League, AND Delta Sigma Theta. Harlem through and through, Ruby was for us, by us.
And can we talk about Black Love?
You can’t utter the sound of her name, Ruby Dee, without your tongue clicking praise to her lover, Ossis Davis. Their love was definitive. Instructional. Swoon-worthy. ...an aperitif for our collective imagination. They gave us a master class on Black Love as Legacy. Eye contact. Hand holding. Passionate embraces. Side-by-sideness. It was, well, satisfying. They made us remember.
It is no wonder that upon their deaths, they were cremated and their ashes put in the same urn, with the inscription, "In this thing together."
Today is a celebration of Black Love, starring Ruby Dee.
...and Ossie Davis.
Join the 21 Day Black History Bootcamp at https://bit.ly/blackhistorybootcamp to receive specially curated emails with inspiring words, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each featured legendary Black woman.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music or speech excerpt played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
Stevie Wonder - If You Really Love Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmR4y4slhmo
Ruby Dee - Men Who Have Loved Me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVRzeTWP9Fk&feature=youtu.be

Day 19 | Mamie Till-Mobley Jun 27, 2020

Show notes

“Let the people see what I have seen.” Mamie Till-Mobley launched a movement with those words, insisting on an open casket funeral for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, who was brutally murdered by two white men in Mississippi. That strategic decision, and the decision to publish graphic photos from the funeral in Jet magazine, galvanized the country and forced the world to finally make eye contact with the horrors being inflicted on Black people, especially throughout the American South.
Mamie Till-Mobley was an ordinary Black woman who used her darkest hour to shine a light on injustice and mobilize the masses, and for that, we celebrate her legacy on day 19 of Black History Bootcamp.
Join the 21 Day Black History Bootcamp at https://bit.ly/blackhistorybootcamp to receive specially curated emails with inspiring words, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each featured legendary Black woman.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music or speech excerpt played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
Summertime / Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child by Mahalia Jackson: https://youtu.be/gfYlzSeSFu4
Mamie Till Speaks of Forgiveness: https://youtu.be/6Q3ZOCjkEwY

Day 18 | Dovey Johnson Roundtree Jun 25, 2020

Show notes

No Black women were in the military? She changed that. No Black women were in law school at Howard? Bam. Now there are. Black women everywhere were forced to give up their seats on buses? Before the Freedom Rides or RFK could call a press conference, it was her landmark case that waged the first blow against “separate but equal”. She was the first Black woman admitted to the all-white DC Bar Association. ...one of the first women to be ordained as a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. And as she did all of this justice work, and ran her DC law firm on “greens and leftover pound cake” as payment, she moonlighted at the post office to pay the bills. We gone celebrate her today.
If Black excellence had a name, it would be Dovey Johnson Roundtree.
Just two days ago, June 22, 2020, Netflix made a historic investment of $40 million to Spelman College. Spelman named this unprecedented scholarship after one woman: Dovey Johnson Roundtree. “The Fixer” of The People. A one-woman crusade. Today we salute this unsung hero.
Join the 21 Day Black History Bootcamp at https://bit.ly/blackhistorybootcamp to receive specially curated emails with inspiring words, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each featured legendary Black woman.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music or speech excerpt played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
Betty Everett - Shoop Shoop Song (it´s in his kiss): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4KN6TFhy2I
Dovey Roundtree: Howard Law School: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7ng_My7jtU&mc_cid=9d55451262&mc_eid=b187d8127e

Day 17 | Rosetta Tharpe Jun 24, 2020

Show notes

It makes sense to us that God would plant the blueprint of rock 'n' roll into the soul of a little Black girl born in a town called Cotton Plant. Sister Rosetta Tharpe sang music that was infused with the melodies of Black folks who understood loss and survival. A child prodigy who was touring with her preacher mother and a troupe of evangelical musicians by the age of 6, Rosetta Tharpe dared to combine the sacred with the secular, mixing gospel music with rhythm and blues to create a rock 'n' roll sound that would change the world. But it is her life, not just her music that we will gather to talk about on today’s call. From this woman – queer, Black, bold, and brave – we learn about living authentically, taking risks, and understanding your value. Join us for the live discussion or download the recap. Either way, tune in to this history!
Join the 21 Day Black History Bootcamp at https://bit.ly/blackhistorybootcamp to receive specially curated emails with inspiring words, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each featured legendary Black woman.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
Hallelujah (1979) - COGIC International Mass Choir: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4bzWtOLEzA I
"Up Above My Head" - Sister Rosetta Tharpe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeaBNAXfHfQ

Day 16 | Stagecoach Mary Jun 23, 2020

Show notes

If John Henry has a folk song this woman needs one too!
Introducing Stagecoach Mary a.k.a. Mary Fields a.k.a. Black Mary.
At 60-years old she was the fastest person - man or woman - in the state of Montana to hitch a team of six horses to a coach. She was the first Black woman to earn a US Postal Service contract. She drove that team of horses for eight years, through rough and wild territories of the West. In the winter, the snow was so deep that she’d leave the horses behind and carry-on with the mail on her back. She never missed a day. Not a single day. She carried a shotgun to demand respect. She once got kicked out of a Catholic convent for using it. When the law banned women from drinking in saloons, she got an exception from the mayor.
“I fight through rainstorms...snowstorms ...risk hurricanes and tornadoes. I like to be rough. I like to be rowdy. I also like to be loving ...caring." We are the daughters of hard and soft. ...that edge hitting a soft breeze. We are electric. The storm of posibility. Like the clap of Juneteenth in the middle of global meltdown. Like the swirl and swagger of Mary Fields.
"I do bold and exciting things." she confessed.
Cheers foremother. Cheers!
(She needs her own folk song.)
Join the 21 Day Black History Bootcamp at https://bit.ly/blackhistorybootcamp to receive specially curated emails with inspiring words, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each featured legendary Black woman.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music or speech excerpt played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
More Bounce To The Ounce - Zapp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1ijvN7ADt4
Our Vision Is Our Voice - Sonia Sanchez: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckFKVT2fzJk&feature=youtu.be

Day 15 | Ida B. Wells Jun 22, 2020

Show notes

Born to enslaved parents, one year before the Emancipation Proclamation, Ida B. Wells was once considered the most famous Black woman in the United States. As a journalist, she spent her entire life tirelessly fighting to tell the truth and shame the devil – to their face. She wasn’t afraid to pick a fight and she always seemed to show up prepared for battle, with the truth on her side. We think her life is a lesson for all of us and on today’s call we will honor her by speaking truth to power. We promise it’s a conversation you don’t want to miss.
Join the 21 Day Black History Bootcamp at https://bit.ly/blackhistorybootcamp to receive specially curated emails with inspiring words, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each featured legendary Black woman.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music or speech excerpt played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
Lost Ones - Lauryn Hill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HhfKArW3BY
Beautiful Black Men - Nikki Giovanni: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DX6i_4WSXQ

Day 14 | Angela X Jun 18, 2020

Show notes

Why hasn’t someone made this into a movie!?
Angola is the huge country below the equator on the west coast of Africa. That’s where it all started. ...ground zero for the transatlantic slave trade. White missionaries, greed, exploitative trade, tech advances that made exploration by sea possible, a massive need for labor and yes, tribal wars. It was the perfect storm for the greatest crime in human history, the capture, sale, and violent exportation of our ancestors.
Yes, and we know that the first enslaved Africans arrived in America 400 years ago, in 1619. The next part is not as well known.
20 or so Africans were the first to walk on American soil. They were survivors. They survived wars on the continent. They survived a 70-mile walk down the Kwanza River. They survived the humiliation of baptism and branding by Catholic traders of enslaved people. They survived the dungeons, the canoe ride to the ships, the months at sea, the sickness, filth, violence, and murder. They survived the day that their Portuguese ship was jacked by British pirates in little-ass boats. They sailed to America and were sold on the shores of Hampton, Virginia.
They survived.
And one of those survivors was a woman named Angela.
...In Virginia, Angela X lived with Captain Whoever and his wife and two other indentured servants from England. Slavery wasn’t legally codified yet. We know this because, in 2017, something amazing happened. Buried beneath her home in Jamestown, archeologists found four cowrie shells. Evidence of her journey - the most exciting archeological find in decades – or ever – if you ask us.
Today, we honor Angela and every African woman whose names we will never know.
Join us in a conversation about survival and the systematic destruction of Black women that began on the coast of Africa and was fortified through The Virginia Code just 50 years after Angela arrived.
Join the 21 Day Black History Bootcamp at https://bit.ly/blackhistorybootcamp to receive specially curated emails with inspiring words, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each featured legendary Black woman.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
Celie Shaves Mr./Scarification Ceremony (From "The Color Purple" Soundtrack): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFTvbp-Fjkk
Still I Rise by Maya Angelou: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qviM_GnJbOM&feature=youtu.be

Day 13 | Lucille Clifton Jun 17, 2020

Show notes

Lucille Clifton was the GOAT. The fact that we are not all walking around quoting her like we do Jay-Z or Drake is beyond understanding. She could have stepped into a booth with either of them, holding a cup of chamomile tea, and whispered two bars (because she liked to get to the point), drop the mic and walk out. It would have been over. Her words are so stunning. So precise. So full of celebration for Black people. You could quote only Lucille Clifton poems for the rest of your Instagram life and you would never run out of profound things to say. And this masterful body of work came from a woman who wrote for 30 years before being published. A woman who had six children and buried two, but still kept on living and producing beautiful art. There is so much to learn from this legendary writer. Don't miss the conversations.
Join the 21 Day Black History Bootcamp at https://bit.ly/blackhistorybootcamp to receive specially curated emails with inspiring words, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each featured legendary Black woman.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music or speech excerpt played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
“Won't You Celebrate With Me” | Lucille Clifton: https://vimeo.com/197834578
Lucille Clifton & Sonia Sanchez: Mirrors & Windows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8aCnU9oArI

Day 12 | Eartha Kitt Jun 16, 2020

Show notes

Orson Welles called her “the most exciting woman in the world.” And she was. Eartha Kitt sang in 11 languages. Danced with Katherine Dunham. Broke boundaries for Black women in Hollywood when she played Catwoman. She was nominated for Tony Awards, Grammy Awards, and Emmys. And still, she felt unwanted, unloved. At the end, she was asked to summarize her life in six words. She said, “Rejected, ejected, dejected, used, accused, abused.”
Join the 21 Day Black History Bootcamp at https://bit.ly/blackhistorybootcamp to receive specially curated emails with inspiring words, survival tips, speeches + dedicated songs to listen to for each featured legendary Black woman.
Disclaimer: We do not own the rights to the music or speech excerpt played during this broadcast. Original content can be found here:
Eartha Kitt - Live 1968: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdsHKw6939k
Eartha Kitt Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpPq8vlld_E&mc_cid=6605522284&mc_eid=b187d8127e

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