Decolonizing education: Senegal Study-Abroad Reflections
Song for Senegal Where European and African collide, the colonizer and the colonized; Where French and Wolof exist separately and together, like Muslims and Christians, mainly Muslims; Where American sports t-shirts walk along side African dresses and African robes; Where the blue-green ocean, with white capped waves, complements the reds, yellows, golds, whites, oranges, purples, […]
I AM A #SURVIVOR: Finding the Courage to Speak and Act against Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence
“Domestic and intimate partner violence always leaves its mark. Those of us, including me, who are lucky still have our lives. For some, the mark is a headstone.” Menah Pratt A photo of Tarana Burke reminds us of our responsibility to do something! Today is #HumanRightsDay. It is the last day of 16 days of […]
What is Your Renaissance?: Lessons from Beyoncé
The image for this post is drawn from the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art exhibit in Atlanta that just ended. The exhibit “Harmonia Rosales: Master Narrative” entwines West African religion and art techniques of the Renaissance period. Pictured here: Rosales’ work “The Birth of Oshun.” Learn more about the Afro-Cuban artist who reimagines Renaissance […]
Lessons Learned: Love, Loss, and Love Again
I just finishing watching “Love Again,” a movie that came out in 2023 with Celine Dion and Priyanka Chopra, on a flight from Portland to Minneapolis. I loved it. I’m a romantic at heart, a lover of Hallmark, Pretty Woman, and watching romances that end with kisses and kisses. The movie spoke to me in […]
On “Qualified Women and Minorities”
I am a descendant of African-American slaves. One of my ancestors is my great grandmother – Rose Hubbard Thirkill – from the Thirkill Plantation in Alabama. She is in this picture, with my great grandfather – George, and my grandmother, as a 3 year-old girl, Eula. Enslaved Africans in America were prohibited and often even […]
It’s Time for Women Warriors in the World: Lessons from Africa about Life and Leadership
Ethiopia. The only country on the continent that was not colonized A place of fields, Plains of grains, Expansive yellows blending into sunrises and sunsets. Ethiopia. Teeming with Black bodies, masses moving through streets With mules, Carts and cars, Smells of spices and sweat. Intermingled. Ethiopia. Home to Lalibela, a sacred site of 11 […]
Simon Says, “Take Two Giant Steps Backward.”
This post is dedicated to President Joanne Epps, interim president of Temple University and Dr. Orinthia T. Montague, President of Volunteer State Community College, two Black women presidents who died this week. It is also dedicated to all the women of color for whom I founded the Faculty Women of Color in the Academy National […]
A Summer of #BlackGirlMagic
I played professional tennis after I graduated from high school. My dad was my coach. I had tears running down my face after Coco won and she hugged her father and mother. I felt like I understood the feeling, even if just a little bit. But more importantly, I was so happy to be witnessing […]
You say you want to be an ally, but do you really?
You say you want to be an ally, but do you really? Original post, July, 2020. Updated August 2023. You say you want to be an ally, but do you really? If so, Show Up. Step In. Stand In. Stay In. In July 2020, three black women and three white women had an “open conversation.” […]
Looking for Justice: Metaphors, Children’s Books, and the Three Little Pigs
Chronicles of ACE: Volume 1, No. 1 I am starting my ACE Fellowship bootcamp tomorrow. Before descending into non-stop conversation about leadership and higher education, I needed to find a little respite. I headed across the street to the Minnesota Wildife Refuge. Unexpectedly, I walked upon a lending library I love these and how they […]