Women of Color: The Power of Protest is a series of three panel discussions that will draw attention to activism and social justice through the lens of historic and contemporary women of color.

Panel Discussion 3: November 14: Ain’t I A Woman: Activism, Legacy and Our Quest for Justice

The National Portrait Gallery presents the final of three lectures in Women of Color: The Power of Protest with the panel—Ain’t I A Woman: Activism, Legacy and Our Quest for Justice. The program will re-insert the historical narrative of African American women’s voices as a vehicle of protest in American history and feature contemporary activists, cultural critics, scholars, and writers. Some of the themes that will be explored are intersectional identity and critical race theory as it pertains to the four waves of feminism. The first wave--the suffrage movement will be the starting point, but will continue through the fourth wave. Iconic African American women such as Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrell and other black women who have fought arduously for equality and social justice; not only for women, but for their race will be illuminated. Historical Revisionism as a vital means in chronicling our nation’s history as it relates to identity and socio-political empowerment of African American women will be examined and discussed.

Image Credit (left to right): Zitkala-Ša (detail) by Joseph T. Keiley, photogravure, 1898 (printed 1901). National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Wedding Souvenirs (detail) by Njideka Akunyili Crosby, acrylic, colored pencil, collage, and commemorative fabric on paper, 2016; National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution. Sojourner Truth (detail) by Randall Studio, albumen silver.