Afternoon Tertulia: Women of Color and Grassroots Activism

Join CENTRO and CUNY’s Hunter College for an Afternoon Tertulia on feminist action as a response to intersectional oppression within grassroots organizations of the sixties and seventies. This tertulia brings together authors Ericka Huggins, of the Black Panther Party, Iris Morales, of the Young Lords, and Patricia Romney, of the Third World Women’s Alliance, for a panel around their experiences as women within these organizations. The collective fruits of the grassroots activism of the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords, and the Third World Women’s alliance has empowered members of marginalized Black and Brown communities to stand up and demand what’s theirs. This courage is even more remarkable when it’s intersectional and involves Black and Brown women.

Women made up 60% of the Black Panther Party, yet were relegated to more “domestic” support, and the women in the Young Lords pushed back against patriarchal thinking and behavior and homophobia within their organization before it was common for many grassroots organizations to do so. Comrade Sisters: Women of the Black Panther Party E. Huggins, (2022), Revisiting Herstories: The Young Lords Party – I. Morales, (2023) and We Were There: The Third World Women’s Alliance and the Second Wave – P. Romney (2021) provide essential insight into the role of women in the justice movements of the sixties and seventies.

This event will have simultaneous English to Spanish translation for virtual participants.

This event will be held in person at Roosevelt House and online via Zoom.