Hi, I’m Jackie Strohm, the Prevention & Resource Coordinator at the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape. Today’s episode will be a bit different than others you may have listened to in the past. It’s February, and the start of Black History Month. But we think it’s important to be learning and talking about Black history all the time. So, over the next few months, to celebrate and highlight stories of people that advanced the anti-sexual violence movement, particularly Black women, we are starting a new series of mini-episodes called History You Should Know. Trust me -- we tried to fit it all into one episode -- and there’s too many amazing people and significant events that we want to feature. So, knowing that February is Black History Month, March is Women’s History Month, and April is Black Women’s History Month, over the next several months we will be sharing a series of shorter episodes so you can learn all about these people and events and their contributions to our movement. But before we share our first mini-episode, we wanted to spend some time reflecting on and learning about how history has been told, and how our history continues to impact the world today. Let’s start with learning about the origins of Black History Month. According to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Black History Month first began in 1926 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Woodson is known as the “father of Black History.” He was the son of former enslaved people, and although he did not begin his formal education until he was almost 20 years old, he understood how important education was. In 1912, he was the second African American to earn a PhD at Harvard University. And in 1915, he co-founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History as a way to research and promote achievements by Black Americans and other peoples of African descent. Woodson first initatied the celebration of Negro History Week, which corresponded with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. The event inspired schools and communities nationwide to organize local celebrations, establish history clubs, and host performances and lectures. By the late 1960s, thanks in part to the Civil Rights Movement and a growing awareness of Black identity, this week had evolved into Black History Month on many college campuses. In 1976, this celebration was expanded to include the entire month of February, where President Gerald Ford called upon the public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” Then, in 1986, Congress designated February as “National Black (Afro-American) History Month.” This law noted that February 1, 1986 would “mark the beginning of the sixtieth annual public and private salute to Black History” and directed the President to issue a proclamation, which said “the foremost purpose of Black History Month is to make all Americans aware of this struggle for freedom and equal opportunity… and to celebrate the many achievements of African Americans in every field from science and the arts to politics and religion.” Since 1996, Presidents have issued annual proclamations for National African American History Month. I’m sure many of us while growing up, myself included, celebrated Black History Month in school. Our teachers would choose a few people, like Rosa Parks, and share that person’s story and contributions to American society. But as an adult, I’m realizing that so much of what we were taught, wasn’t the whole story. For example, did you know that Rosa Parks was a sexual assault investigator? No? I didn’t either. We almost only ever hear about Parks and her involvement in the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycotts -- but she did much more than refuse to give up her seat. There are many other stories like this. And we owe it to ourselves and our history to learn the whole truth. On our eLearning campus, we recently released an updated version of our course: History and Philosophy, that we encourage all Pennsylvania sexual assault advocates to take. The update to the course further explores the connections between sexism, racism, and sexual violence in US history, and how the anti-sexual violence movement is part of a tradition of advocating for social change. Telling our history is an active and creative process. It is also a contentious and difficult one. For every historical period or event, there are many perspectives about which stories are worth telling, what really happened, and what lessons we should take away. We learn from stories about where we come from, why things are the way they are, and what our communities value. We also learn about power. The stories that are told most often are the ones that reflect positively on people with more power, while the voices of people with less power are too often marginalized, re-written, or silenced. But because of racism, classism, and other oppressions, the stories of many early leaders in the struggle to end sexual violence - particularly Black, Indigenous, and other women of color - have often been overlooked, and in some cases lost. Meanwhile, the stories that are told and re-told often leave out choices and mistakes made at the expense of marginalized communities, often by white leaders of the movement. As we reflect on the history of the movement to end sexual violence, centering the stories of those who have been marginalized and acknowledging the complexity of both successes and missteps can help us better understand how we’ve arrived at where we are, and set our path to where we want to go now. A quote shared early on in the course illustrates how important it is for us to tell the full truth of our movement: “Black, other Third World, and working women have been involved in the feminist movement from its start, but both outside reactionary forces and racism and elitism within the movement itself have served to obscure our participation,” which was written in Combahee River Collective Statement in 1977. The course focuses on five “peaks” of anti-rape movements in the United States and highlights significant people and events - many of which we will highlight in upcoming mini-episodes. The first peak starts in the 17 and 1800s and lasts through the Civil War, highlighting the fight for abolition and tribal sovereignty. The second peak spans from the 1930s through the 1960s during the Civil Rights Movement, and focuses on Rosa Parks. The third peak focuses on the start of rape crisis center in the 1970s, specifically highlighting Pennsylvania’s history. The fourth peak highlights national attention on the topic of Sexual Violence in the 1990s through the early 2000s, with a focus on Anita Hill, the Violence Against Woman Act, and the start of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. And the fifth peak highlights where we are today in the 21st century, focusing on the #MeToo movement and other activism against sexual violence. If you’re listening to this and you’re a sexual assault advocate, please know that your work makes a world of difference to the individual survivors you support. At the same time, we must recognize that our work will also build on the collective efforts of generations of survivors, activists, and advocates who came before us, and worked to change systems, laws, and society. Knowing the history of this movement, and feeling your connection to the brave and creative leaders who came before you, can help sustain you when the work is challenging. And while this movement has achieved extraordinary success in bringing about legal, political, and cultural change --there is still more work to be done. You are a part of this movement. You have inherited its legacy, and you will help to shape its future. Thanks for listening to this episode of PA Centered. That’s all the time we have today, but stay tuned for our first mini episode of History You Should Know.