Melanin Monday Motivator - Beverly Daniel Tatum

"Every single day, cite a woman of color" Melissa Harris Perry....Soooo now I'm loudly quoting them on Mondays...

Today's #melaninmonday motivator:

Beverly Daniel Tatum

Beverly Tatum earned a B.A. in Psychology from Wesleyan University. She received her M.A in Clinical Psychology in 1976 from the University of Michigan, and a PhD in clinical Psychology in 1984, also from the University of Michigan. In 2000, she received an M.A. in religious studies from Hartford Seminary.

Dr. Tatum spent 33 years in academia.  In the last 13 years of her career, she served as President of Spelman.  During that time she also spent over 10 years as a clinical psychologist.  She's also written several articles and books on race and education.  One of her most popular books is 'Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting in the Cafeteria?'  

"This IS what a Black woman sounds like"

Beverly Daniel Tatum

Melanin Monday Motivator - Awesomely Luvvie

In my last post I explained my inspiration for #melaninmonday motivators when I heard Melissa Harris Perry say, "Every single day, cite a woman of color." Soooo now I'm loudly quoting them on Mondays...

Today's #melaninmonday motivator:

Awesomely Luvvie

Now if you haven't heard of Luvvie, I'm not sure where you've been living your life.  She is Luvvie Ajayi. She is an author, speaker, traveler, shoe lover and organization runner.  She also has a tech blog, Awesomely Techie and an Instagram just for her shoes, MustLuvvShoes.   Many people know her as Awesomely Luvvie which is the name of her main blog (and newsletter) which covers everything from Scandal to Game of Thrones to issues of social justice to just plain shade and side eye.  

I first found Luvvie online when I started watching Scandal in season 3.  I had to catch up, but did not have the time or patience to binge watch it.  Her Scandal recaps give me LIFE.  To be honest most of her posts, especially the side eye ones impact me the same way.  For those of us who live in environments where we do not see ourselves or our perspective reflected on a daily basis, we truly appreciate Luvvie’s voice. And for those who are from another culture, like one of my Fillipino friends, they also love Luvvie.  There's even a glossary for the cultural language and references that non-Black folk may not understand because...Luvvie.

In addition to writing, Luvvie also co-founded the Red Pump Project which is a nonprofit organization that raises awareness about the impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls.  And with her love of shoes, it is no surprise that they use the Red Pump as a symbol of empowerment to represent the strength and courage of women affected by AIDS.  The Red Pump Project conducts prevention outreach and educational workshops across the country.  

I like to use a person's own words when highlighting them because it gives insight into who they are and who they aim to be.  According to the bio on her site:

“Writer (and Author). Digital Strategist. Red Pump Rocker. Techie. Professional Troublemaker.  I am a Wacky Wordsmith. Pop Culture PrimaDonna. Side-Eye Sorceress. Bodacious Blogger. Witch of Wit. Dynamic Digerati with a Superior Shoe Game. Admirer of Alliteration.”

On September 13, her new book, I'm Judging You:  The Do Better Manual, will be released in stores and online.  I just pre-ordered my copy today and you should too!  You can pre-order I'm Judging You here:  http://luvvie.org/im-judging-you-book/  She's also recorded the audiobook herself.  The book is available in bulk in case you want to want to feature her for your fall book club as well.  Her book tour will be announced will be announced later this summer.

So now that I've told you a little about Luvvie, let me quote her.  This quote comes from one of my favorite posts of 2016, "It was Hella Onyx:  The Blackest Black History Month Ever."  In this post, Luvvie hillariously and truthfully talks about how February 2016 was the dopest Black History Month in recent history.  She suggests that we keep it going with a Black History Year because:

"Once you go UBER Black, you can't go back."

Luvvie Ajayi

So we're giving a shout out and a huge thank you to Luvvie for continually sharing her gifts and her voice with us.  This is only the beginning for you and in your own words...

"My gifts have opened that door for me, and they will continue to put me amongst the greats."

Luvvie Ajayi

Melanin Monday

It was late Friday morning, and I was sitting in a session of a conference.  This was my 2nd conference of the week and I was beat.  As the session was wrapping up, my mind began to wander..I thought of something I read on Luvvie's blog earlier this year.  She says this is a hella onyx year and she is absolutely right. (Read Luvvie's post here) Then I started trying to think of days of the week...like Melanin Monday.  Welp, that's just about as far as I got.  I started to send a tweet to Luvvie and ask her to name the rest of the days of the week for us but she's already named the months of the year so... how about we do something ourselves?  So I thought maybe we could name the days of the week the Ghanaian people name their kids, so Tuesday could be Araba Tuesday. At any rate, I stopped at Melanin Monday.

Actually all last week, I had been thinking about the keynote address that I heard Melissa Harris Perry give on intersectionality last Tuesday at the NCWIT Summit. (National Center for Women in Technology)  Believe me when I tell you that speech and even the Q&A after was EVERYTHING!!!!  I tried to take pictures, but they were not clear enough.  I attempted to live tweet it, but I could not keep up with her.  So then I tried to Periscope it, but only got the end of the Q&A session.  One thing I took away from her was this:  "Every single day, cite a woman of color."   Now you have to watch her speech to get the full context (I told you I could not keep up).  I am, however going to take it a step further.  Every single day, support a woman of color.

I know good and well with my current schedule, that I am not going to write a blog post about a Black woman every day because...well... LIFE :)  What I can do is start a #melaninmonday series where I highlight a living Black woman that has a broad impact on society as we know it.  I have 14 lined up so far.  These women are authors, scientists, educators, mathematicians and entertainers and they all impact various facets of culture, society and the world.  The next step would be for each of us as individuals to recognize the Black women in each of our lives who impact us on a daily basis.

Any ways...here goes..I'm off to write my #melaninmonday post...

"Don't get took. Read a book."

A few days ago I came across this blog post, "28 Black Picture Books That Aren' About Boycotts, Buses or Basketball."  In the post, librarian, writer, poet Scott Woods give 28 recommendationa of more recent books about Black kids that hoghlight various aspects of our culture.  You can read his post here:   https://scottwoodsmakeslists.wordpress.com/2016/01/30/28-black-picture-books-that-arent-about-boycotts-buses-or-basketball/

I have been looking for books for my younger cousin, neice and nephews.  Before I buy the books, I have decided to read a few of them myself.  

The first one is The Book Itch by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson.  This book tells about Black bookstore owner, Lewis Henri Micheaux from the perspective of his son as a young boy.  Lewis' passion for books and sharing books with the community is evidenced by the words he spoke and the way he ran his store.  Quotes such as "Don't get took. Read a book" and "Books will help him clear the weeds and plant the seeds so he can succeed" were commons in his store and in his home.  This is a goid book about a part of our history and piece of American history. 

You can buy it on Amazon here:  http://www.amazon.com/Book-Itch-Greatest-Bookstore-Carolrhoda-ebook/dp/B013V6OF6O/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1454391493&sr=8-1&keywords=The+book+itch