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“Life is a hard battle anyway. If we laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight of freedom, it makes it all go easier.”-Sojourner Truth
The Fredericksburg Area Museum is thrilled to announce a new program series entitled A Space of Our Own: Black Women in Community. Created by Dr. Gaila Sims, Curator of African American History and FAM’s VP of Programs and Interpretation, the first meeting of A Space of Our Own will be on Thursday, January 16th from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on the museum’s third floor. Subsequent meetings will be on the third Thursday of the month, with the next two meetings on Thursday, February 20th and Thursday, March 20th.
Fredericksburg has long benefitted from the talent, ingenuity, and activism of African American women, from the enslaved women who performed domestic and agricultural labor on area plantations, to the free women who clandestinely taught local children to read, to the community organizers who led the sit-in movement in the mid-twentieth century, to contemporary leaders in local arts, education, music, business, and nonprofit organizations. There is a long legacy of Black women’s community work in this area, and the FAM is honored to be able to give back just a little to those who have given so much.
Inspired in part by the Sojourner Truth quotation above, the intention of this program is to provide space for Black women in our community to come together, relax, and care for one another. We aim to foster intergenerational conversations, networking, and communal comfort. Dr. Sims invites Black women of all ages, backgrounds, perspectives, and regions to a general interest meeting on Thursday, January 16th starting at 6:30 p.m. Light refreshments, craft supplies, and conversation starters will be provided. Attendees are welcome to bring board games, puzzles, books, art-making materials, and snacks, if desired. Dress comfortably and bring friends! Trusted allies are welcome, but this program prioritizes Black women’s needs and experiences.
Please direct questions to [email protected].
From Dr. Sims: “I count myself among an incredibly long and deeply important legacy of African American women. From the Black women from whom I am descended, to the Black women who taught me how to do historical research, from the Black women activists who have done so much for this country, to the Black women I count among my family, friends, and colleagues in Fredericksburg, I have been the beneficiary of so much love and support, and I hope that this program conveys even a small amount of my gratitude for the community of Black women of which I am part.”
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
907 Princess Anne St, Fredericksburg, VA, United States, Virginia 22401
