A program titled “From Selma To Ferguson: African American Women As Agents of Change” will highlight Women’s History Month at JSU on Wednesday, March 18.
Sponsored by the Jackson chapter of The Links, Inc., in collaboration with the Women’s Council for Philanthropy at JSU, the program will focus on young, college-aged women and the need to create more “sister activists” within the African-American community.
The 6 p.m. event at the Student Union Ballroom A is free and open to the public.
The event was brought to the JSU campus by the Women’s Council, said Gwen Caples, director of the JSU Welcome Center, who is coordinating student ambassadors to serve as hostesses and helping to get the word out about the event.
“The program will be presented at a critical time as America celebrates and commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March while protests are ongoing throughout the nation in response to police brutality in Ferguson, Mo., New York and other cities. Young women need to get involved and stay involved in this and other causes,” according to Betty A. Mallett, chair, Jackson Links.
“Although African-American women have always been involved in political and social movements, all too often their roles were limited and sometimes rendered invisible (remember that no women spoke at The March on Washington!),” Mallett said.
Young women are often not motivated to get involved in causes because of a lack of female role models in leadership positions. The Jackson Links chapter and the Women’s Council want to change that. The program will feature a panel of female activists who will discuss organization strategies and ways for young women to become change agents.
Panelists include:
— Dr. Ivye Allen: chief executive officer, Foundation for the Mid-South, and president, Jackson MS Chapter of the Links, Inc.;
— Nsombi Lambright, director of Resource Development and Communications of One Voice and former executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Mississippi;
— Kenya Collins, state director, Obama For America-Mississippi (2012);
— Constance Gordon, Gordon Consulting Group (LGBT Rights);
— Natalie Nicholson, Jackson State University student and JSU Student Ambassador.
For more information, contact the JSU Welcome Center or Caples at 601-979-0883 or gwendolyn.caples@jsums.edu.