2022: Black History Month Everywhere

Black history doesn’t begin and end with the United States. And Women’s History Month isn’t the only time that gender justice organizations should be looking at the past. If we take the time to look, Black history, activism, and resistance are found across the globe. For Black History Month, Global Fund for Women will be celebrating Black leaders and organizations who see the African diaspora as the basis to build solidarity; who are guided by Pan-Africanism; and who fight to end patriarchy, imperialism, and colonialism. Follow #BHMEverywhere to learn more fascinating facts for Black History Month.

Black History Month Everywhere LEaders

Eugénie Éboué was a much-honored nurse stationed in a Brazzaville military hospital during World War II. She was born in French Guyana in 1891 and lived in the present-day Central African Republic and Chad as well. Elected to the French Senate as a representative for Guadeloupe, she advocated for recognizing Black women as citizens in the creation of the Fourth French Republic’s constitution. Eugénie Éboué also traveled to the United States over 100 times to participate in conversations about developing transnational networks of resistance.
Born in Congo-Brazzaville in 1906, Jane Vialle was a Black French woman whose experience in a World War II concentration camp and women’s prison informed her work with liberation struggles in the Europe, Africa, and the United States. As a French senator who represented Oubangui Chari, she worked to update France’s paternity laws to recognize African mothers of children with French fathers from France’s colonies. Jane Vialle spoke often to highlight how African women helped make the shift from colonialism to democracy.
Still an inspiration to Pan-African movements today, Patrice Lumumba was the first democratically elected prime minister of the Republic of the Congo in 1960. He advocated for economic self-sufficiency in the republic, along with a framework for legal rights and justice. Lumumba spent 10 weeks in office before he was assassinated by agents backed by the United States and Belgium—an effort to maintain colonial rule and extractive practices while also establishing another front for the Cold War.
A representative in Rio de Janeiro’s state legislature, Erica Malunguinho advocates for Black people, women, LGBTQ people, low-income people, and everyone at these different intersections to build power together. She carries on the legacy of Marielle Franco and all who are fighting for Black futures. Aparelha Luzia is a quilombo, or community that maintains its African and anti-slavery heritage, that she created for Black queer and trans people to have a cultural refuge to center art, joy, and spirituality.
Known as the mother of Black resistance in South Africa, Lillian Ngoyi co-led the historic women's march to protest pass laws in 1956 in Pretoria. The march on August 9 was a 20,000 strong multi-racial showing of civil disobedience to protest passes intended to control where Black and coloured South Africans were allowed to go. The march was the result of months of cross-country organizing and fundraising, and August 9 is now celebrated as National Women’s Day in South Africa.

Movement Leaders Advancing Racial Justice Every Day

Global Fund for Women recognizes and upholds the interconnectedness of movements working for racial and gender justice around the globe. Black lives matter across all borders—so Black History Month must be celebrated across borders as well. For February 2022, Global Fund for Women is turning the spotlight to movement leaders who center Black leadership and welcome the African diaspora as the basis to build solidarity. Read more below about organizations across the world who advance Black freedom, Black joy, and Black dignity every day.

Kisumu Feminist Society

Representatives of the Kisumu Feminist Society take part in a a #TotalShutDownKe Anti-Femicide March in Kenya in 2019.
Representatives of the Kisumu Feminist Society take part in a a #TotalShutDownKe Anti-Femicide March in Kenya in 2019.

“[We are] re-defining feminism with African women’s views through celebration of African feminists in spaces that are inclusive, intersectional, and Afrocentric.”

Kisumu Feminist Society was founded in October 2018 by a group of young women from western Kenya who saw the need for an intersectional and inclusive feminist movement in the region. A queer-led organization, Kisumu Feminist Society provides a platform for cis and trans women; heterosexual and lesbian, bisexual, and queer women; and gender-nonconforming people from diverse backgrounds to advocate for the end of femicide and gender-based violence. Through projects like Humanizing Black Female Bodies, a digital campaign demanding that the Kenyan government recognize femicide as a national emergency, they uphold the dignity of African women irrespective of religion, sexuality, social status, or political affiliation. The campaign grew from mobiles phones to street protests, and was designed to support Black women who have had to fight to access their basic human rights.

Learn more about their work here and follow them on Twitter and Instagram.

Mano Amiga de la Costa Chica A.C.

Members of Mano Amiga de la Costa Chica A.C. at a menstrual awareness training in 2020.
Members of Mano Amiga de la Costa Chica A.C. at a menstrual awareness training in 2020.

“Loving our Afro-Mexican bodies.”

Mano Amiga de la Costa Chica A.C. works to achieve a just, equitable, anti-racist society by generating public policies and offering education to support Afro-Mexican women, youth, and girls. With the goals of strengthening Afro-Mexican identity and helping build a support network of Afro-Mexican young women and girls, Mano Amiga de la Costa Chica A.C. organizes workshops in rural areas about menstrual awareness with an intercultural approach. These workshops focus on advocating for period equity, removing the stigma and taboos attached to periods, and dismantling stereotypes about Afro-Mexican identity.

Learn more about their work here.

ODARA—Instituto da Mulher Negra

A group photo at the ODARA—Instituto da Mulher Negra headquarters. The group met to develop a network focused on ending racial and gender violence in Bahia. The first row is sitting and the second is standing. Most are wearing face masks.
A group photo at the ODARA—Instituto da Mulher Negra headquarters. The group met to develop a network focused on ending racial and gender violence in Bahia. The first row is sitting and the second is standing. Most are wearing face masks.

“Progress in establishing rights for the trans community has been slow. It’s not due to lack of organization, struggle, or resistance—it’s because transphobia is so deeply rooted in Brazilian institutions.”

ODARA—Instituto da Mulher Negra’s mission is to fight racism, sexism, lesbophobia, biphobia, transphobia, and related forms of oppression to defend the freedom, autonomy, and well-being of all Black women in Brazil. 

ODARA sees the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil as a type of structural violence and a human rights violation disproportionately affecting Black women. In 2020, they partnered with other local organizations in the state of Bahia for a justice and solidarity campaign to provide food, hygiene supplies, and personal protective equipment to 5,000 families. Also known for starting Julho das Pretas, a celebration of collective political action by Black women every July, ODARA created the network Rede de Mulheres Negras da Bahia in 2012 in northeast Brazil. The network aims to influence public policy, increase sociopolitical inclusion, and end discrimination and prejudice on an interpersonal and collective level.  

Learn more about their work here and follow them on Twitter and Instagram.   

Rede de Mulheres Negras do Paraná

Members of Rede de Mulheres Negras do Paraná gather to celebrate International Day for Afro-Latina, Afro-Caribbean and Diaspora Women on July 25.
Members of Rede de Mulheres Negras do Paraná gather to celebrate International Day for Afro-Latina, Afro-Caribbean and Diaspora Women on July 25.

“Women, especially Black women, hold intersecting identities that we must identify and recognize in full in order to fully protect each other from oppression.” 

Rede de Mulheres Negras do Paraná aims to promote equality, equity, and comprehensive health care for Black women and other marginalized communities in southern Brazil.  

By offering education about sexual and reproductive health, Rede de Mulheres Negras do Paraná works to deconstruct taboos around Black women's bodies. For example, some people think of menstruation as dirty, shameful, and impure. Rede de Mulheres Negras do Paraná works to change negative attitudes so that women can treat their own bodies well and have healthy sexual and reproductive lives. They provide trainings about hygiene, pregnancy, postpartum health, sex, contraceptive methods, preventing sexually transmitted infections, and much more.  

Learn more about their work here and follow them on Facebook.  

Criola

Members of Criola meet with the rapporteur from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States to discuss human rights violations of Black women in Brazil. A group of about 30 pose together in 3 rows.
Members of Criola meet with the rapporteur from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States to discuss human rights violations of Black women in Brazil. A group of about 30 pose together in 3 rows.

“The fight against racism in Brazil historically included a strong legacy of action by Black women, who built cultural and political traditions of resistance. They constitute our ancestry and present, as the organizations they built and promoted to face racism remain a strong support to Black communities today.” 

Criola is a civil society organization with 30 years of experience defending and promoting the rights of Black women to build a society where the values of justice, equity, and solidarity are fundamental.  

Criola affirms that the collective action of cis and trans Black women is essential to make good lives for all Brazilian society. Criola is dedicated to monitoring and defending the rights of Black women, especially at the crossroads of social justice and reproductive rights. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they have been strengthening care and protection networks for Black women activists through political advocacy and distributing food baskets.  

Learn more about their work here and follow them on Twitter and Instagram.  

Sinsonke

A group photo of about 90 people at a 2020 national Sisonke meeting. They are all wearing bright orange shirts and holding black tote bags. They are all wearing face masks.
A group photo of about 90 people at a 2020 national Sisonke meeting. They are all wearing bright orange shirts and holding black tote bags. They are all wearing face masks.

“There is no excuse not to decriminalize sex work in this day and age, especially when criminalization puts sex workers more at risk. I am one of those who are proud to say, my body, my business!”—Durban-based member of Sisonke 

Sisonke, meaning “togetherness” in Zulu, is a movement formed by sex workers for sex workers. The organization was formed in 2003 to counter the abuse, isolation, and human rights violations that sex workers face in South Africa.

Sisonke is a sex worker-led nonprofit advocating for the decriminalization of consensual sex work in South Africa, working to eliminate human rights violations and guarantee sex workers an opportunity for full access to healthcare and equality before law. Their vision looks to a future South Africa that is trans inclusive, where sex work is recognized as work, and where sex workers are not labelled as criminals. Their campaigns for decriminalization also include advocacy to end gender-based violence and advocacy for economic justice.  

Learn more about their work here and follow them on Twitter and Instagram. 

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