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Highlander believes that those most affected by injustice should lead the work for creating change.

The idea of popular education (often described as "education for critical consciousness") as a teaching methodology came from a Brazilian educator and writer named Paulo Freire, who was writing in the context of literacy education for poor and politically disempowered people in his country. It's different from formal education (in schools, for example) and informal education (learning by living) in that it is a process which aims to empower people who feel marginalized socially and politically to take control of their own learning and to effect social change.

Popular education is a collective effort in which a high degree of participation is expected from everybody.

Teachers and learners aren't two distinct groups; rather, everyone teaches and everyone learns! Learners should be able to make decisions about what they are learning, and how the learning process takes place. A facilitator is needed to make sure that new ideas arise, progress, and don't get repetitive, but this isn't at all the same thing as a teacher. In popular education, then, we can't teach another person, but we can facilitate another's learning and help each other as we learn.

In popular education, the learning process starts with identifying and describing everyone's own personal experience, and that knowledge is built upon through various activities done in groups.

After the activity, a debriefing process allows us to analyse our situation together; seeing links between our own experience and historical and global processes in order to get the "big picture".

Through the generation of this new knowledge, we're able to reflect more profoundly about ourselves and how we fit into the world.

This new understanding of society is a preparation to actively work towards social change. In fact, in popular education, the education process isn't considered to be complete without action on what is learned; whether it be on a personal or political level.

#methodologymonth #populareducation #poped

VIA: @blackwomenradicals

🌀Upcoming Event:

“Our Black Life is Worth Something: Femicide, Black Women & Fighting for Our Lives”

feat. Dr. Treva B. Lindsey @divafeminist &
Dr. Brendane A. Tynes @_brendiee 🐚

🗓️ Tuesday, May 12
⏰6:30 PM EST
📍Zoom

🔗Link in bio to register or visit https://bit.ly/OurBlackLivesAreWorthLiving

🌀ASL interpretation will be provided.

🎥The event will be recorded and uploaded to YouTube.

🌀About the event: Victoria Alexander. Ashanti Allen. Davonta Curtis. Barbara Deer. Raven Edwards. Cerina Fairfax. Kiriyanah Harris. Gladys Johnson-Ball. Nancy Metayer. Ashlee Jenae. These are the names of some of the Black women who are victims of femicide this year alone. Data shows that Black women are killed four times higher than non-Black women as a result of intimate partner violence. However, media narratives and political framings on Black femicide have either been overlooked or downplayed and often center and coddle the perpetrators and their “mental health” instead of the actual victims.

Dr. Treva B. Lindsey and Dr. Brendane A. Tynes will center the epidemic of Black femicide from historical and contemporary perspectives and the transformative interventions that need to take place to combat misogynoir and racialized and gendered violence across all spheres.

The title of the event—specifically “Our Black Life is Worth Something”—is a more affirmative take on the sentiments of Barbara Smith, founding member of the Combahee River Collective, and her 1979 diary entry, where she reflected on the 12 Black women murdered in Roxbury, Massachusetts that same year, which the national media did not widely report on.

Smith wrote:

“...For me the deaths of these women has shaped six months of my life. There has never been forgetting. There has been other activity, other moments, definite joy and laughter, but always, always, always, the tragedy. The certain irrefutable & demonstrated knowledge that my Black female life is worth nothing…”

#blackwomenradicals
#blackfemicide

Highlander staff and friends gathered earlier this month to celebrate the completion of our new office building and honor our outgoing and incoming leadership, six years after Highlander's main office building was burned in a white supremacist arson attack in March 2019.

In song and fellowship, we acknowledged the hardships wrought by the fire while lifting up the determination and resilience of Highlander's staff and work under the vital leadership of Co-Executive Directors Allyn Maxfield-Steele, Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, and Salimah Muhammad in the years of rebuilding and recovering.

Co-Executive Directors Vonda McDaniel and Garrett Stark led the gathering in the initial days of their new leadership, sharing their commitment to shepherding Highlander and our mission forward in this critical moment for our movements, our communities, and our organization. "We have a lot that we're up against, but there's a lot that's possible," Garrett shared.

Our new office building will hold a meeting and gathering space available for guests on the Hill to use, and our on-site staff are excited to work together side by side again. We are grateful for the overwhelming outpouring of support we received in the days and months after the fire, and for your continued support as we move forward in this powerful new moment.

🎥 Check out more Views from the Hill at the Vimeo link in our Linktree 🎥

VIA: @communityarchivescollab

In a world where so much of what we know is crumbling, speculation and imagination allow us to envision the new worlds we are committed to building, and to protect the ones that already exist and deserve our care.

With this in mind, the Community Archives Collaborative (CAC) is issuing our first-ever public call for pieces for an upcoming digital zine titled “Speculative Archives: Worlds Worth Making, Worlds Worth Saving.”

We invite submissions that explore the following prompt:

If you could build and care for any archive, what would it be, how would it be constructed, and what would be made possible through its existence?

We welcome pieces that speculate boldly and tenderly and invite conversation on memory, decline, and futurity.

Submissions may take the form of short essays, reflections, poetry, interview transcripts, or visual works such as diagrams or maps.

🌀Submission due date: May 15, 2026–please submit full submissions, not proposals.

🌀Submission length: 800-1000 words

🌀Submissions process:

Send submissions to hello@communityarchivescollab.org as a Google Doc or .docx file

Visual submissions (optional): submit high-resolution files (300 DPI minimum) in .jpg or .png.

Include a short bio (50–100 words) in your submission email.

The CAC steering committee will review submissions and respond by May 22nd. Contributors of pieces chosen for the zine will be compensated with a $150 stipend per submission.

For more information, please review the CAC editorial guidelines at the link in our bio!

In partnership with @therootsbooksandmarket in Miami, Highlander Center presents a free screening of “BLKNWS: Terms and Conditions” by Khalil Joseph (2025)

“BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions” is designed as a cinematic experience to mirror the sonic textures of a music album. Adapted from Kahlil Joseph’s highly acclaimed video art installation, which was shown at the Venice Biennale in 2019, the film interweaves fictional and historical characters in an immersive story that spans 247 years across land and sea.

The ocean reveals its mysteries to those passengers aboard the transatlantic liner “The Nautica” who are willing to pause and listen. The film can be viewed as a form of inventory as the collective memories of Black people and the history of the diaspora are brought together in a multi-layered narrative.

In its mix of fictional and documentary forms, the film is inspired by W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Saidiya Hartman and others, juxtaposing their ideas with archive material and samples from YouTube, social media, film, television and journalism.
The film’s unique stereo sound was mastered by a music engineer. The artists involved, including Arthur Jafa and Garrett Bradley, deliver their distinct perspectives across the 21 tracks.

The screening is free to attend, simply RSVP to hold your spot at the link in our linktree.

We’ll see you in class.

VIA: @ignitekindred

We invite you to apply for SONG’s upcoming Data Center Organizing School. Members and leaders across the region will convene to learn about strategies and tactics used to stop data centers, sharpen political analysis and organizing skills on this issue, and develop a plan of action for where they live! ⁠
⁠
We will prioritize applicants who are able to do approximately 5 hours of pre-work and are able to commit for six months to running or joining a data center fight where they live. ⁠
⁠
Deadline to apply is Monday, April 27th. Travel, ground transportation, lodging, food, and childcare will be covered by SONG. ⁠
⁠
Click the link in our bio to register!

In partnership with @therootsbooksandmarket in Miami, Highlander Center presents a free screening of “BLKNWS: Terms and Conditions” by Khalil Joseph (2025)

“BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions” is designed as a cinematic experience to mirror the sonic textures of a music album. Adapted from Kahlil Joseph’s highly acclaimed video art installation, which was shown at the Venice Biennale in 2019, the film interweaves fictional and historical characters in an immersive story that spans 247 years across land and sea.

The ocean reveals its mysteries to those passengers aboard the transatlantic liner “The Nautica” who are willing to pause and listen. The film can be viewed as a form of inventory as the collective memories of Black people and the history of the diaspora are brought together in a multi-layered narrative.

In its mix of fictional and documentary forms, the film is inspired by W.E.B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Saidiya Hartman and others, juxtaposing their ideas with archive material and samples from YouTube, social media, film, television and journalism.
The film’s unique stereo sound was mastered by a music engineer. The artists involved, including Arthur Jafa and Garrett Bradley, deliver their distinct perspectives across the 21 tracks.

The screening is free to attend, simply RSVP to hold your spot at the link in our linktree.

We’ll see you in class.

DEADLINE TO APPLY EXTENDED TO MAY 6TH!
Monuments Across Appalachian Places and Highlander Research and Education Center invite you to participate in an online Commemorate Workshop on May 12, 2026.

Applications to participate are due on May 1, 2026. Link to application and more information in our bio.

This Commemorate Workshop is co-hosted by Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia (MAAV) and @highlandercenter with support from @waymakersco

@appalachian_studies_at_vt @crmdsvt @vt_liberalarts @mellonfoundation

In March we joined hands with @projectbwafgu, @amistadresearchcenter, and so many bright lights in New Orleans for a Weekend of Freedom Feeling.

This weekend centered the interior life of Black women, tracing the blueprints of freedom feeling our ancestors left us and how we live them now. It invited us to embody what we are often taught belongs only to girlhood; tenderness, play, wonder, curiosity, and learning, and to fully claim it in our Womanhood.

This collaboration reflected a shared commitment to learning grounded in lived experience, collective memory, and truth-telling, knowledge carried across generations through story, song, study, and care.

With over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the job market, many of us are once again being asked to redefine our lives. Having said plainly that we are not Black girls and that our labor is not magic, we turned toward the interior work that sustains and clarifies, work that allows us to keep building a healthy sense of self and our communities.

Through archives, song, film, oral histories, a literary supper, and Black books, this weekend gathered us around care, memory, and imagination, grounded in the belief, as Zora Neale Hurston reminds us, that “we are off to a flying start,”with our ancestors still fanning our wings.

We want to say thank you to @stevie_elem for her brilliant mind and fierce love of (and for) Black Women, every single collaborator who helped make this weekend feel vibrant and alive, and all of our beautiful attendees. Each one of you reminded us how important it is for us to see each other. Rooting us in the long work of Highlander Center- Gathering, on purpose, to change the world.

Photography by @jeremytauriac, thank you for seeing this as art and helping us see ourselves differently. Thank you for seeing US.

In March we joined hands with @projectbwafgu, @amistadresearchcenter, and so many bright lights in New Orleans for a Weekend of Freedom Feeling.

This weekend centered the interior life of Black women, tracing the blueprints of freedom feeling our ancestors left us and how we live them now. It invited us to embody what we are often taught belongs only to girlhood; tenderness, play, wonder, curiosity, and learning, and to fully claim it in our Womanhood.

This collaboration reflected a shared commitment to learning grounded in lived experience, collective memory, and truth-telling, knowledge carried across generations through story, song, study, and care.

With over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the job market, many of us are once again being asked to redefine our lives. Having said plainly that we are not Black girls and that our labor is not magic, we turned toward the interior work that sustains and clarifies, work that allows us to keep building a healthy sense of self and our communities.

Through archives, song, film, oral histories, a literary supper, and Black books, this weekend gathered us around care, memory, and imagination, grounded in the belief, as Zora Neale Hurston reminds us, that “we are off to a flying start,”with our ancestors still fanning our wings.

We want to say thank you to @stevie_elem for her brilliant mind and fierce love of (and for) Black Women, every single collaborator who helped make this weekend feel vibrant and alive, and all of our beautiful attendees. Each one of you reminded us how important it is for us to see each other. Rooting us in the long work of Highlander Center- Gathering, on purpose, to change the world.

Photography by @jeremytauriac, thank you for seeing this as art and helping us see ourselves differently. Thank you for seeing US.

In March we joined hands with @projectbwafgu, @amistadresearchcenter, and so many bright lights in New Orleans for a Weekend of Freedom Feeling.

This weekend centered the interior life of Black women, tracing the blueprints of freedom feeling our ancestors left us and how we live them now. It invited us to embody what we are often taught belongs only to girlhood; tenderness, play, wonder, curiosity, and learning, and to fully claim it in our Womanhood.

This collaboration reflected a shared commitment to learning grounded in lived experience, collective memory, and truth-telling, knowledge carried across generations through story, song, study, and care.

With over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the job market, many of us are once again being asked to redefine our lives. Having said plainly that we are not Black girls and that our labor is not magic, we turned toward the interior work that sustains and clarifies, work that allows us to keep building a healthy sense of self and our communities.

Through archives, song, film, oral histories, a literary supper, and Black books, this weekend gathered us around care, memory, and imagination, grounded in the belief, as Zora Neale Hurston reminds us, that “we are off to a flying start,”with our ancestors still fanning our wings.

We want to say thank you to @stevie_elem for her brilliant mind and fierce love of (and for) Black Women, every single collaborator who helped make this weekend feel vibrant and alive, and all of our beautiful attendees. Each one of you reminded us how important it is for us to see each other. Rooting us in the long work of Highlander Center- Gathering, on purpose, to change the world.

Photography by @jeremytauriac, thank you for seeing this as art and helping us see ourselves differently. Thank you for seeing US.

In March we joined hands with @projectbwafgu, @amistadresearchcenter, and so many bright lights in New Orleans for a Weekend of Freedom Feeling.

This weekend centered the interior life of Black women, tracing the blueprints of freedom feeling our ancestors left us and how we live them now. It invited us to embody what we are often taught belongs only to girlhood; tenderness, play, wonder, curiosity, and learning, and to fully claim it in our Womanhood.

This collaboration reflected a shared commitment to learning grounded in lived experience, collective memory, and truth-telling, knowledge carried across generations through story, song, study, and care.

With over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the job market, many of us are once again being asked to redefine our lives. Having said plainly that we are not Black girls and that our labor is not magic, we turned toward the interior work that sustains and clarifies, work that allows us to keep building a healthy sense of self and our communities.

Through archives, song, film, oral histories, a literary supper, and Black books, this weekend gathered us around care, memory, and imagination, grounded in the belief, as Zora Neale Hurston reminds us, that “we are off to a flying start,”with our ancestors still fanning our wings.

We want to say thank you to @stevie_elem for her brilliant mind and fierce love of (and for) Black Women, every single collaborator who helped make this weekend feel vibrant and alive, and all of our beautiful attendees. Each one of you reminded us how important it is for us to see each other. Rooting us in the long work of Highlander Center- Gathering, on purpose, to change the world.

Photography by @jeremytauriac, thank you for seeing this as art and helping us see ourselves differently. Thank you for seeing US.

In March we joined hands with @projectbwafgu, @amistadresearchcenter, and so many bright lights in New Orleans for a Weekend of Freedom Feeling.

This weekend centered the interior life of Black women, tracing the blueprints of freedom feeling our ancestors left us and how we live them now. It invited us to embody what we are often taught belongs only to girlhood; tenderness, play, wonder, curiosity, and learning, and to fully claim it in our Womanhood.

This collaboration reflected a shared commitment to learning grounded in lived experience, collective memory, and truth-telling, knowledge carried across generations through story, song, study, and care.

With over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the job market, many of us are once again being asked to redefine our lives. Having said plainly that we are not Black girls and that our labor is not magic, we turned toward the interior work that sustains and clarifies, work that allows us to keep building a healthy sense of self and our communities.

Through archives, song, film, oral histories, a literary supper, and Black books, this weekend gathered us around care, memory, and imagination, grounded in the belief, as Zora Neale Hurston reminds us, that “we are off to a flying start,”with our ancestors still fanning our wings.

We want to say thank you to @stevie_elem for her brilliant mind and fierce love of (and for) Black Women, every single collaborator who helped make this weekend feel vibrant and alive, and all of our beautiful attendees. Each one of you reminded us how important it is for us to see each other. Rooting us in the long work of Highlander Center- Gathering, on purpose, to change the world.

Photography by @jeremytauriac, thank you for seeing this as art and helping us see ourselves differently. Thank you for seeing US.

In March we joined hands with @projectbwafgu, @amistadresearchcenter, and so many bright lights in New Orleans for a Weekend of Freedom Feeling.

This weekend centered the interior life of Black women, tracing the blueprints of freedom feeling our ancestors left us and how we live them now. It invited us to embody what we are often taught belongs only to girlhood; tenderness, play, wonder, curiosity, and learning, and to fully claim it in our Womanhood.

This collaboration reflected a shared commitment to learning grounded in lived experience, collective memory, and truth-telling, knowledge carried across generations through story, song, study, and care.

With over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the job market, many of us are once again being asked to redefine our lives. Having said plainly that we are not Black girls and that our labor is not magic, we turned toward the interior work that sustains and clarifies, work that allows us to keep building a healthy sense of self and our communities.

Through archives, song, film, oral histories, a literary supper, and Black books, this weekend gathered us around care, memory, and imagination, grounded in the belief, as Zora Neale Hurston reminds us, that “we are off to a flying start,”with our ancestors still fanning our wings.

We want to say thank you to @stevie_elem for her brilliant mind and fierce love of (and for) Black Women, every single collaborator who helped make this weekend feel vibrant and alive, and all of our beautiful attendees. Each one of you reminded us how important it is for us to see each other. Rooting us in the long work of Highlander Center- Gathering, on purpose, to change the world.

Photography by @jeremytauriac, thank you for seeing this as art and helping us see ourselves differently. Thank you for seeing US.

In March we joined hands with @projectbwafgu, @amistadresearchcenter, and so many bright lights in New Orleans for a Weekend of Freedom Feeling.

This weekend centered the interior life of Black women, tracing the blueprints of freedom feeling our ancestors left us and how we live them now. It invited us to embody what we are often taught belongs only to girlhood; tenderness, play, wonder, curiosity, and learning, and to fully claim it in our Womanhood.

This collaboration reflected a shared commitment to learning grounded in lived experience, collective memory, and truth-telling, knowledge carried across generations through story, song, study, and care.

With over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the job market, many of us are once again being asked to redefine our lives. Having said plainly that we are not Black girls and that our labor is not magic, we turned toward the interior work that sustains and clarifies, work that allows us to keep building a healthy sense of self and our communities.

Through archives, song, film, oral histories, a literary supper, and Black books, this weekend gathered us around care, memory, and imagination, grounded in the belief, as Zora Neale Hurston reminds us, that “we are off to a flying start,”with our ancestors still fanning our wings.

We want to say thank you to @stevie_elem for her brilliant mind and fierce love of (and for) Black Women, every single collaborator who helped make this weekend feel vibrant and alive, and all of our beautiful attendees. Each one of you reminded us how important it is for us to see each other. Rooting us in the long work of Highlander Center- Gathering, on purpose, to change the world.

Photography by @jeremytauriac, thank you for seeing this as art and helping us see ourselves differently. Thank you for seeing US.

In March we joined hands with @projectbwafgu, @amistadresearchcenter, and so many bright lights in New Orleans for a Weekend of Freedom Feeling.

This weekend centered the interior life of Black women, tracing the blueprints of freedom feeling our ancestors left us and how we live them now. It invited us to embody what we are often taught belongs only to girlhood; tenderness, play, wonder, curiosity, and learning, and to fully claim it in our Womanhood.

This collaboration reflected a shared commitment to learning grounded in lived experience, collective memory, and truth-telling, knowledge carried across generations through story, song, study, and care.

With over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the job market, many of us are once again being asked to redefine our lives. Having said plainly that we are not Black girls and that our labor is not magic, we turned toward the interior work that sustains and clarifies, work that allows us to keep building a healthy sense of self and our communities.

Through archives, song, film, oral histories, a literary supper, and Black books, this weekend gathered us around care, memory, and imagination, grounded in the belief, as Zora Neale Hurston reminds us, that “we are off to a flying start,”with our ancestors still fanning our wings.

We want to say thank you to @stevie_elem for her brilliant mind and fierce love of (and for) Black Women, every single collaborator who helped make this weekend feel vibrant and alive, and all of our beautiful attendees. Each one of you reminded us how important it is for us to see each other. Rooting us in the long work of Highlander Center- Gathering, on purpose, to change the world.

Photography by @jeremytauriac, thank you for seeing this as art and helping us see ourselves differently. Thank you for seeing US.

In March we joined hands with @projectbwafgu, @amistadresearchcenter, and so many bright lights in New Orleans for a Weekend of Freedom Feeling.

This weekend centered the interior life of Black women, tracing the blueprints of freedom feeling our ancestors left us and how we live them now. It invited us to embody what we are often taught belongs only to girlhood; tenderness, play, wonder, curiosity, and learning, and to fully claim it in our Womanhood.

This collaboration reflected a shared commitment to learning grounded in lived experience, collective memory, and truth-telling, knowledge carried across generations through story, song, study, and care.

With over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the job market, many of us are once again being asked to redefine our lives. Having said plainly that we are not Black girls and that our labor is not magic, we turned toward the interior work that sustains and clarifies, work that allows us to keep building a healthy sense of self and our communities.

Through archives, song, film, oral histories, a literary supper, and Black books, this weekend gathered us around care, memory, and imagination, grounded in the belief, as Zora Neale Hurston reminds us, that “we are off to a flying start,”with our ancestors still fanning our wings.

We want to say thank you to @stevie_elem for her brilliant mind and fierce love of (and for) Black Women, every single collaborator who helped make this weekend feel vibrant and alive, and all of our beautiful attendees. Each one of you reminded us how important it is for us to see each other. Rooting us in the long work of Highlander Center- Gathering, on purpose, to change the world.

Photography by @jeremytauriac, thank you for seeing this as art and helping us see ourselves differently. Thank you for seeing US.

In March we joined hands with @projectbwafgu, @amistadresearchcenter, and so many bright lights in New Orleans for a Weekend of Freedom Feeling.

This weekend centered the interior life of Black women, tracing the blueprints of freedom feeling our ancestors left us and how we live them now. It invited us to embody what we are often taught belongs only to girlhood; tenderness, play, wonder, curiosity, and learning, and to fully claim it in our Womanhood.

This collaboration reflected a shared commitment to learning grounded in lived experience, collective memory, and truth-telling, knowledge carried across generations through story, song, study, and care.

With over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the job market, many of us are once again being asked to redefine our lives. Having said plainly that we are not Black girls and that our labor is not magic, we turned toward the interior work that sustains and clarifies, work that allows us to keep building a healthy sense of self and our communities.

Through archives, song, film, oral histories, a literary supper, and Black books, this weekend gathered us around care, memory, and imagination, grounded in the belief, as Zora Neale Hurston reminds us, that “we are off to a flying start,”with our ancestors still fanning our wings.

We want to say thank you to @stevie_elem for her brilliant mind and fierce love of (and for) Black Women, every single collaborator who helped make this weekend feel vibrant and alive, and all of our beautiful attendees. Each one of you reminded us how important it is for us to see each other. Rooting us in the long work of Highlander Center- Gathering, on purpose, to change the world.

Photography by @jeremytauriac, thank you for seeing this as art and helping us see ourselves differently. Thank you for seeing US.

In March we joined hands with @projectbwafgu, @amistadresearchcenter, and so many bright lights in New Orleans for a Weekend of Freedom Feeling.

This weekend centered the interior life of Black women, tracing the blueprints of freedom feeling our ancestors left us and how we live them now. It invited us to embody what we are often taught belongs only to girlhood; tenderness, play, wonder, curiosity, and learning, and to fully claim it in our Womanhood.

This collaboration reflected a shared commitment to learning grounded in lived experience, collective memory, and truth-telling, knowledge carried across generations through story, song, study, and care.

With over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the job market, many of us are once again being asked to redefine our lives. Having said plainly that we are not Black girls and that our labor is not magic, we turned toward the interior work that sustains and clarifies, work that allows us to keep building a healthy sense of self and our communities.

Through archives, song, film, oral histories, a literary supper, and Black books, this weekend gathered us around care, memory, and imagination, grounded in the belief, as Zora Neale Hurston reminds us, that “we are off to a flying start,”with our ancestors still fanning our wings.

We want to say thank you to @stevie_elem for her brilliant mind and fierce love of (and for) Black Women, every single collaborator who helped make this weekend feel vibrant and alive, and all of our beautiful attendees. Each one of you reminded us how important it is for us to see each other. Rooting us in the long work of Highlander Center- Gathering, on purpose, to change the world.

Photography by @jeremytauriac, thank you for seeing this as art and helping us see ourselves differently. Thank you for seeing US.

In March we joined hands with @projectbwafgu, @amistadresearchcenter, and so many bright lights in New Orleans for a Weekend of Freedom Feeling.

This weekend centered the interior life of Black women, tracing the blueprints of freedom feeling our ancestors left us and how we live them now. It invited us to embody what we are often taught belongs only to girlhood; tenderness, play, wonder, curiosity, and learning, and to fully claim it in our Womanhood.

This collaboration reflected a shared commitment to learning grounded in lived experience, collective memory, and truth-telling, knowledge carried across generations through story, song, study, and care.

With over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the job market, many of us are once again being asked to redefine our lives. Having said plainly that we are not Black girls and that our labor is not magic, we turned toward the interior work that sustains and clarifies, work that allows us to keep building a healthy sense of self and our communities.

Through archives, song, film, oral histories, a literary supper, and Black books, this weekend gathered us around care, memory, and imagination, grounded in the belief, as Zora Neale Hurston reminds us, that “we are off to a flying start,”with our ancestors still fanning our wings.

We want to say thank you to @stevie_elem for her brilliant mind and fierce love of (and for) Black Women, every single collaborator who helped make this weekend feel vibrant and alive, and all of our beautiful attendees. Each one of you reminded us how important it is for us to see each other. Rooting us in the long work of Highlander Center- Gathering, on purpose, to change the world.

Photography by @jeremytauriac, thank you for seeing this as art and helping us see ourselves differently. Thank you for seeing US.

In March we joined hands with @projectbwafgu, @amistadresearchcenter, and so many bright lights in New Orleans for a Weekend of Freedom Feeling.

This weekend centered the interior life of Black women, tracing the blueprints of freedom feeling our ancestors left us and how we live them now. It invited us to embody what we are often taught belongs only to girlhood; tenderness, play, wonder, curiosity, and learning, and to fully claim it in our Womanhood.

This collaboration reflected a shared commitment to learning grounded in lived experience, collective memory, and truth-telling, knowledge carried across generations through story, song, study, and care.

With over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the job market, many of us are once again being asked to redefine our lives. Having said plainly that we are not Black girls and that our labor is not magic, we turned toward the interior work that sustains and clarifies, work that allows us to keep building a healthy sense of self and our communities.

Through archives, song, film, oral histories, a literary supper, and Black books, this weekend gathered us around care, memory, and imagination, grounded in the belief, as Zora Neale Hurston reminds us, that “we are off to a flying start,”with our ancestors still fanning our wings.

We want to say thank you to @stevie_elem for her brilliant mind and fierce love of (and for) Black Women, every single collaborator who helped make this weekend feel vibrant and alive, and all of our beautiful attendees. Each one of you reminded us how important it is for us to see each other. Rooting us in the long work of Highlander Center- Gathering, on purpose, to change the world.

Photography by @jeremytauriac, thank you for seeing this as art and helping us see ourselves differently. Thank you for seeing US.

In March we joined hands with @projectbwafgu, @amistadresearchcenter, and so many bright lights in New Orleans for a Weekend of Freedom Feeling.

This weekend centered the interior life of Black women, tracing the blueprints of freedom feeling our ancestors left us and how we live them now. It invited us to embody what we are often taught belongs only to girlhood; tenderness, play, wonder, curiosity, and learning, and to fully claim it in our Womanhood.

This collaboration reflected a shared commitment to learning grounded in lived experience, collective memory, and truth-telling, knowledge carried across generations through story, song, study, and care.

With over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the job market, many of us are once again being asked to redefine our lives. Having said plainly that we are not Black girls and that our labor is not magic, we turned toward the interior work that sustains and clarifies, work that allows us to keep building a healthy sense of self and our communities.

Through archives, song, film, oral histories, a literary supper, and Black books, this weekend gathered us around care, memory, and imagination, grounded in the belief, as Zora Neale Hurston reminds us, that “we are off to a flying start,”with our ancestors still fanning our wings.

We want to say thank you to @stevie_elem for her brilliant mind and fierce love of (and for) Black Women, every single collaborator who helped make this weekend feel vibrant and alive, and all of our beautiful attendees. Each one of you reminded us how important it is for us to see each other. Rooting us in the long work of Highlander Center- Gathering, on purpose, to change the world.

Photography by @jeremytauriac, thank you for seeing this as art and helping us see ourselves differently. Thank you for seeing US.

In March we joined hands with @projectbwafgu, @amistadresearchcenter, and so many bright lights in New Orleans for a Weekend of Freedom Feeling.

This weekend centered the interior life of Black women, tracing the blueprints of freedom feeling our ancestors left us and how we live them now. It invited us to embody what we are often taught belongs only to girlhood; tenderness, play, wonder, curiosity, and learning, and to fully claim it in our Womanhood.

This collaboration reflected a shared commitment to learning grounded in lived experience, collective memory, and truth-telling, knowledge carried across generations through story, song, study, and care.

With over 300,000 Black women pushed out of the job market, many of us are once again being asked to redefine our lives. Having said plainly that we are not Black girls and that our labor is not magic, we turned toward the interior work that sustains and clarifies, work that allows us to keep building a healthy sense of self and our communities.

Through archives, song, film, oral histories, a literary supper, and Black books, this weekend gathered us around care, memory, and imagination, grounded in the belief, as Zora Neale Hurston reminds us, that “we are off to a flying start,”with our ancestors still fanning our wings.

We want to say thank you to @stevie_elem for her brilliant mind and fierce love of (and for) Black Women, every single collaborator who helped make this weekend feel vibrant and alive, and all of our beautiful attendees. Each one of you reminded us how important it is for us to see each other. Rooting us in the long work of Highlander Center- Gathering, on purpose, to change the world.

Photography by @jeremytauriac, thank you for seeing this as art and helping us see ourselves differently. Thank you for seeing US.

VIA: @thedreamdefenders

🌹Yesterday, a Black woman was murdered. She was a hometown hero of South Florida. Nancy Metayer was a gentle-hearted environmentalist and fierce lover of the people. Her life being so violently snatched is nothing short of a horrific, premature ending to the honorable work she was leading.

In the United States, about 3 women a day are killed by intimate partner violence. Nancy was too kind for the ugly world of politics, and still, she emerged a beloved Vice Mayor and trusted champion of the Haitian diaspora. Her career spans gun violence, reproductive justice, climate, and the early call for a ceasefire in Gaza. She cared deeply about justice for all people, but especially those in the margins.

Many will remember her as a proud FAMU Rattler, prolific leader, and promising congresswoman, while others have been robbed of a sister, daughter, and close friend.

This is an inhumane and violent reminder of the reality that Black women and femmes do not get to be safe anywhere: not at work, on the street, and not in the intimacy of our own homes. To anyone looking, Nancy was an unwavering beacon of light in our community, even while processing the loss of her little brother to suicide. But none of us will really know all that Nancy might have been carrying in the dark, quietly and alone.

In the Freedom Papers, we name the absolute right each of us has to live free of violence—including violence from an imperialist nation, police, or a domestic partner inside the home. We take seriously that over 50% of Black women who are killed are a result of intimate partner violence, according to The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

What is there to do but mourn, lament, and try to celebrate our sister’s life and all that her legacy has left throughout Broward, South Florida, and the greater Haitian diaspora. Our hearts and condolences go out to her family, friends, and those who truly loved her. To say that we’ve lost a giant is to put things lightly. May we always remember Nancy. May we all die on the hill that demands we protect Black women—by any means necessary.

Rest in peace, sweet Nancy. Your work continues.🫀🕊️

Cultural Organizing at Highlander is both a core methodology and a set of programs. One such cultural program is the Zilphia Johnson Horton Cultural Organizing Project, named after Zilphia Mae Horton (née Johnson).

Zilphia, the wife of Myles Horton and a brilliant organizer in her own right, stressed to Horton the importance of bringing in art and culture when organizing people for social movement.

Some of the core methodologies under which Highlander operates include popular education, participatory research, multilingual capacity building, and cultural organizing.

Specifically, Highlander defines cultural organizing as the strategic use of art and culture to promote progressive policies with marginalized communities.

#culturalorganizing #highlandercenter #highlanderfolkschool #methodologies

VIA: @blackzinefair

Black Zine Fair 2026
May 9, 11 AM to 6 PM
Hosted by @powerhouse_arts

100+ exhibitors. 10 workshops.
1 reading room curated by @kameelahr.

Free & open to the public with RSVP

-ˋˏ ✄ — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Organized by @sojourners4justice
Masks required and provided by @healthstellium

-ˋˏ ✄ — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Art direction by Malachi Lily @themagickartist
Illustrations by Ezekiel Robinson @ezekielrobinson123
Typography direction by Neta Bomani @netazines
Typography by Erin Robinson @rinmdesign

-ˋˏ ✄ — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

BZF 2026 is made possible largely in part by $20,050 in donations from 293 community supporters, alongside the generous support of the fair’s co-sponsors: @barnardzinelibrary, @orangetangent.study, @thefreeblackwomenslibrary, @powerhouse_arts and @3wavefund.

VIA: @blackzinefair

Black Zine Fair 2026
May 9, 11 AM to 6 PM
Hosted by @powerhouse_arts

100+ exhibitors. 10 workshops.
1 reading room curated by @kameelahr.

Free & open to the public with RSVP

-ˋˏ ✄ — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Organized by @sojourners4justice
Masks required and provided by @healthstellium

-ˋˏ ✄ — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Art direction by Malachi Lily @themagickartist
Illustrations by Ezekiel Robinson @ezekielrobinson123
Typography direction by Neta Bomani @netazines
Typography by Erin Robinson @rinmdesign

-ˋˏ ✄ — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

BZF 2026 is made possible largely in part by $20,050 in donations from 293 community supporters, alongside the generous support of the fair’s co-sponsors: @barnardzinelibrary, @orangetangent.study, @thefreeblackwomenslibrary, @powerhouse_arts and @3wavefund.

VIA: @blackzinefair

Black Zine Fair 2026
May 9, 11 AM to 6 PM
Hosted by @powerhouse_arts

100+ exhibitors. 10 workshops.
1 reading room curated by @kameelahr.

Free & open to the public with RSVP

-ˋˏ ✄ — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Organized by @sojourners4justice
Masks required and provided by @healthstellium

-ˋˏ ✄ — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Art direction by Malachi Lily @themagickartist
Illustrations by Ezekiel Robinson @ezekielrobinson123
Typography direction by Neta Bomani @netazines
Typography by Erin Robinson @rinmdesign

-ˋˏ ✄ — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

BZF 2026 is made possible largely in part by $20,050 in donations from 293 community supporters, alongside the generous support of the fair’s co-sponsors: @barnardzinelibrary, @orangetangent.study, @thefreeblackwomenslibrary, @powerhouse_arts and @3wavefund.

VIA: @blackzinefair

Black Zine Fair 2026
May 9, 11 AM to 6 PM
Hosted by @powerhouse_arts

100+ exhibitors. 10 workshops.
1 reading room curated by @kameelahr.

Free & open to the public with RSVP

-ˋˏ ✄ — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Organized by @sojourners4justice
Masks required and provided by @healthstellium

-ˋˏ ✄ — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Art direction by Malachi Lily @themagickartist
Illustrations by Ezekiel Robinson @ezekielrobinson123
Typography direction by Neta Bomani @netazines
Typography by Erin Robinson @rinmdesign

-ˋˏ ✄ — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

BZF 2026 is made possible largely in part by $20,050 in donations from 293 community supporters, alongside the generous support of the fair’s co-sponsors: @barnardzinelibrary, @orangetangent.study, @thefreeblackwomenslibrary, @powerhouse_arts and @3wavefund.

VIA: @blackzinefair

Black Zine Fair 2026
May 9, 11 AM to 6 PM
Hosted by @powerhouse_arts

100+ exhibitors. 10 workshops.
1 reading room curated by @kameelahr.

Free & open to the public with RSVP

-ˋˏ ✄ — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Organized by @sojourners4justice
Masks required and provided by @healthstellium

-ˋˏ ✄ — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Art direction by Malachi Lily @themagickartist
Illustrations by Ezekiel Robinson @ezekielrobinson123
Typography direction by Neta Bomani @netazines
Typography by Erin Robinson @rinmdesign

-ˋˏ ✄ — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

BZF 2026 is made possible largely in part by $20,050 in donations from 293 community supporters, alongside the generous support of the fair’s co-sponsors: @barnardzinelibrary, @orangetangent.study, @thefreeblackwomenslibrary, @powerhouse_arts and @3wavefund.