A week has gone by since the 2018 midterms took place. State to state, Black women came up big winners. From sea to shining sea, Black women ran for office and in many cases, were the first Black women ever to win their elected office. Starting in the most liberal of states, Ayanna Pressley in Massachusetts is the first African-American congresswoman-elect in the state. Former educator and national teacher of the year, Jahana Hayes will be the first Black woman to represent

We are calling on our fellow Black sisters, our allies, comrades, and partners, across the nation to support Black women and girls by taking action now to cancel the R Kelly concert at the Highline Ballroom and the appearance at FREQ Club in New York City on Saturday January 27th. 1. Flood the Highline Ballroom with calls Main number: (212) 414 – 5994 Call Press Manager Jeff Mann (212) 997 – 4555 Email: Jeffmann@highlineballroom.com Tweet @HLBallroom 2. Tweet at the support

At age 50, R. Kelly has sold millions of records, and remains one of the dominant voices in R&B music. Kelly also “has a well-documented, twenty-five-year history” of victimizing women and underage girls. Between 1996 and 2002, he was subject to four publicly filed lawsuits - three by teenage girls - and in 2002, he was indicted for making child pornography, stemming from a video that prosecutors said showed of him having sex with and urinating into the mouth of a 14-year-old

“For to survive in the mouth of this dragon we call america, we have had to learn this first and most vital lesson – that we were never meant to survive. Not as human beings…Black or not.” – Audre Lorde, Transformation of Silence into Language and Action, Sister Outsider (1984) Black Women’s Blueprint unequivocally stands with the survivor who is going by Anna Chambers, as she speaks her truth and as she fights for justice and accountability from the two NYPD Police Officers

On May 18th, Black Women's Blueprint was honored to meet with the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein to address the systematic and continued abuse of the human rights of Black women and girls in the United States. Black Women's Blueprint was among 14 organizations to brief the High Commissioner in his first meeting with US civil society in 2 years. Below is the written statement submitted to the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights. Blac

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Farah Tanis, 646-263-1050 | Ftanis@blueprintny.org Ericka Dixon, 917-685-9687 | Ericka@blueprintny.org Black Women Converge at Atlanta HBCU to Resist Trump Cuts April 29 - 30, 2017 Spelman College - Black Women’s Blueprint and the Women’s Research and Resource Center will convene the Words of Fire Conference with a focus on Gender, Power and a Black Feminist Call for Social Justice. More than 1200 grassroots activists, artists and academics of

“What woman here is so enamored of her own oppression that she cannot see her heelprint upon another woman's face? What woman's terms of oppression have become precious and necessary to her as a ticket into the fold of the righteous, away from the cold winds of self-scrutiny?” ― Audre Lorde, The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism Black Women’s Blueprint stands in solidarity with Muslim and immigrant women and their families who have been impacted by the recently impose

Girls Create Girls Create Drop In Program is a safe place where teenage girls can be themselves after a long day of school. It is an opportunity to bond and fellowship with other young ladies within an empowering environment. The program provides youth development opportunities that will help the girls to learn and grow within a positive place. Girls Create Drop In Program is an wonderful experience where teenage girls can participate in a fun, educational, and safe activitie

Black Women’s Blueprint seeks justice-minded community organizations across the five boroughs of New York City to join the Grassroots Organizing SubCommittee of the NYC for CEDAW Campaign Coalition. We are expressly interested in campaign partners from a diverse array of identities and backgrounds that are able and committed to mobilizing their constituency in order pass a Women’s Bill of Rights right here at home. This is an exciting opportunity to join a national campaign

Black Women’s Blueprint Ushers in the New Year Happy Birthday Ms. Recy Taylor! On December 31st, Recy Taylor celebrated her 97th birthday. At Black Women’s Blueprint we know how important it is to celebrate all our elders everyday they are with us. Farah Tanis was able to visit Recy in her Alabama home and everyone at the BWB family wishes Recy light, love and peace on this special occasion. Recy Taylor remains an inspiration and guiding light for us in our anti-violence,

1. Black Women’s Blueprint was in Washington D.C. This Week! Farah Tanis and Sevonna Brown travelled to Washington D.C. on Monday to meet with the Department of Justice, Just Beginnings Collaborative and Office of Violence Against Women to discuss how we will end Child Sexual Abuse under the current and the next presidential administrations. BWB is honored to be a grantee of Just Beginnings Collaborative, and part of a consortium of organizations fighting to end CSA. Read

1. Visioning Resistance: a Black Feminist Call to Action. Last Monday, Black Women's Blueprint was honored to be in community with over 50 of our members. We began the evening with a visualization practice and went through a process of calling out the ways we have been ever-sustaining and resilient in times of trauma and highly climatic socio-political moments. We discussed embodying resistance and emboldening ourselves to step into our power as we approach 2017. This moment

​1. Visioning Resistance: a Black Feminist Call to Action TONIGHT: Black Women’s Blueprint invites you to our monthly member meeting tonight at 6:30pm. Tonight we will be creating a blueprint for resistance that honors all of the expressions of Blackness and the many identities that will be impacted under the new presidential regime. We will be envisioning answers to the following questions How will we resist? How do we envision black feminism creating revolution inside o

One day until #GivingTuesday! On Tuesday November 29th, every donation to Black Women’s Blueprint will be matched up to $5,000! Your donation will empower us as Black women and girls to tell our truths and continue the work of our Truth and Reconciliation Commission, to access the healing that Black survivors of sexual and state violence deserve, to fight for justice by mobilizing as survivors as experts in our own lives to effect policy change multiple levels, and finally, t

The results of the election left many of us shocked, in despair, and the most marginalized of us (Queer, Trans, Immigrant, Differently Abled), afraid for our safety. I for one, could not stop shaking. As a black woman, living with PTSD from various acts of sexual violence, the election of a self-proclaimed sexual predator to the highest level of office, left me replaying my victimization over and over in my head. As calls to action started to flood in, my anxiety made it d

#AndStillWeRise Use this hashtag with us to celebrate to resilience and brilliance of Black women as we move forward post-election period with the integrity and grace that we have always possessed from our foremothers. How do you rise? Share it with us! Feeling Paralyzed? Pledge Your Support for BWB on #GivingTuesday, two weeks from today. If you are anything like us, it has been difficult to get out of bed, let alone make a plan for action or connect with those around us. Th

1. You must let the pain visit. 2. You must allow it teach you 3. You must not allow it overstay. (Three routes to healing) - Ijeoma Umebinyuo, Questions for Ada Photo source: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/young-black-woman-on-wooden-boat-dock-she-looks-stock-video-footage/472903806 You are precious. They will never say this enough to you, Black girl. I say it neither to erase what’s been hard nor to ignore the reasons you don't believe you are but to give you

*originally posted on BrassyBrown.com on October 11th, 2016 Transcending the Legacy of Violence and Abuse The founders of the “New World” created a global economy and the greater portion of today’s African Diaspora as we know it by understanding the premise that Black birth and Black bodies matter. Many Blacks born in America are the descendants of enslaved Africans who endured generations of violence and abuse. Since the abolishment of chattel slavery, Blacks have triumphed

10 Things to Know This Week: 1. The family of Sandra Bland, the 28 year old Black woman who was found hanged in her Texas jail cell on July 13th 2015, reached a $1.9million settlement in a wrongful death civil suit. The settlement also includes a change in prison policies of the Waller County jail where Bland was located, however, this part of the settlement is still in contention. Read more here. 2. The officer who shot and killed Korryn Gains, a 23 year old Black woman,

"Every woman has a well-stocked arsenal of anger potentially useful against those oppressions, personal and institutional, which brought that anger into being. Focused with precision it can become a powerful source of energy serving progress and change. And when I speak of change, I do not mean a simple switch of positions or a temporary lessening of tensions, nor the ability to smile or feel good. I am speaking of a basic and radical alteration in those assumptions underl