Black and Latina Womxn Summit 2020
Phenomenal Womxn

Summit Details:
Saturday, Feburary 29th, 2019
9:00am - 4:00pm
I-Hotel and Conference Center
1900 S. 1st Street, Champaign, Illinois

Theme Description

Our 2020 Black and Latinx Womxn Summit theme, inspired by Maya Angelou’s poem, is Phenomenal Womxn. 

In Maya Angelou’s poem “Phenomenal Woman”, she explores the different elements that contribute to how womxn may feel in different spaces. The elements explored are societal views and expectations on womxn. It is imperative for every Black, Latinx, and Afro-Latinx womxn to know that empowerment comes in different shapes, sizes and forms as illustrated in Maya Angelou’s poem. 

This theme will take an analytical approach on how our cultures can produce oppressive ideologies on womxn of color. Through the Black and Latinx Womxn summit, we will reclaim, redefine, and establish aspects of our identities that society has deemed unfitting. Womxn are inherently phenomenal, not by how we look or what we do, but by simply resisting and existing. We are phenomenal.

Subthemes

• Resilience: Womxn of color have always been at the forefront of resistance movements. As such, this notion of resilience has been a steady heartbeat that drives our courage and that is at the core of our momentum to continue to champion issues impacting our communities. Resilience involves behaviors, thoughts, and actions that are within us all. Womxn will not let harmful expectations and assumptions of gender, sexuality, femininity, race, and other aspects of Black and Latina identities determine our path. We will discuss the physical and emotional ability to overcome obstacles that we face through persevering ad going against societal expectations of womxn.

Example: A workshop can be life mapping, different techniques of resilience Black and Latina Womxn

• Empower: Navigating society as a womxn of color, we experience traumas through systemic oppression that takes a heavy toll on our mental health and overall wellbeing. We believe that a crucial part of resisting is active self-care and unapologetically expressing ourselves through creative outlets. Although healing from individual, collective, and historical trauma is an extensive journey, we hope to gain the skills necessary to build healthy relationships with ourselves, others, and our communities through which we can continue to grow and thrive. We attempt to disrupt these stereotypical notions of the ‘heroine’ role that are ascribed to womxn. As womxn we are assumed to take on the ‘self-sacrificial’ role within society and in this space, we want to deconstruct (the exploitation) women’s labor. 

Example: A workshop on meditation, understanding/addressing mental health in our communities, establishing healthy boundaries with yourself/with other

• Growth: In this section, we will debrief how womxn of color are able to understand their identities as well as how it shapes their worldview. Similarly, we will discuss how womxn of color have overcome a lack of opportunities and facing oppression, and from that creating movements to overall uplift and empower womxn despite all the hardships womxn have gone through. Womxn of color have their own unique experiences with oppression based on their own specific identities, and through being mindful of these experiences can help us have a better understanding of how to empower womxn of color. Influencing womxn to represent the better version of themselves by expressing our different values and beliefs. There will always be obstacles down the road of success, however, it is important to leave this section knowing that we can get over hurdles in order to be successful. It is of the essence to recognize how far we have come and acknowledge our accomplishments on the way to achieving our goals.

Example: An interactive workshop on goal setting and vision boards, a workshop on learning the steps to achieve our goals and progression 

• Advocacy: As Black and Latinx womxn, we must advocate for ourselves and others. Our liberation is inherently tied to one another, it is important to recognize this in order to establish solidarity. An analysis of historical violence and trauma is necessary to understand our present day struggle. We must stand up against discrimination, racism, transphobia, sexism, xenophobia, colorism, anti-blackness, and all other forms of oppression. Our hope is to not only draw inspiration from examples of resistance throughout past and present history but to advocacy within and outside of our communities. We must do so, in order to eradicate the many forms of oppression highlighted. The summit will allow us to become more educated activists and allies.

Example: A workshop in cultural appropriation versus cultural appreciation, What is Mutual Aid and how can it be of use between communities.

Wild Card: This area will focus on any issues or topics that address the lives, struggles, and intersectional identities of Black and Latina womxn that may not necessarily fit into one of the categories mentioned above.

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The summit seeks the submission of ‘useful’ and ‘engaging’ program proposals. By useful, we mean proposals that provide participants with knowledge, skills, and strategies that they can apply to their lives and/or the lives of their families and communities. By engaging, we mean presentations that are interactive, creative, and contribute some aspect of historical connection to our current society. Each presentation will be allotted 60 minutes in the program schedule. As a presenter you have the option of doing a discussion, workshop, or panel.

Discussion – A dialogue facilitated by the presenter(s)

Workshop – A presentation combined with an activity or series of activities surrounding the presentation topic

Panel – A group of two or more panelist engaging in a discussion amongst each other and the audience