Voices
Rachel Maddow (1973 – ) is a television news host, political commentator and author. She first gained national attention in 2004 after serving as a host on Air America Radio and has since served as a panelist and commentator on a variety of news and radio programs. The “Rachel Maddow Show,” hosted by Rachel Maddow…
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I grew up in the Baptist Church and we did not commemorate the liturgical season of the Christian Church. When I became a pastor, it was my church in Sacramento that schooled me on Advent and Lent. I developed a deep appreciation for the spiritual concepts of developing patience (a core part of anticipation of…
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Audre Lorde (1934 – 1992) was a feminist author and civil rights activist who used her writing to address injustices of classism, homophobia, racism and sexism. Some of her most memorable tiles include “Sister Outsider,” “Your Silence Will Not Protect You,” and “Zami: A Spelling of My Name.” Lorde was inducted into Chicago’s Legacy Walk,…
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Claudius Afolabi “Labi” Siffre is a singer songwriter, composer and poet from London. He is the fourth of five children born to parents of Barbadian-Belgian and Nigerian descent. Although educated in Catholic School, Siffre has stated that he has always been an atheist. Siffre studied at the Eric Gilder School of Music, and recounted his…
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Alvin Ailey was born in 1931 in Rogers, Texas, and grew up in a time of economic crisis (the Great Depression), racism, violence and segregation. His father abandoned his mother when Ailey was only three months old, forcing the family to work in cotton fields and as domestics for white households. Yet with the support…
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Josephine Baker’s life story was unbelievably queer, boundary-defying and transgressive. The first indication of this is found in the St. Louis city records. Baker’s mother, Carrie McDonald, became pregnant while working for a German family, and was admitted to the exclusively white Female Hospital. This was 1906: America was segregated and patriarchal, and typically Black…
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Audre Lorde described herself as a “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” She was a native New Yorker, the daughter of West Indian immigrants who grew up in Harlem and went on to become an influential black feminist theorist, essayist, memoirist and novelist. Lorde focused her prose and poetry on the complexities of sexual and racial…
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Outspoken transgender activist, fashion icon, drag performer and LGBT rights pioneer Marsha P. Johnson began to wear dresses at the age of 5. As it so often happens, other children teased, harassed and bullied her to the point where she eventually stopped. Not until she graduated high school and moved to New York City—with $15…
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Willi Ninja, born William Roscoe Leake, was an American choreographer and dancer known for his iconic dance style, made famous in the film Paris is Burning. Ninja’s distinctive dance style was inspired by Fred Astaire, young Michael Jackson, Olympic gymnasts, Asian culture and haute couture. During the 1980’s in Harlem, ball culture was a huge…
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