Women’s Studies Events in 2021
In 2021, the Women's Studies program was tasked with conducting its regular series of events in a virtual format due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. While this brought many challenges, the program was able to secure speakers from all over the U.S. Here is a snapshot of the presenters and their discussions:
Tracy Edwards, MBE shot to fame when she skippered the first all-female crew to sail around the world. She and her crew raced Maiden in the 1989/90 Whitbread Round the World Race gave a talk about her record-breaking achievements. Trouncing her critics, Maiden won two legs and came second overall, the best result for a British boat since 1977, a result that remains unbeaten. Tracy went on to skipper various all-female challenges and created the world’s first mixed gender professional racing team. In 2014 she found Maiden rotting in the Seychelles, raised the funds to buy her and restore her and in November 2018 she set off with a new all-female crew, on a three-year world tour, raising funds and awareness for girls’ education. The Maiden Factor Foundation works with and supports communities to enable girls into education and empowers and supports them to remain throughout their teenage years.
Dr. Stephanie Evans (Georgia State University) previewed her forthcoming book on Black women’s historical wellness. In Black Women’s Yoga History, Dr. Evans uses primary sources to answer the question of how elders have managed stress. She shows how meditation and yoga from eras of enslavement, segregation, and migration to the Civil Rights, Black Power, and New Age movements have been in existence all along. Life writings by Harriet Jacobs, Sadie and Bessie Delany, Eartha Kitt, Rosa Parks, Jan Willis, and Tina Turner are only a few examples of personal case studies that are included here, illustrating how these women managed traumatic stress, anxiety, and depression. Evans traces her own learning journey to apply the valuable lessons of this intellectual history in her efforts to engage Black women’s studies to institutionalize wellness.
Ms. Drema Lee Woldman who holds a degree in Social Work from West Virginia State University spoke about community service. For her community service and volunteer efforts, she has received numerous awards for her service. She is the Immediate Past National President of Top Ladies of Distinction, Inc.; a Life member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. where she served as Chapter President; a Life Member of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), where she served as Section President and Organizer; a Life Member of the NAACP, and the organizer and President of the Chicago Metropolitan Chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women. In this presentation, she will talk about her passion of community organizing and activism.
Ms. Yraida Guanipa who was sentenced to a draconian, and now unconstitutional sentence, as a first-time non-violent offender for drug-related charges discussed her incarceration and her communication with Paul Simon (1928-2003) the former United States Senator. Ms. Guanipa moved attendees with her fierce efforts to reestablish a relationship with her sons during and after her time in prison. The idea about Y. G. Institute was born around August 13, 2002, when the former Senator wrote a letter on behalf of Yraida Guanipa and stated: “Yraida Guanipa is one who really can make a real contribution to a better society”. Ms. Guanipa is founder of the Y.G. Foundation which is dedicated to re-establish family-bond for those directly or indirectly impacted by our judicial system.
Dr. Cedric Harville focused on African American women’s low levels of physical activity and their disproportioned burden of chronic disease conditions compared to all other racial/ethnic groups. Preventable chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease can all be mitigated via improved diets and increased physical activity. Longitudinal nationwide studies have shown that over the past two decades the prevalence of obesity among African American women has ranged between 50%-60% with these numbers continuing to increase. Dr. Hardville discussed the factors associated with low levels of physical activity among African American women as well as new methods to approach barriers to physical activity via wearable devices and smartphones.
