Amelia Boynton was a civil rights pioneer well-known for fighting for voting rights for African Americans. She died at age 104 and participated in the horrific civil march known as “Bloody Sunday.”
So long as there is life, what it means to be female is continuously evolving. While the struggle for gender equality persists in this patriarchal society that has been planted into our existence since the conception of humanity, it is no secret that women have achieved and conquered despite the domestic box society constantly attempts to place them in. For these reasons, it is of paramount importance that we uplift our women in a world where male privilege is still at large.
On Thursday, Mar. 8, to commemorate Women’s History Month, the School of Arts & Sciences conducted a “Celebration of Women’s HERstory” in the Student Community Center Boardrooms. It is no coincidence that this event was held on the same date as International’s Women’s Day (in America), seeing that the open house sought to highlight and acknowledge the achievements of women across the nation. The occasion began at 10 a.m. and ended at 3p.m.
One side of the room in which the event took place was encompassed with tables that each possessed informative and interesting facts on a variety of women. The other side of the room was set up like a miniature movie theater where students could sit and enjoy the few brief presentations that took place.
There was a table of decorative poster displays, created by students which each recognized an infamous woman and her contributions to history. Next to the displays was the “Wonderful Women Writers Trading Card Activity” where there was a board of quotes and students had the opportunity to try and match a woman author with the snippet of their work from the board. The diversity was eminent in artists showcased, which included Maya Angelou, J.K. Rowling and the Bronte Sisters just to name a few; prizes were given just for participation.
Next on the list of activities was the “We Can Do It” display, where students could mimic the famous poster of the same name by creating a unique button with a symbol of their liking and taking a picture with their creation against a “you can do it” board. The famous poster, that was actually not as popular during its time, came about when women were encouraged to take factory jobs in place of the men who were sent to fight in World War II. When the war ended, however, many females were forced to give up their jobs for the returning soldiers. Sadly, once upon a time, female talent was seen as disposable.
Nevertheless, this celebration was all about awareness of the brilliance of women and expounded only on the positivity of women’s history.
There was a table with information on the Data+Women Tampa Bay Chapter and a “Beauty, Brains and Bravery Banquet Display,” which was a literal, long, banquet-arranged table of artwork done by the students of the Curves Ahead: Women Artists & the Female Form class. The idea was inspired by talented artist Judy Chicago’s seminal art installation “The Dinner Party” and exhibited drawings for placemats that honored female artists of the 1960s. Artists such as Faith Ringold, Yoko Ono and Ama Ata Aidoo were beautifully and creatively represented in the banquet masterpiece.
Adjacent to the banquet was a “Reading HERstory” arrangement where women authors and their novels were featured. This table showcased a number of books including “Incidents of a Slave Girl” by Harriet Jacobs and “Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists” by Courtney E. Martin and J. Courtney Sullivan.
Lastly, but most certainly not the least, for informative table presentations was the Green Dot table. Here, there were a few quotes students could read and subsequently guess the female artist it was quoted by. Students also had the option to write down their own quote or another well-known one and stick it on the board. Green Dot’s goal is to eradicate or reduce violence detected on university campuses; this includes instances of date rape and other unfortunate incidences where female students are targeted.
The special brief presentations included a TABS performance at 10 a.m., a talk about Rethink Energy Tampa Bay with Outreach Coordinator Kyrsteen Webster at noon and an intermittent Multi-Media 60s presentation. Additionally, at 12:30 p.m., freshman and psychology major Savannah Red gave a visual demonstration on Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman cosmonaut (a person certified in Russia to work in space) and the first woman in history to travel to space.
Finally, Elizabeth Brooks, our librarian, did an original poetry reading at 1 p.m. She stated that she was a writer for the Indiana Voice Journals which is one of the top 100 online literary journals in the country. Some of her pieces that she read included “Daughter of Our City,” “I Want You Gone” and “You May Applaud Now.”
The future certainly is female. Women’s history has definitely proven female capabilities, and after years of female oppression, there is undoubtedly so much more to come. Saint Leo’s celebration of women was a success, but we can all continue the celebration by letting our inner feminists loose and supporting our women.
