Life 4 All's Womxn's History Month Issue

MARCH 2021

PUBLISHED BY LIFE4ALL

WOMXN'S HISTORY MONTH MAR 2021. ISSUE NO. 6

Minority Women Pioneers in LGBTQIA+ rights The Art of Making A Difference: A Conversation with Jonovia Chase Special Feature: Sista Afya

LIFE4ALL

ISSUE

6 BIPOC Women Who Changed the Healthcare World "I Choose Me, today and Tomorrow": Behind the scenes with Samantha Caballero

L I F E 4 A L L

M A G A Z I N E

MINORITY WOMEN PIONEERS IN

LGBTQIA+ RIGHTS

From 1960s civil rights activist Bayard Rustin to Chicago's first black female and lesbian mayor, Lori Lightfoot, black LGBTQ Americans have long made history with innumerable contributions to politics, art, medicine and a host of other fields.“As long as there have been black people, there have been black LGBTQ and same-genderloving people,” David J. Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, told NBC News. “Racism combined with the forces of stigma, phobia, discrimination and bias associated with gender and sexuality have too often erased the contributions of members of our community."

Stormé DeLarverie A biracial, butch lesbian, DeLarverie was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and was always a performer. As a teenager, she joined the Ringling Brothers Circus where she rode jumping horses. Then from 1955 to 1969, DeLarverie toured the black theater circuit as the MC — and only drag king — of the Jewel Box Revue, the first racially integrated drag revue in North America.

LIFE4ALL • MAR 2021

She worked as a bouncer for several lesbian bars in New York City in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and held a number of leadership P A G E 0 8 / positions I S S U E 0 8 in the Stonewall Veterans Association.

DeLarverie also served the community as a volunteer street patrol worker, and as a result, was called the "guardian of lesbians in the Village."

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Beyond her LGBTQ activism, DeLarverie also organized and performed at fundraisers for women who suffered from domestic violence and their children.

Barbara Jordan Jordan, a civil rights leader and attorney, became the first African American elected to the Texas Senate in 1966, and the first woman and first African American elected to Congress from Texas in 1972. Jordan was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Bill Clinton in 1994 for her work as a political trailblazer.

While Jordan never explicitly acknowledged her sexual orientation in public, she was open about her life partner of nearly 30 years, Nancy Earl.

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Audre Lorde Lorde, a self-described “black, lesbian, feminist, mother, poet, warrior," made lasting contributions in the fields of feminist theory, critical race studies and queer theory through her pedagogy and writing. Among her most notable works are “Coal” (1976), “The Black Unicorn” (1978), “The Cancer Journals” (1980) and “Zami: A New Spelling of My Name” (1982). “I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves.

We’ve been taught that silence would save us, but it won’t,” Lorde once said.

Lori Lightfoot A former prosecutor with no experience in elected office, Lightfoot swept all 50 of Chicago’s wards in the 2019 mayoral runoff election after promising to end the city’s famed backroom dealing. She is the city’s first-ever black female mayor and its first openly LGBTQ mayor.

Andrea Jenkins Jenkins made history in November 2017 by becoming the first openly transgender black woman elected to public office in the U.S., according to LGBTQ advocacy groups and researchers. Jenkins, a Democrat, was one of two openly trans people to win a seat on the Minneapolis City Council in 2017.

She is also a published poet and an oral historian at the University of Minnesota.

Source/Credit: https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/black-history-month-17-lgbtq-blackpioneers-who-made-history-n1130856

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The Art of Making A Difference: A Conversation with Jonovia Chase Jonovia Chase is a New York-based event producer and organizer. With a glorious career that has taken her through the nonprofit world to public health, community organising and now to the world of production as the ballroom coordinator at Pose, she has made a difference with every step she took. A dancer at heart, she has been a pioneer in addressing intersectional justice, creating safe spaces for the community and accelerating systemic change. We had the opportunity to sit with her through a phenomenal conversation and here is how it went.

Could you please say a little bit about your background?

I grew up between east Baltimore, MD and the Bronx, NY so I consider myself a hybrid, but I’m totally a New Yorker at this point. Growing up I was always a creative person known to be a dancer. Fun fact I was definitely the kid to go get to battle on any block back in my neighborhood in Baltimore lol. No wonder I found ballroom, I always loved the competitive edge or performing but also understood what it was like to be called upon and being in service to bring people joy from a young age.

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How did you start your journey?

I have always been mature and accountable since childhood with a sense of commitment to society. When I was about 18 years old and got an internship programme that was centred in sexual health, HIV AIDS prevention and that created the foundation of my work in community initiatives. With my work in the house ballroom community( kiki scene particularly) I knew I could go further in supporting the community, to be committed and divested in it not only socially, but professionally. It instilled a sense of accountability and with my engagement in the Kiki scene, I found the direction and support I needed. I now had the opportunity to create safe spaces for more people that gave support, love and a home.

Please tell us more about your current projects.

Amid Covid-19 I feel very fortunate to even have current projects. My house & ballroom family is always at the core of what I do so with that said, I do have 3 major storytelling projects that I can’t really dive into. I can say more possibilities will be open for our community to have more access and to reclaim our narratives and I am honored to be doing work that is vital in the sustainability and growth of our culture.

As always I tell people to stay tuned. Lol I am also still working on season 3 of POSE in my dual role as the ballroom coordinator and featured character Kiki Pendavis. We are in our final weeks of production so we are gearing up to launch an epic season amid Covid-19.

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"The ballroom is transformative and I received the exact creative space I needed and I could be myself there."

When you were little, what did you aspire to be when you grew up?

When I was little, I had a wild imagination. Besides being in the body that I wanted to be in, I thought of many things. I wanted to be a chef at one point, a dancer of course but I wanted to do it in concerts, music videos. I also wanted to be a spy and I totally believed I could do it. My teachers always thought I was going to be a diplomat or politician. I am glad I am not that but I am playing a similar role in many ways for my community. The biggest thing through it all was to be a performance artist.

Oftentimes in the ballroom, we devalue artistry as not being valuable or “artsy” enough but that is not true. The ballroom is transformative and I received the exact creative space I needed and I could be myself there and have made so many dreams come true.

"I have always been in a space A song could listen to on repeat?

“The SNACKTIME EP by ByrellTheGreat & Princess Precious”

where I contemplated a lot, also because I

Any role models/ mentor that you would want to mention?

cared about

That’s a hard one for me because there are so many. To name a few My sisters Jennifer Lee, Gia Love, the Iconic Dr. Ayana Eliott, my Legendary mother J’lin Lanvin and as always my peers are an inspiration.

others. But with

Anything you would like to say to your 15year-old self?

I would say “just do it!”. I have always been in a space where I contemplated a lot, also because I cared about others. But with that, I would also tell myself to be kinder to my own self, do things that bring meaning and joy, and not be afraid to be myself!

that, I would also tell myself to be kinder to my own self, do things that bring meaning and joy, and not be afraid to be myself!"

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Sista Afya is a social enterprise that provides low-cost mental wellness services that center the experiences of Black women. They believe that by making mental wellness simple, accessible, affordable, and centered around Black women's experiences, more people will get what they need to have a full, whole life.

Sista Afya Community Mental Wellness has a community support approach to mental wellness wherein community support for people living with mental health conditions can foster healing, growth, freedom, and selfactualization.

Find more: https://www.sistaafya.com/

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The contributions of African Americans to medicine date back to the American Revolutionary War. In honor of Black History Month, this list highlights some of the notable figures who have championed better health care access for black Americans, helped develop medical breakthroughs and broke glass ceilings for women in the medical field.

Dr. Alexa Irene Canady Dr. Alexa Irene Canady, 67, has said she almost dropped out of college when she started her undergraduate degree. But she pressed on and discovered her love of medicine working on genetics research.

Canady, a native of Lansing, Michigan, pursued her studies in pediatrics.

In 1981, she became the first female African American neurosurgeon in the United States. Her research in children includes studies on the effects of hydrocephalus, a condition characterized by the excessive accumulation of fluid in the brain.

Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler worked as a nurse for almost 10 years before becoming the first African American woman to earn a medical degree in the United States. Crumpler worked as a nurse and physician in Massachusetts and Virginia.

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Ildaura Murillo-Rohde Over her career, Murillo-Rohde wrote about a broad range of issues from single parenthood to same-sex couples.

She also reached several professional heights, including becoming the first Hispanic dean of nursing at NYU. But one of her greatest achievements was creating the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN) in 1975. She felt strongly that the country needed an organization to attract Hispanic people to nursing as well as to support their unique concerns and those of the communities they served.

“I saw that I was the only Hispanic nurse who was going to Washington to work with the federal government, review research and education grants, etc.,” Murillo-Rohde later noted. “I looked behind me and thought: ‘Where are my people?’”

For her creation of NAHN and numerous other leadership roles, the American Academy of Nursing named Murillo-Rohde one of their living legends in 1994.

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Helen Rodríguez-Trías, From caring for low-income children in the South Bronx in New York City to establishing appropriate treatment for HIV and/or AIDS patients in New York state and promoting women’s health around the world, Helen Rodríguez-Trías was an outspoken activist and pioneering public health leader.

In 1970, a decade after graduating from the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, Rodríguez-Trías began championing quality care and cultural awareness for minority populations at the Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, where she became head of pediatrics.

One issue of great concern to her throughout the 1970s was government-led programs that coerced women, including minority women and those with physical disabilities, to undergo sterilization. Rodríguez-Trías went on to co-found the Campaign to End Sterilization Abuse, which led to strict federal guidelines for consent in 1979.

In the 1980s, she focused on helping mothers and children suffering from HIV and/or AIDS, heading the New York State Department of Health’s AIDS Institute. There, she helped establish standards of care that became a model for the whole country.

Susan La Flesche Picotte Susan La Flesche Picotte was a Native American doctor and reformer in the late 19th century. She is widely acknowledged as one of the first Native Americans to earn a medical degree.[2] She campaigned for public health and for the formal, legal allotment of land to members of the Omaha tribe.

Picotte was an active social reformer as well as a physician. She worked to discourage drinking on the reservation where she worked as the physician, as part of the temperance movement of the 19th century. Picotte also campaigned to prevent and treat tuberculosis, which then had no cure, as part of a public health campaign. She also worked to help other Omaha navigate the bureaucracy of the Office of Indian Affairs and receive the money owed to them for the sale of their land.

Source/Credit: https://www.heart.org/en/news/2020/02/21/9-african-americanpioneers-in-medicine https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/celebrating-10-hispanicpioneers-medicine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_La_Flesche_Picotte

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W I T H

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"Samantha was born and raised on the south side of Chicago. She began working and volunteering at community organizations across the city since she was 14 years old. When she was 22 she moved to Portland Oregon, where she served the homeless and underserved youth community for several years. Samantha believes that community organization and participation is a critical component in the development of promoting growth, ensuring survival, and creating a strong quality of life for ourselves and for our communities.

Could you please tell us a little bit about yourself?

I was born in Chicago and I have been a part of the non-profit world for quite a while since I was 14. That’s when I started working actually. I have expanded to different community organisations and gained different experiences that have added to my understanding of the non-profit world. This past year I have been working with Serette B, King, when he was launching Life4All. It has been amazing and very meaningful to see something like this being created from the ground up and is such an extraordinary experience.

"I think when you do spend time with people from minority backgrounds, it does feel like home. "

What are some of the challenges you have had to face during the course of your career?

Growing up in Chicago brought this up several times. Chicago is such a massive city and we are a melting pot but it is also segregated in many ways, which shows in different aspects of its existence. So when you are out there, you begin to feel the prejudice and are confronted with stereotypes. I think when you do spend time with people from minority backgrounds, it does feel like home. This drastically changed when I moved to Portland, Oregon which was a predominantly White city.

You hear people making comments, it is discreet but you tend to notice it. It was a huge eye-opener. People would ask me where I was from and when I would say “Chicago”, they would be like “Where are you actually from?”.

What was your involvement with the "I Choose Me" Campaign?

Once I started working with Life4All and when Serette brought out the idea of the “I Choose Me” campaign, I was thrilled. He particularly wanted to launch it around Minority Mental Health Awareness Month and I didn’t even know it was a thing. So it started off as a huge learning experience for me. Serette has been a part of the community for such a long time and he has done a wonderful job and having worked with him previously, I knew this would be extraordinary. It was lovely to see how many people reached out and how the concept spoke to them. For me as well, it was an incredibly personal as well as a political experience. Generating awareness about the mental health of minority communities is essential. While it started off as a way of bringing forth individual stories, eventually, it became a community support group and share this commonality we have.

What was the most memorable experience through this all?

Since I was working behind the scenes, hearing people’s stores and doing the photo shoot was more impactful than I thought it could be. It’s a completely different kind of photoshoot; people bare themselves, you take away all the glam that usually comes with those things, to see their raw side and be so honest about it. To see people willing to be so vulnerable was transformative.

When it was my turn, I was more nervous than I thought I would be. It was beautiful though and there was so much truth to it.

What is working with Life4All like?

It is humbling. I believe when it comes to your quality of life and making meaning, it takes a village and I feel I am helping bring a village together. To be able to be in this position is humbling because you see the impact and you see how social change is created from the ground up. Focusing on mental wellness is a lot of effort, you need to revise, learn and unlearn constantly and it is so emotional. It is so intense and rewarding, you know it is essential and it is a privilege to be able to give back in this manner.

What helps you relax and unwind? Any books or

If you could go back 5 years in time, what would

movies you love?

you tell your younger self?

I have never been asked that question. I

I would say, “You are doing fine.. Relax.

am this came up. I do like to discuss this

Keep going. Keep practising. Better things

with my friend. How do you unwind after a

come with time. Emotions are fleeting and

difficult day? I love a good cartoon, a

thing change. But you will be fine.”. I think

Disney movie, some Tom and Jerry. I do

with the world we live in, it’s so easy to give

avoid social media because I know it

into competitiveness, we are so stimulated

would stress me out. Watching cartoons

all the time and want to accomplish so

relaxes me and I love going to sleep having

much in the time have. However, we do

it play in the background. Some of the

forget the importance of being present, of

cartoons were way ahead of their time!

understanding

patience,

practising,

making mistakes and taking responsibility for our actions. Things take time and practice. Slow down, you are doing fine and you will get there!

Know more about our "I Choose Me" Campaign:

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

Life 4 All Inc. is a nonprofit located in Chicago, Illinois dedicated to Health Equity Health. Life 4 All Inc. seeks to provide primary and mental health referrals and resources, outreach, and SexUeducation, while also chipping away at health stigmas and bringing awareness to health disparities through our TakeDOWN campaigns, lab series programming, and events geared towards building and strengthening community bonds. them here.

LIFE4ALL • MAR 2021