Black Feminist Roundtable: Taking Space and Making a Place of Our Own

I went to a panel in late March which was focused on the issue of black feminism in television and film. It was a truly inspiring opportunity to see these black women, all very successful in their fields, just describe the ways that they’ve found to make it in a world that is often against them. One of my favorite speakers at the panel was Morgan Harnell’s discussion of her piece S.A.B.L.E., a choreo-poem about the experiences of black women and their struggle to be seen, heard, and recognized in the face of police brutality and society’s predisposition to ignore and dismiss them.

I had the amazing opportunity to see this work when it debuted at the Dance Theater on the Marietta campus, and seeing how far she took this inspiring work was a true delight for me. The power with which she wields her art serves as a beacon for black women in our community today, and after seeing this panel I am assured that she will be successful, and that black women where we’re from and where we’re at have an at least slightly better chance of getting themselves out there. Women, black women, like Harnell are paving the way, and they aren’t alone, which gives me untold hope for our future. We’re making a place of our own.