Please join us for an exciting lunch panel on the state of racial justice activism since the 2016 Presidential election. This lunch presentation will bring together scholars interested in public engagement to hear from renowned reproductive justice activist and co-founder of SisterSongLoretta Ross and public scholar Rickie Solinger. They will give their insights on successful partnerships between scholars and activists – specifically, how their relationship developed, how they maintain this working relationship, and how it, and the work they do together, is impacted by our presently contentious political landscape. Both Ross and Solinger have been active in the reproductive justice movement for decades and have authored or co-authored many important texts on the topic, including Reproductive Justice: An Introduction. This event is co-sponsored by ISSR, the Public Engagement Project, the Office of the Chancellor, Department of Health Promotion and Policy and Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at UMass, as well as the Five Colleges Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice Certificate program. It is also part of ISSR's developing Racial Justice Education Project.
Loretta Ross, is one of the creators of “Reproductive Justice,” practices and theory coined by African American women in 1994. Ross was a co-founder and National Coordinator of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective from 2007-2012. She co-authored Undivided Rights: Women of color Organize for Reproductive Justice in 2004. With Rickie Solinger, she is also the co-author of Reproductive Justice: An Introduction. Her next book, Radical Reproductive Justice, will be published by Feminist Press in 2017. A sought-after speaker and author of numerous articles about human rights, violence against women, reproductive justice, and appropriate whiteness, Ross is an African American woman in her 60s and a tireless activist.
Rickie Solinger is author or editor of eleven books about reproductive politics and satellite subjects. She is also the curator of a number of politically-focused, installation-based and photography exhibitions that have traveled to scores of college and university galleries, aiming to interrupt the curriculum. Rickie is Senior Editor of the book series Reproductive Justice(University of California Press).
