REVOLUTION: The Black Woman Artist

Activist, Writer, and Rapper Sister Souljah was born Lisa Williamson in 1964 in the Bronx, New York.

Born into poverty and raised on welfare Sister Souljah knew what it was like to be underprivileged. She decided at a very young age to overcome her situation but never forget the circumstances that brought her and many others in her community to this some point. As a student she was excellent but disliked what she was being taught in school. She felt that she was being taught very little of her history. So she took a very active and special interest in learning everything she could about African history. Which she felt was purposely left out of the education curriculum in this country. While in high school, she interned in the House of Representatives for the Republican Party.

Sister Souljah was also the recipient of several honors during her teenage years. She won the American Legion's Constitutional Oratory Contest, A scholarship to attend Cornell University's Advanced Summer Program, and a chance to study aboard in Spain at the University of Salamanca. All before the age of 18, after which she attended Rutgers's University and double-majored in American History and African Studies. She became a well-known and outspoken voice on campus and active writer for the school paper. In the mid 1980's, while attending college, Reverend Benjamin Chavis of the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice offered her a job. She spent the next three years developing, organizing, and financing programs like a sleep away camp called the African Survival Camp, located in Enfield, North Carolina for homeless families. Throughout the 1990's Sister Souljah continued her commitment to social injustice but it began to take a controversial stance.

As a political activist, Sister Souljah became angered by the condition of African people thought the entire world. Her strong dedication and reputation for being opinionated about this subject tended to get her into trouble. One such incident occurred in 1992, when Candidate for President, Bill Clinton admonished Sister Souljah at a Rainbow Coalition event for comments she made on her rap album 360 Degrees of Power. However, Sister Souljah has preserved and stays an activist for the people always. She even added the title of author to her resume having published two books No Disrespect and the NY Times bestseller The Coldest Winter Ever.

She is also the executive director of Bad Boy Records CEO, Sean "Puffy" Combs, non-profit organization for kids called Daddy's House. The program serves over 600 kids from ages 6 to 16 from the inner city neighborhoods of New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia. By providing them with educational and mentor opportunities. She was also one of the speakers at the 1997 Million Women March in Philadelphia. At the age of 36 Sister Souljah has come full circle and doesn't plan on turning back.

Assata: Exile since 1979
On May 2 1973, Black Panther activist Assata Shakur (fsn) JoAnne Chesimard, was pulled over by the New Jersey State Police, shot twice and then charged with murder of a police officer. Assata spent six and a half years in prison under brutal circumstances before escaping out of the maximum security wing of the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey in 1979 and moving to Cuba.

Assata: In her own words
My name is Assata ("she who struggles") Shakur ("the thankful one"), and I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from the political repression, racism and violence that dominate the US government's policy towards people of color. I am an ex political prisoner, and I have been living in exile in Cuba since 1984. I have been a political activist most of my life, and although the U.S. government has done everything in its power to criminalize me, I am not a criminal, nor have I ever been one. In the 1960s, I participated in various struggles: the black liberation movement, the student rights movement, and the movement to end the war in Vietnam. I joined the Black Panther Party. By 1969 the Black Panther Party had become the number one organization targeted by the FBI's COINTELPRO program. because the Black Panther Party demanded the total liberation of black people, J. Edgar Hoover called it "greatest threat to the internal security of the country" and vowed to destroy it and its leaders and activists.

SEE AFRICAN GODDESSES PAGE: http://doorofkush.50megs.com/photo.html

ALICE WALKER'S NEW BOOK FOR 2007

Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Color Purple and one of the most prominent novelists of her generation, Alice Walker is also a bestselling non-fiction writer whose work has been widely praised. In We are the Ones We have been Waiting For, Walker brings us a collection of meditations that draw equally on her spiritual grounding and her progressive political convictions. Essay-style chapters conclude with a suggested meditation on patience, compassion, and forgiveness not only for ourselves but for our foes as well. Taking on some of the greatest challenges of our times, Walker encourages readers to have faith that despite the overwhelming situations we find ourselves in, we are prepared to create positive change.

Biography