Thread by @blkgirloncampus

Happy #InternationalWomensDay! We’re excited to celebrate with a #BGOCresearch 🧵feat. @witnesstildeath. Dr. Francena Turner is a Postdoc within @UMD_MITH

In celebration of #WHM we’ve been talking to #blackgirlsoncampus about work that centers our history. Today, @witnesstildeath is sharing reflections on her dissertation titled ‘Black Women & Student Activism at Fayetteville State, 1960-1972’

"My work is a gendered study of Black student activism at FSU during Sit-In/Black Campus Movement(s). I provide a reconsideration of previous scholarship on the Sit-Ins (1960-1963) & the first scholarly study of Black Power Era activism in Fayetteville/at FSU" @witnesstildeath

"In my youth, I didn’t learn about many important Black women. The ones I did about learn were always somewhere else. I wanted to know how the CR/BP movements moved & looked at Fayetteville State & in my hometown of Fayetteville, NC." - @witnesstildeath

In sum, @witnesstildeath says her reason for writing was "I wanted to move Black women from mentions to the center of such explorations [of Black Power Era movements]."

"Dr. Jeannette Council uttered my favorite quote from my study when she simply asserted, 'We were there.'" - @witnesstildeath

@witnesstildeath shared this photo from a 1971 issue of FSU's student newspaper, The Voice. It depicts young Black men during a march in downtown Fayetteville. If you look closely, you can see them flanking Black women marchers, which Dr. Turner says was a protective measure.

Biggest Takeaway: "Ultimately I found that--regardless of how illegible they may have been rendered by other types of lenses--Black women were the fabric & stitching of every instance of student organizing & activism at Fayetteville State." - @witnesstildeath

Thank you for your important #BGOCresearch, @witnesstildeath! As we consider both Black women’s histories and our futures, Dr. Turner shared this collage with us. It features photos of her, her daughter, and her mother.