Forgotten Social Histories Community

2008-02-25T11:45:00.000-08:00

Sunday, March 2^nd @ Arellano Theater, in Levering Hall,

Homewood Campus, JHU, 3400, North Charles St, Baltimore.

TENTATIVE PROGRAM

Opening Comments, Social Histories Group

Presentation on IWD, Social Histories Group

Sebahat Tuncel (Keynote Speaker-deputy of Turkish Parliament)

Nadine Bloch (anti-war activist)

Joanne M. Martin (Co-Founder and Director of Great Blacks in Wax Museum

Susan Pearce (Global Women of Baltimore)

Edythe Jones (Women in Black)

Steven Strauss (Freedom Socialist)

United Workers

Susan Black (Worker's World)

Paula Robbins (Women of Palestine)

Esra Saríoglu (Binghamton University-feminist/socialist movement in Turkey)

Katie Allston (Marian House)

Open Discussion

Closing Comments, Social Histories Group

Food Service

5:30 PM

Film Screening: Mother Jones: America's Most Dangerous Women (Documentary, 2005, 27 minutes).

Organizations with Tables:

Women in Black

United Workers

Spark

Amnesty International (JHU)

Marian House

Ladyfest Baltimore

Red Emma's

2008-02-21T07:59:00.001-08:00

International Women's Day Around the World - 2

2008-01-31T09:10:00.000-08:00

International Women's Day Around the World

2008-01-31T09:05:00.000-08:00

Open Invitation Letter:Bringing Forgotten Social Histories Back Home

2008-01-05T02:28:00.000-08:00

Celebrating and Reengaging the International Women’s Day and Mayday in 2008

In 2008 a new community-building project will embark upon a process, which aims at establishing a space of communication among international students, American students and community organizations in Baltimore around two “forgotten social histories of the United States”, namely the March 8th International Women’s Day, and May 1st, Mayday.
This will involve two separate but interconnected events, one on the International Women’s Day (March 8, 2008) and one on the Mayday (May, 1, 2008), with a common theme to reengage the historical legacy of social movements in the United States with the social problems of today. Both originated from the United States at critical moments in the history of the social movements in the USA, then gained significant meaning in many other countries as “people made their own history.” However, they have been since forgotten in the United States, their political homeland and place of origins.

International Women's Day traditionally brings people together collectively to oppose the norms that have discriminated against women. Mayday or International Workers' Day recognizes social and economic achievements of labor groups and the working class.

Each of these two events will cover panels, speeches, movie-shows and musical performances. These events will construct a link between the historical and the contemporary, and the global and the local, by creating solidarity between different groups and as many possible perspectives on these events as exist within our own community. In celebrating International Women’s Day and Mayday, we hope to create a dialogue inclusive of the many groups within the Baltimore community.

On March 8th 2008 we will embark on the first of these events. In addition to movies and musical performances we will be organizing a series of speeches and discussion panels on the following themes:

-Conditions of women struggle worldwide: International experiences on contemporary women’s struggle
-The forgotten history of the women’s day: Historical specificity of International Women’s day and its forgotten history in the USA
-Historical and contemporary struggles of women in Baltimore
-Oppression and struggle of diverse sexualities
-On women and working class: Theoretical, practical and historical puzzles:

We would like to have thorough and informative speeches and presentations for a broad audience, which will cover not only academics in the Baltimore-Washington DC area but also include the broader Baltimore community as well.

If you would like to make a presentation or join in a discussion of any of these themes listed above please contact us by January 10, 2008 at socialhistories@gmail.com. Based on the responses we receive, we will reorganize these themes accordingly to facilitate the best discussions possible.

Furthermore if you would like to take part in this event either personally or as a community organization, or would like to contribute in any way, please contact us at socialhistories@gmail.com or from the contact addresses listed below.

Sincerely,
Social Histories Group
Johns Hopkins University

For more information:
http://socialhistories.blogspot.com

We invite you to come learn about the Social Histories Community at JHU! (revised)

2007-12-04T18:14:00.000-08:00

Social Histories Community is a new student group on campus that aims to bring together international students, American students, and the greater Baltimore community to bring awareness to two "forgotten histories" of the United States. This spring, we plan to host two events: International Women's Day (March 8th) and Mayday (May 1st), both of which originated in the US, are celebrated around the globe, but are ironically no longer widely recognized in this country.

International Women's Day traditionally brings people together collectively to oppose the norms that have discriminated against women. Mayday or International Workers' Day recognizes social and economic achievements of labor groups and the working class.

The aim of the SHC is to bring help re-form the link between these two celebrations and the country in which they originated. We envision that each of these two events will include panels, speeches, film-showings, and musical performances, but we need your help and ideas in making these days a success at JHU and in the Baltimore community. This project is awarded by KSAS Community Grant this year and it is being supported by various departments.

We would like to invite you to join us at our next planning meeting on Friday, December 7th at 5:00 pm at Coleman Seminar Room, Mergenthaler Hall, 5 th Floor.

We are looking for ideas to bring to the table, energy to help plan these events, or just general interest in learning more about why we believe these days are important. We would like this to be a collective effort of many groups on our campus and in our community, so please help us spread the word and join us if you can!

http://socialhistories.blogspot.com/
socialhistories@gmail.com

We invite you to come learn about the Social Histories Community at JHU!

2007-12-02T19:17:00.001-08:00

SHC is a new student group on campus that aims bring together international students, American students, and the greater Baltimore community to bring awareness to two “forgotten histories” of the United States. This spring, we plan to host two events: International Women’s Day (March 8th) and Mayday (May 1st), both of which originated in the US, are celebrated around the globe, but are ironically no longer widely recognized in this country. International Women’s Day traditionally brings people together collectively to oppose the norms that have discriminated against women. Mayday or International Workers' Day recognizes social and economic achievements of labor groups and the working class. The aim of the SHC is to bring help re-form the link between these two celebrations and the country in which they originated. We envision that each of these two events will include panels, speeches, film-showings, and musical performances, but we need your help and ideas in making these days a success at JHU and in the Baltimore community.

We would like to invite you to join us at our next planning meeting on Tuesday, November 27th at 7:30 pm in Kreiger 300. We are looking for ideas to bring to the table, energy to help plan these events, or just general interest in learning more about why we believe these days are important. We would like this to be a collective effort of many groups on our campus and in our community, so please help us spread the word and join us if you can!

Our Project Proposal to Johns Hopkins University

2007-11-26T22:36:00.000-08:00

Project Title:

“Bringing Forgotten Social Histories Back Home”

Name of the Group:

Social Histories Community Group

Start Date: March 8

socialhistories@gmail.com

860 951 6846-Caitlin Pearce

Department of Sociology

533 Mergenthaler Hall

Bringing Forgotten Social Histories Back Home

We propose a community-building project, which aims at establishing a space of communication among international students, American students and community organizations in Baltimore around two “forgotten social histories of the United States”, namely the March 8^th, the International Women’s Day and the May First, the Mayday. Our proposal is to organize two separate but interconnected events, one on the International Women’s Day and one on the Mayday, with a common theme. Each of these two events will cover panels, speeches, movie-shows and musical performances bringing international students, American students and members of the Baltimorean community organizations. This project was inspired by an International Women’s Day event organized last year by Hopkins students and supported by the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Last year, this event brought students from different countries and universities together to discuss women’s issues, watch and discuss a movie on the women’s movement, and share experiences on the conditions of women and the March 8^th movements all over the world.

Why Do We Choose Women’s Day and Mayday for This Series of Events?

Women’s Day and Mayday share a common feature: Both originated from the United States at critical moments in the history of the social movements in the US, then gained significant meaning in many other countries as “people made their own history.” However, they have been since forgotten in the United States, their political homeland. In many countries and across different continents, March 8^th has been the day during which women have collectively negated the norms, values and practices that have discriminated against them.

Similarly, May First has been celebrated in many countries as Workers’ Day and attained a significant historical meaning in the making of the modern world. The irony is that these days, even as the United Nations celebrates March 8^th as the International Women’s Day and many countries officially and socially celebrate Mayday, these days have lost their historical meaning in the United States where women and labor movements have been very strong. We think that these internationally known but nationally forgotten social histories can be re-embraced on an international campus. We envision a day where students and academics from different departments and members of local communities can cherish and protect the heritage of celebrating these events critical to the struggle of women and labor, which have been forgotten here, but continue to thrive across the globe.

Why Are These Two Days Relevant Now and Why Right Here?

Johns Hopkins University has a large and diverse community of international students, each with their own social and cultural heritages. It is our mission to represent the diversity present within our university and to integrate these personal histories of struggle, including that of the United States, with the culture on campus. For many students, March 8^th and Mayday are critical junctures in the history of their home country. For American students, they are all chapters in the forgotten history of their country. We aim to construct a link between the historical and the contemporary, and the global and the local, by creating solidarity between different groups on campus in an attempt to include, or at least represent, as many possible perspectives on these events as exist within our own community. In celebrating International Women’s Day and Mayday, we hope to create a dialogue inclusive of the many groups on campus as well as that of the Baltimorean community.

What Kind of Events Are We Planning to Host?

We are planning to organize events on International Women’s Day and Mayday which will focus on the following issues:

a) The historical, social and cultural meaning of International Women’s Day and Mayday in the contexts of international, national and local settings.

b) The historical trajectory through which International Women’s Day and Mayday have been widely celebrated in the world and almost forgotten in their homeland, the United States.

c) The ways of creating linkages with and consolidating relationships among international students, American students and Baltimorean community organizations around socio-historical issues. In that sense, the events will try to bridge between and build communities among

- international students and American students

- on-campus groups and off-campus groups

- academic and non-academic agents of knowledge

d) Incorporating music as an artistic form into the discussion of social events, drawing the attention of the larger Hopkins community into social events, and seeking ways of establishing inter-group activity within the campus.

Whom Are We Going to Invite for the Series?

For International Women’s Day:

a) Hopkins communities and institutions working on the issues of women and gender:

b) Academics (sociology, history, political science, gender studies, anthropology) and activists working on women and gender

c) Baltimorean community organizations of women.

Mayday:

a) Academics working on labor and labor history (sociology, history, political science, anthropology).

b) Labor organizations and NGOs from Baltimore.

c) Immigrant organizations from Baltimore.

During each day, incoming groups can have tables where they can present their organizations and activities.

What Kinds of Events Will Be Included in These Events?

1. Movies: For each event, we will screen one movie that is relevant to the meaning of each day.

2. Panel Discussions and Workshops: We will invite academics, activists from local community organizations of women, and labor organizations to give speeches about Mayday and Women`s Day. In these panel discussions, audiences from different countries also will have the opportunity to convey their experiences about International Women’s Day and Mayday.

3. Musical Performances: We will invite one or two bands whose musical concepts overlap with these events’ content.

We are expecting to have around 100-150 attendees for each event.

6) Budget

We calculated two kinds of budgets. The first is the minimum amount of funding that we need in order to organize the event with minimum necessary equipment. The second is the optimum amount of money that will yield a satisfactory event without any reservation.

	Minimum	Optimum			Minimum	Optimum
International Women's Day				Mayday

Food	450	600		Food	450	600
Music	100	300		Music	100	300
Stationery Materials (photocopies, posters etc.)	100	300		Stationery Materials (photocopies, posters etc.)	100	300

Total	650	1200			650	1200

				Minimum	Optimum
			Grand Total	1300	2400

Furthermore, we request a room for organization, which then can become a space of interaction and community building for the incoming students. This room may also have a fax machine and a printer to organize the events.

If this proposal is accepted we are committed to submitting a progress report (if requested) and a final, short report to the Dean of Graduate Education and Research on completion of this project.

Bringing Forgotten Social Histories Back Home

2007-11-26T22:32:00.000-08:00

This is a blog-page for our project "Bringing Forgotten Social Histories Back Home".
We are a group of students at Johns Hopkins University, gathered together to organize events in Baltimore to commemorate March 8, International Worker Women's Day and May 1, the May Day in Baltimore.
You can find about our organization, plans, events and reports on this simple blog-page and you can get in contact with us through our email: socialhistories@gmail.com