Tiffany's goodbye

Tiffany Ruby Patterson

Ella's Song, by Sweet Honey in the Rock

This was the song she played in the end of her last lecture. Here, a video that includes the lyrics. 

Tiffany Ruby Patterson – Lecture 5 - Conclusion

What if we found the guilt in ourselves?
What if things are not as we were taught?
What if we could bring the fault of all our ancestors to ourselves?
What if?

What if now I could change that?
What if now I understand what was done in the past?
What if now I can change the future of my descendants?
What if?

What?
What if?
No more if
No more

More
Now, more
More now
Now

Tiffany Ruby Patterson – Lecture 4 - The Human Cost of Slavery (Discussions)

"Don't underestimate the power of a small act." - T. R. Patterson

Today we had to discuss and (try to) digest last lecture's findings. It was a clearing process, which allowed us again to think. More. Deeply.

She is an amazing woman!

Tiffany Ruby Patterson – Lecture 3 - The Human Cost of Slavery

This is just a little part of what I heard today:

“Capture. Capture. They (the slaves) didn’t walk to the slave ship. They were captured. They were captured by other African folks. […] Africans did participate in the capture of slaves.”

“Imagine (yourself as a woman) being captured from your village, in the middle of night, put in chains, collars made with the purpose of chaining people to each other […] taken to a fort, a military fort that then was transformed into a slave fort/post […] you have your clothes taken off […] imagine yourself as a woman, with your breast, your genitalia, exposed to all people, to your siblings, to your family members […] placed to sit on the floor for months, without any care about your period times […] you haven’t seen the ocean, you were scared of the ocean, and you were placed on a ship to cross the ocean, when ships weren’t design to carry human beings […] there were no latrines, and people used to defecate on another […] many of them were abused, and arrived in the New World pregnant, which doubled their price.”

Suggested reading: Orlando Patterson's work (Amazon.com Search). Here, his interview in the NYTimes. An audio interview extract here and his opinion about Obama's victory in Democracy Journal here.

Complete audio of the lecture here.

Tiffany Ruby Patterson – Lecture 2 Day 4

“Not to allow you to be oppressed”. To womanize, to be a womanist, is to have the ability to fight for women’s rights, knowing your objectives as a social actor, but at the same time, not losing any feminine characteristic, as care and respect as an individual and as a human being. It is to look for justice and equality for women and men, universal justice for all, independently of all differences.

The complete audio of this lecture is here.

Tiffany Ruby Patterson, lesson 1 - Black Women Identity

Prof. Patterson, from Vanderbilt University, started her talk showing herself, her history, her views. In the audio, the complete lecture. Excellent ideas to be reviewed over and over, from time to time again.

There is a great conception of what a black woman must be. But who, or what, is a black woman? What are these categories that blind us to really see beyond the matters of color and gender, and sexuality?

"How do we talk who we are?", Patterson asks. "Men don't oppress because they are men. They learn to oppress." More of the lecture in the audio, here.

Today's class was based on "The Combahee River Collective" document, available here.