WASHINGTON—On Feb. 21, the Claudia Jones School for Political Education hosted its annual Black History Month Event at the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, D.C. Over a hundred people came out to not only celebrate Black culture but also hear from a multi-generational panel of community leaders.
This year’s event, “Our History, Our Humanity,” featured a panel including SNCC member Judy Richardson, labor rights activist Bill Fletcher, Jr., civil rights educator Jessica Rucker, and Black Swan Academy student activist Tre Lee.
Attendees included members of labor-focused groups like the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and the Federal Unionist Network, alumni and current fellowship students from Rising Organizers, representatives of local organizations like Free D.C., community members and faith leaders from local Black-led churches and interfaith organizing groups like Faith Strategies, and many more.
The panel explored various topics on the importance of preserving Black history, the history of Black History Month itself, the legacy of organizations like SNCC, and how things have changed since the days of the Civil Rights Movement.
SNCC, the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, was a youth civil rights organization with origins in HBCUs. SNCC produced many future leaders, like D.C. Mayor Marrion Barry and activist Kwame Ture. Ella Baker, civil rights activist and mentor to Judy Richardson, founded SNCC with an emphasis on a more grassroots nature to the organization.
“The struggle had to be bigger than a hamburger. It had to deal with whether people could afford the hamburger, because SNCC was always focused on economic justice,” Richardson said, quoting Baker.
“The arc of history is long but it does not bend in any particular way unless we force it,” Bill Fletcher, Jr., said, describing the need for serious action in the labor movement designed to counter MAGA and the growing fascist movement. “The Black worker has played such a historic role in categorizing change, but we are often ignored.”
The event was held on the birthday of Trinidadian-born Claudia Jones who was a journalist, feminist, and a member of the national leadership of the Communist Party USA before she was unjustly deported to the United Kingdom by the U.S. government due to her communist activism.
During her time in the CPUSA, Jones was heavily involved with organizing Black and working-class women across the country. She continued her activism in the U.K. through organizing against anti-Black and xenophobic laws and established the Notting Hill Carnival, which continues to bring in thousands to this day.
Jones was buried in London next to Karl Marx, symbolizing not just her impact on the global communist struggle but also her importance in the development of Black feminist theory. Today, she is the namesake of the Claudia Jones School for Political Education, which carries on her legacy in community building and organizing.
Organizers said the event wouldn’t have come to fruition without the contributions and work of Rev. Grayland Scott Hagler, who passed away only a few days prior. He was born in Baltimore on March 1, 1954, and spent 30 years leading Plymouth UCC, where his sermons emphasized the importance of justice and challenging inequality everywhere.
Rev. Hagler was a leader in the church community as well as an activist deeply involved with many different struggles, ranging from the current year-long Target boycott to supporting Palestine against the ongoing genocide.
He was one of the few preachers who pushed back against support for Zionist ideology in an era when many churches and Christian religious leaders have signaled unconditional support for Israel. Rev. Hagler spent decades fighting for his community and others in D.C. and played a role in supporting the Black History Month Event. He passed away after a long fight with cancer, but his legacy lives on with the people he inspired throughout his years of activism. A memorial service was held at the church on March 1.
The Black History Month Event wrapped up with attendees enjoying a meal together along with cultural performances from individuals and groups like the D.C. Warriors Drumline, Freedom Futures Collective, The Soka Tribe, and local poet and storyteller Abena Disroe.
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