[Applause]
00:04
my name is Blaire money I am an activist
00:07
and I’m the author of modern history
00:10
stories of women and non-binary people
00:11
rewriting history so many of the history
00:14
books we read happen in black and white
00:16
or don’t depict the 1950s forward or
00:19
live depict the you know civil rights
00:20
movement forward but often what happens
00:22
is somebody passes away and then all of
00:24
a sudden we want to hear their stories
00:25
we want to tell their stories we want to
00:27
dig through the archives but oftentimes
00:28
they’re not able to tell their own story
00:30
I wanted you know young people as young
00:32
as 11 year-old ma Rico honey to be able
00:34
to write her own legacy and direct that
00:35
legacy our narratives have been erased
00:37
from history and what better people than
00:39
us to tell our stories so choosing how
00:41
people got into the book like it was
00:43
very an informal process if you go all
00:45
the way to the glossary you can tell
00:47
that Miss Blair Amani was trying to fit
00:49
in as many people as humanly possible
00:51
and so at the end of certain entries
00:54
you’ll see call outs to other people who
00:55
have done similar work I also felt it
00:57
was very important to use my privilege
00:59
you know somebody who was able to get a
01:01
publishing deal on such a large platform
01:03
to be able to share these stories
01:04
everyone if you have a platform and
01:06
somebody isn’t getting acknowledged or
01:08
isn’t getting recognized don’t wait for
01:09
them to you know have some other
01:10
opportunity especially if it can be in
01:12
your hands to make that person
01:13
acknowledge and recognize as we were
01:17
pitching the book and creating these
01:18
different proposals there were so many
01:19
gatekeepers in the publishing industry
01:21
and so there are people who are saying
01:23
to us why is Missy Elliott in the book
01:25
she’s an icon you know she came from
01:26
such a struggle such a challenging
01:29
childhood and really used her music to
01:31
transform her own destiny but also to
01:34
empower others and she continues to do
01:35
that to this day
01:36
another person that was very exciting to
01:38
include was feminista Jones feminista
01:40
Jones is absolutely iconic she is one of
01:43
the pillars of black Twitter she works
01:45
with domestic violence survivors with
01:47
people who have different mental health
01:49
struggles she created an anti harassment
01:50
campaign called UO cases which is
01:52
constantly appropriated I created this
01:54
chapter called the revolution is now
01:57
which features people who have been born
01:59
in the year 2000 or later because the
02:01
revolution is now the revolutions
02:03
happening it’s not something that we are
02:04
looking around waiting for it to start
02:06
it was choosing different folks I wanted
02:07
to represent people who are really
02:09
Trailblazers so you have people who’ve
02:10
been trailblazing and
02:12
all people who also have people who have
02:14
been trailblazing in the present so you
02:15
have jazz jennings who was born in the
02:18
year 2000 she came out on barbara
02:20
walters as a trans youth at four years
02:23
old and basically was one of the few
02:25
openly trans figures in early 2000 she’s
02:28
really breaking down barriers every step
02:30
of the way not only for herself but for
02:32
people who are gonna come after her
02:35
that’s what I think the takeaway from
02:37
modern herstory is you should give it
02:39
about history it doesn’t happen in black
02:41
and white it’s happening now somebody
02:42
getting up and speaking at the women’s
02:45
March lack lives matter occurring these
02:47
are things that are a part of our
02:48
everyday lives that we might take for
02:49
granted but the fact is that the women’s
02:52
March was the largest human
02:53
demonstration in history history is made
02:55
by absolutely everyone we’re all part of
02:57
the story we’re all changing this
02:59
machine of human history and changing
03:02
how that machine is functioning it’s
03:04
part of your story it’s part of our
03:06
history and it’s part of her story
—
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