It was supposed to be a one-time thing, but Sheryl Mallory-Johnson and her team decided to keep going. When she had first learned that 1619 marked the year that the first enslaved Africans were brought to Jamestown, Va., the 400-year anniversary was fast approaching, and she wanted to do something t o commemorate it. She got some friends together and created the 1619 National Celebration of Black Women. The organization grew from an initial celebration in 2019, to a nonprofit focused on affirming and uplifting Black women and girls through education and community events. This year, the organization is hosting its annual All About Black Women symposium from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 7 at the Bayview Baptist Church MLK Center; and their Women’s Empowerment March Celebration at 11 a.m. March 8, which is International Women’s Day, at the Encanto/62nd Street trolley station, followed by a community celebration at Marie Widman Neighborhood Park. “I really wanted to take this opportunity to focus in on African American women and our contributions to building America. I wanted to focus on Black women because, often, we are kind of relegated to the back of the line when it comes to what we have done in history,” she says. Mallory-Johnson, 62, is the founder, CEO, and executive chair of the organization and lives in Chula Vista with her husband, Rudolph Johnson. She’s also a retired child protective services worker, previously taught as an adjunct humanities professor, a psychotherapist, and is a novelist and playwright. She talks about wanting to create a space for Black women and girls to learn about their history in a way that’s positive and empowering, and celebrating women as a collective during International Women’s Month in March. Q: Why was this organization something you wanted to create? A: I’ve always been a Black history buff, to be quite honest, and I’m also very passionate about the history of African Americans in this country and what we have brought to its success. I think the most important part was understanding the contributions Black women have made in building this country. It’s often overlooked, and I thought, ‘Let’s celebrate Black women’ and I also wanted it to be known that it was 400 years. People in San Diego thought we were saying one-six-one-nine, as in the area code. So, we were educating what this represented and the importance of it. Q: Can you talk a bit about the plan for the annual symposium and empowerment march coming up next weekend? A: This symposium is actually a new direction that we took. I had a vision of a space where it was just all about us. It’s not often that we get to have a safe space that we can talk about what it means to be African American women, African American girls, without the imposition of having to caretake. As African American women, coming from a history of enslavement in this country, we have been conditioned to caretake others. So, when we’re at the table, we are less likely to take care of ourselves and our needs, or to express them. They’re often suppressed, particularly during more than 240 years of slavery, so what was most important to me is that I created a safe space where we can talk about the history. We try to avoid talking about the traumas of slavery because we know the traumas, it’s in our DNA; what we don’t really learn about is our triumphs and our contributions, so we’re all about uplifting Black women in that space. Uplifting and educating. It’s history that people don’t know — that I didn’t know until I did a lot more digging—and it is very empowering to know our history. That’s why we are constantly being disempowered by the eliminating of our history because they know the power of history. It’s just really about reminding African American women and girls of our intrinsic power. This symposium is going to have powerful speakers, powerful poets, a Black history contest where people win prizes. We have singers, musicians; it’s celebratory the whole day. It’s an opportunity to be in a space where a topic can be discussed and everybody in the room can relate at some level. I think it’s emotionally purging, a little bit. It’s not tearful, it’s joyous, but we hope that people walked away from last year feeling that they’ve gotten something back from that, that they got a lot out of it. The march is celebrating International Women’s Day. We’re excited to march in honor of women empowerment. It’s about being seen, it’s about being heard, it’s about being respected, so we are bringing together women from all walks of life to march with us and then to celebrate all women at the event. What I love about Chula Vista… My home, the access that I have to the community around me. I have wonderful neighbors and people that I can call on. It’s a very beautiful space to walk in and feel safe in. Q: You’re quoted on your website as saying, “To know our historical worth is of far greater value than to know our history of oppression.” What are some examples of knowing this historical worth for Black women and girls? A: Our historical worth is the fact that the more than 240 years in which African American women were enslaved is really not the sum of our historical worth. We don’t talk about what it took to wake up every day and not have your freedom as a Black woman—to not have the freedom to marry, to own your own children, not even your freedom to own your own body. I want people to understand what it took to raise a country because African American women raised the country. We didn’t only raise our children, we raised our enslavers’ children and we also survived the trauma of never knowing if our children were going to be ripped from our arms. If we don’t understand what it took to do that, today, African American young girls don’t have an ability to draw from that strength. For example, Elizabeth Freeman was the first enslaved person in America, in 1781, to sue for her freedom and win. Maria Eliza Mahoney was the first Black nurse in the United States in 1832. There’s Bridget “Biddy Mason,” who was born a slave in the 1850s and saved her money and purchased land in what is now the heart of downtown LA; she also organized the first A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) church in the United States. Q: Why is it important to you to shift away from a focus on a history of oppression? What do you think that kind of shift accomplishes? A: It accomplishes a lot. If you look at it from a very traditional, therapeutic perspective, it’s not focusing on the past, it’s drawing from your strengths. It’s a strength-based approach to healing, and to motivate people to draw from that and say they’re already foundationally strong and can stand stronger and taller by knowing this history. Q: How have your experiences in child protective services, education, the arts, and therapy informed your work with your organization? A: I think, particularly when talking about my background in humanities and psychology, is understanding what it means to motivate people by focusing on their strengths. It doesn’t focus on the past, it focuses on what it took for you to get up today. The smallest of accomplishments have an impact on people to realize, how did you get through the day? How did you deal with conflict? How did you overcome this problem and where did you draw the strength to do that? So, when we look at our history, let’s look at our strengths. Q: What is the best advice you’ve ever received? A: It’s a saying that I live by, and I use it when I write my books: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. That means that, whatever you’re doing, instead of seeing it in its entirety, which can be very overwhelming, you take it in increments, in moments and seconds because you can only do something one moment at a time. I can only do what I can do today, and that is a way in which you have some power and control over your response to it. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I just go, ‘OK, it’s just one bite at a time.’ Q: What is one thing people would be surprised to find out about you? A: I don’t want to say I’m a loner because I’m not, but I do like to hibernate, as a writer. I’m very social, but I do like to hibernate. Q: Please describe your ideal San Diego weekend. A: My ideal San Diego weekend would be to pack up my backpack with my computer and go down to the beach and write. The beauty of San Diego is the water and, for me, it’s my inspiration. So, that’s always my favorite thing to do. ...read more read less