Black Reproductive Sovereignty Plant Tour (Virtual)

Saturday, January 22, 2022
10am-1pm EST

Recent discussion about the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade has provoked debate about the significance of women’s reproductive sovereignty in the U.S. Despite the many pressing questions raised by these legal battles and the calls to action they have elicited, the notion that the availability of clinical abortion is American women’s only hope for maintaining reproductive sovereignty obscures an important history. Working with plants to manage one’s reproductive life is a practice that has been shared by women across the globe throughout human history—and African American history is no exception. Plants used for these purposes are innumerable and include cotton root bark—an important example from the African American tradition that scholars believe was used widely amidst the sexual violence that pervaded slave plantations.

In  a world where Black women continue to face disproportionate levels of risk of sexual violence and disproportionate barriers to quality health care, it is vital that we cultivate the knowledge, tools, and support necessary to maintain our own physical-spiritual boundaries and well being, however we might define them for ourselves. Fortunately, the plants have been with us all along and we can recover knowledge of their unique medicines with a little patience and curiosity.

Join me for this virtual “plant tour” and community discussion exploring various plants used within and beyond the African American tradition to maintain emotional, physical, and spiritual boundaries as they relate to our reproductive capacities. This introductory presentation will provide a foundation for further exploration of core plants that grow within and beyond our bioregion throughout the year, as well as some of the historical context that explains the marginalization of this knowledge. People of all faiths and political backgrounds interested in exploring our shared ethnobotanical history and contemporary experiences with openness are welcome to attend!

Registration: https://www.meetup.com/Outdoor-Afro-Boston/