Day 28 - Imagine Your Afrofuture
“Without new visions, we don’t know what to build, only what to knock down. We not only end up confused, rudderless, and cynical, but we forget that making a revolution is not a series of clever maneuvers and tactics, but a process that can and must transform us” (Kelley, 2002, p. xii).
Visioning is a central part of changemaking, and it requires imagination. As you reflect on your life and the months and years ahead, how do you envision your Afrofuture? What possibilities, dreams, and transformations do you see for yourself and your community?
References: Kelley, Robin D. G. Freedom Dreams : the Black Radical Imagination. Boston :Beacon Press, 2002.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Journal: Take a moment to imagine a future where your vision comes to life—what does it look like, feel like, and how can you begin building toward it today?
Complete the 2025 Liberation Calendar Survey HERE!
Day 27 - Groove Like No One’s Watching
Take a moment to let go and move freely—groove like no one’s watching! Whether it’s a slow sway or an all-out dance, feel the rhythm in your body and allow yourself to experience joy through movement.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Dance on your own, watch a dance video and join in, or buy tickets to see a performance.
Day 26 - Fight for the Freedom to Learn
Many of us are feeling afraid, angry, or overwhelmed since President Trump’s inauguration and his rapid-fire Executive Orders. We are seeing the normalization of attacks on Black history, frameworks, and our entire civil rights infrastructure. But our ancestors confronted similar forces against even higher odds, and we can draw on that tradition of resistance, courage and solidarity going forward. As Dr. King told civil rights organizers in support of the Freedom Riders in 1961 gathered in a Montgomery, Alabama church that had been surrounded by violent rioters, “The first thing that we must do here tonight is to decide that we aren't going to become panicky. That we're going to be calm, and that we are going to continue to stand up for what we know is right.”
Join AAPF tonight to be in community with others who care deeply about the fight for Black History and our democracy. The conversation will be moderated by Kimberlé Crenshaw with speakers Damon Hewitt, David J. Johns, Nina Turner, and Russell Robinson who will offer their analysis of the executive orders, the consequences they will have for racial justice, the historical resonance of this moment and also a path forward to protect us in the bullseye of backlash. RSVP here!
If you don’t have time to join the event, read and share the Executive Disorder project, which provides the tools to understand and resist this conservative regime. You can find posts on Instagram, Threads, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Bluesky.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Attend TONIGHT’s “Executive Disorder: Resisting the War on Equal Opportunity” event at 7pm EST or watch this 5-minute explainer video about the Executive Orders.
Day 25 - Witness the Censorship of Our Knowledge
Since the short-lived summer of racial reckoning in 2020, a wave of backlash fueled by anti-Black racism has rolled across the United States. Book bans have been supercharged by state legislation and well-funded national extremist organizations like Moms for Liberty. Key targets of those bans have been books by Black authors or about Black historical figures or characters. Teachers in 22 states have been censored from speaking about systemic racism, while videos from PragerU that justify and minimize enslavement have been approved to be shown in classrooms in 9 states and counting.
Just a few weeks into the new administration, we have already seen Department of Defense military base classrooms stripped of displays honoring Black History Month and books taken from shelves. In one school, posters of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Susan B. Anthony were removed, while one of Leonardo Da Vinci was left on display. When asked why, the school official replied “Because he [Da Vinci] was a real historical figure.” So the message being sent to the children of military families is that the contributions of Black people are not worthy of recognition. And that even someone as widely revered as Dr. King is not of “real” historical significance.
Modern democracies die through deception, including the subversion of knowledge and science. After the freezing of federal funding of their health research programs, higher education institutions are now being pressured by the Department of Education to eliminate any programs aimed at reducing barriers to equal opportunity for students of color, while the same office has halted racial and gender discrimination investigations. We have seen analytical frameworks like Critical Race Theory, intersectionality, and gender theory under attack through state legislation and now executive orders from the new administration precisely because they function to reveal truth, expose misinformation, explain social reality, and provide a blueprint for resisting.
Continuing to read book by Black authors and to utilize frameworks developed by Black scholars to make sense of what we are seeing are two powerful ways we can stand up as witnesses who will not look away from or deny the censorship happening before our eyes.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Register to attend TOMORROW’s Under the Blacklight, “Executive Disorder: Resisting the War on Equal Opportunity” at 7pm EST. This event will provide the space our communities need right now — the space to resist, to plan and to learn from our history.
Day 24 - Write to Your Ancestors
Our connections to our ancestors and each other have the power to heal our wounds, freeing us to experience life in all its beauty and possibility. Today we remember our ancestors who have struggled, those who perished, and those of us who have thrived despite centuries of enslavement, colonialism, and systemic racism. We will not allow their stories of courage, resistance, and survival to be banned, whitewashed or written out of our children’s textbooks altogether. Take some time today to give thanks to our ancestors and our elders.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Write a letter or just a few words to express your gratitude and love for your ancestors.
What do you think your ancestors would say in response?
Day 23 - Meditate
Today, let’s take a moment to slow down, center ourselves, and find our grounding. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and as you exhale, allow yourself to settle fully into this moment.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Close your eyes and take a moment to connect with your inner self.
Enjoy a 10-minute guided meditation.
Day 22 - Celebrate Liberation Table Together
“A [person] who calls [their kin] to a feast does not do so to redeem them from starving. They all have food in their own houses. When we gather together in the moonlight village ground, it is not because of the moon. Every [person] can see it in [their] own compound. We come together because it is good for [kin] to do so. Let us find time to come together physically and enjoy the power of togetherness.”
- Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart
The most significant meal for enslaved people during the week was Sunday supper. Before emancipation, Sunday was both a sabbath and a salve. Sunday was a treasured respite—however brief— offering enslaved people more freedom to gather together and break bread. The meal fed weary bodies; communing with loved ones fed the weary soul. Sunday supper was and, for many Black families, still is a time of shared connection and joy.
Our Liberation Table meal is inspired by this beloved Black family tradition. As you enjoy your Liberation Table practice or tonight’s meal, allow your bodies to relax and sink into your seats as your ears fill with harmonious laughter. Let the warmth of the food fill your hearts and your bellies. May it open you up to love and connection and foster the transformational conversation, intergenerational healing, and expansive love that Black people so deserve. Our connections to our ancestors and each other have the power to heal our wounds, freeing us to experience life in all its beauty and possibility.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Host, Attend, or Plan a Liberation Table!
Download the Liberation Table Guide.
Who will you invite to your Liberation Table?
Day 21 - Experience the Impossible as Possible
“There Are Black People in the Future” - Alisha B. Wormsley
“As Audre Lorde has written, ‘Once we begin to feel deeply all the aspects of our lives, we begin to demand from ourselves and from our life-pursuits that they feel in accordance with that joy which we know ourselves to be capable of.’ Black feminisms have dared to imagine worlds where our humanity is affirmed and our belief in Black futures reigns. Our collective imaginings are boundless and liberatory. Joy as an act of resistance reminds us to celebrate because every day something has tried to kill us and failed.”
- “Black Joy as Resistance” by Ariana Curtis (Strait & Conwill, 2023, p. 109)
Reference: Strait, K. M. A., & Conwill, K. (2023). Afrofuturism: a history of Black futures. Smithsonian Books.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Watch an Afrofuturist movie.
Click here to find the “Ultimate List of Afrofuturist Movies”.
Still not sure which film to watch? Below are a few suggestions!
Black Panther (2018)
See You Yesterday (2019)
Space Is the Place (1974)
Sorry to Bother You (2018)
Coming to America (1988)
The Blackening (2022)
The Wiz (1978)
Day 20 - Savor Life’s Sweetness
Today, we begin our 48-hour sugar fast in preparation for our Liberation Tables this weekend.
Enslaved Africans were forcibly brought to Central and South America and the Caribbean to work on sugar plantations. These enslaved people labored under some of the most brutal conditions,. The production of sugar continues to oppress people around the world. In the Amazon, for instance, the creation of sugar plantations has led to local Indigenous people being violently evicted and poisoned by pesticides.
We fast from sugar in honor of our ancestors who were not able to indulge, as well as those who continue to suffer under the oppressive system that is the sugar industry. We recognize our complicity in their harm and will take this time to reflect on how we are complicit daily in the harm of others. However, our guilt will not hinder us. Instead, may it make us aware of our relationships to each other and our possessions and inspire thoughtful action so that pleasure need not be tied to suffering. We also fast to offer gratitude for the abundance of natural sweetness in our everyday lives. Even without sugar, we can take delight in simple pleasures such as laughter, being in the sun, embracing a loved one, and resting.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Begin a 48-hour sugar fast tonight!
You may also choose to consider your relationship to sugar. What role does sweetness play in your life?
Day 19 - Rest as Resistance
Last week, we explored the powerful history and current role of quilts as tools for activism. But quilts also serve another vital purpose: they are tools for rest.
“What if our ancestors’ wildest dream was to rest?” - Christina Gardner (Reference)
As Audre Lorde said, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” In a world that constantly demands more of us, taking the time to rest is an act of resistance—it recharges our bodies and minds, enabling us to continue the fight for justice and to sustain our movements over time.
Now, more than ever, we recognize the profound importance of rest in our lives. During the Liberation Table meal, we embrace the time to recline—to lean back, relax, and restore ourselves, knowing that our self-care is an essential part of the work we do for our communities.
At some point today or this week, give yourself permission to rest. And when you rest, know that precisely by resting, you are your ancestors’ wildest dreams. They resisted so that we may rest our bodies in ways they could not.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Rest.
Day 18 - Consider the Cost
From 2023 to 2024, the United Network for Organ Sharing notified 14,000 Black kidney patients that they had been placed at lower priority for kidney transplants, due to a racially biased algorithm used to determine eligibility. Many Black patients were pushed years back on the transplant list. What was so unusual about the kidney transplant list was not the biased algorithm itself, which applied different standards to Black patients based on false ideas about muscle mass as a biological racial distinction, but, rather, the fact that something was being done to address it. Unfortunately, many other algorithms and formulas used to make medical decisions are deeply embedded into software used by hospitals and doctors. They continue to disadvantage Black patients by applying different standards to “grade” our level of disease and our levels of pain or suffering.
The scope and breadth of the toll of racism on our health can be hard to comprehend and even harder to adequately grieve. As a nation, we have not memorialized over a million lives lost in the Covid pandemic, much less the additional suffering faced by Black Covid patients whose care was compromised by pulse oximeters that had not been tested on people with dark skin. We know, too, that bans on abortion care disproportionately worsen already horrifying Black maternal and infant mortality rates that have not been adequately studied. The cost to our mental health is only beginning to be understood.
Today, we take time to grieve the historical and ongoing effects of racism on our physical, mental, and emotional health. We acknowledge the harm of toxic racism in medicine, naming it for what it is. We deepen our understanding of how to recognize racism, even in its subtler forms, and we empower ourselves to speak out against what we see and experience.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Light a candle to consider and to give yourself a few moments to mourn the cost of racism on our health.
What toll has racism taken on your mental and physical health? What costs to our health as individuals and as a people have never been adequately acknowledged or counted?
Day 17 - Rediscover a Cultural Artifact
In the spirit of remembrance, today we’ll focus on identifying cultural artifacts that hold meaning for us. Cultural artifacts are physical representations of our memories—items that carry significance beyond their material form. These can include photographs, clothing, recipes, jewelry, and other family heirlooms. These objects do more than hold sentimental value; they bear witness to what has come before, linking the past to the present and reminding us to share our rich heritage with future generations.
During Liberation Table, we come together to share the significance of our cultural artifacts and explore how they connect to our family histories and the broader narrative of Black history. Engaging with these objects helps us recover the stories of the past, which in turn informs our present and inspires a brighter future.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Choose a cultural artifact and reflect on what it means to you.
Listen to historian Tiya Miles discuss her journey to trace the history of a family through a treasured antique cotton sack in this podcast about her book All That She Carried.
Day 16 - Walk
TODAY’S PRACTICE: If you’re able, put one foot in front of the other and take a walk through your neighborhood or a nearby park.
What’s something new you noticed on your walk—something you hadn’t seen or paid attention to before?
Day 15 - Connect with Friends
“Without community, there is no liberation…” - Audre Lorde
These days, it can feel harder than ever to connect with friends. Life is overwhelming—work, responsibilities, and the distance between us can make it seem impossible to prioritize our relationships. But here’s the truth: connecting with friends is one of the most powerful ways to sustain ourselves. It’s what will save us, even when things feel hard.
Whether it’s a call, a text, or even a friendly exchange with a stranger, take a moment to reconnect. As you do, think about how you can begin prioritizing those bonds more often.
We also invite you to consider gathering with friends for a Liberation Table. This new tradition for Black people of the African Diaspora brings us together as friends and family over a meal rooted in African diasporic traditions.
Let’s start healing ourselves, one connection at a time.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Call or text a Black friend :-).
Download the Liberation Table Guide and plan a Table!
Day 14 - Look Through an Expansive Prism
“The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.”
Audre Lorde, “Sister Outsider”
What are the master’s tools? Patriarchy, white supremacy, heteronormativity—all the ways we’re taught to understand others as either the “default” or “outsiders.” Thinking inside this paradigm keeps us tethered to a system that doesn’t serve us.
Intersectionality is a framework that helps us understand the varying ways in which our identities dictate our lived experiences. We all face different sets of challenges based on our race, gender, sexuality, ability, religion, and more among the cornucopia of identifiers that make us human. Intersectionality has been indispensable in helping many of us uncover unwritten histories, analyze overlooked social problems, and address failures in human rights. From Black women fighting the twin threats of state violence and high maternal mortality rates to queer youth of color protesting the censorship of LGBTQ+ and anti-racist books, an intersectional framework can empower us all to push towards liberation.
Today, we invite you to contemplate how your identity in its full complexity may affect your experience, as well as those around you. And to consider how you might use the prism of intersectionality to see and think differently about real world problems you encounter.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Watch The Urgency of Intersectionality with Kimberlé Crenshaw.
Consider joining the global community of over seven thousand scholars, artists, human rights workers, teachers, authors and more who stood up in defense of intersectionality in a powerful Open Letter.
Day 13 - Revel in Music That Raised You
Music has always been a vital part of Black history, offering a window into the struggles and resilience of Black people. For historians of slavery and Reconstruction, music provides one of the few ways to understand how everyday Black people perceived their social conditions and articulated claims for freedom during times when anti-literacy laws or limited access to education prevented them from writing their stories down.
Whereas Black history is often depicted as a cycle of struggle and degradation, African American music reveals the strategies Black people have used to resist injustice, preserve historical memory, celebrate self-worth, and exert influence over American national identity. Black music has profoundly inspired each era of sociopolitical upheaval and artistic development in American culture.
The music we grew up with and listen to today continues this tradition. Think about the songs, artists, and genres that shape your life. What messages do they carry? How do they connect with the struggles, dreams, and resilience of the past? The music of today plays a powerful role in expressing our current experiences and shaping our future, just as it did for those who came before us.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Listen to Black music you grew up with or that you love and consider what it conveys about Black life.
What’s your favorite memory of listening to this song? What do you love about this song?
Day 12 - Make Art that Breaks Silence
Quilting is deeply rooted in Black cultural heritage and has played a significant role in activist movements throughout history.
“West African weavers called this cloth by its original name, Nsaduaso. In Ghana, Nsaduaso is also known as Kente. Kente cloth requires many hours of careful weaving...The Middle Passage brought Black Africans to the Americas by the millions and with them the traditional appliqué form of quilt making. According to legend, a safe house along the Underground Railroad was often indicated by a quilt hanging from a clothesline or windowsill. These quilts were embedded with a code so that by reading the shapes and motifs sewn into the design, an enslaved person on the run could know the area’s immediate dangers or even where to head next.” (Reference)
Quiltmaker Karen Hinton Robinson uses quilting as a powerful tool for social change. “In a time when books are banned and discussions around race are curtailed, Karen Hinton Robinson takes on the responsibility of teaching Black history beyond the institution. In this mother-daughter interview, the historian and skilled quilter explains how her craft is used to supplement education by creating quilts that document the important figures of Black history, missing in Texas schools.”
“Quilting is a way to sneak in the teaching. If we don’t know our history, no one will tell our story. I accepted that responsibility for my children– for the ones I gave birth to and the ones who just became my children by nature of me just loving them.” - Karen Hinton Robinson (Reference)
To learn more about the history of African American quilting, watch this 3-minute video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX7rTee0urc&t=17s
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Watch this 9-minute video about Karen Hinton Robinson and how she uses quilting as her medium for activism.
https://www.pbs.org/articles/black-quilters-historians-and-memory-keepers
Day 11 - #SayHerName
A decade ago today, The African American Policy Forum (AAPF) and the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies (CISPS) launched the #SayHerName campaign to center the stories of Black women, girls, and femmes whose lives were lost to police violence.
#SayHerName was born out of resistance. We cut through the disturbing reality of the invisibility and public silence by amplifying their names, demanding justice, and exposing the unique vulnerabilities Black women face under systemic injustice.
In the fight for racial and gender justice, the campaign has created a space of advocacy built on the tenets of community-informed policy change, artivism, and remembrance. AAPF honors the lives of women like Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, Miriam Carey, Michelle Cusseaux, Atatiana Carr-Jefferson, Sonya Massey and countless others whose names we say with reverence and determination.
As we reflect on a decade of progress and continued work, it is important to build a community of advocates who will bear witness, educate, amplify, and activate their communities so that we may demand justice in the face of erasure. This isn’t just a remembrance—it’s a call to action.
Together, we can continue the fight for justice, accountability, and systemic change.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Watch this 1-minute #SayHerName video and speak the following names aloud, repeating “Say Her Name” after each:
Michelle Cusseaux
Tanisha Anderson
Aiyana Stanley-Jones
Kayla Moore
India Kager
Shelly Frey
Korryn Gaines
Visit https://www.aapf.org/in-memoriam to learn more about their lives and to include additional remembrances.
Day 10 - Practice Ancestral Prayer
“My uplifted Ancestors, guides, fierce protectors and skilled healers.
Please stand with us, your children.
Be with us in this moment and guide us
along the road with a cool head and a clear mind. We are root of your root, soil of your soil,
bone of your bone, and blood of your blood. Hearing our sincere cries and our honest placations, keep the gifts of health, wealth, and prosperity close so that we may honor and grow your legacy.
We have not forgotten our commitment to our lineage, and we vow to never forget.
Thank you.”
In some African cultures, as in many communities in the African Diaspora, ancestors play an important role. Ancestors are honored and are assumed to guard and guide posterity. During slavery, the enslaved were forbidden from performing such rites and prayers related to their ancestors.
Today we remember our ancestors who have struggled, those who perished, and those of us who have thrived despite centuries of enslavement, colonialism, and systemic racism.
We encourage you to light a candle during this prayer to represent the passing of this flame from our ancestors to us. Let us remember that our heritage is our light. The wisdom and traditions of our inheritance illuminate our present.
Reference: Daizy. “A Veneration Prayer to Invoke the Ancestral Spirits.” The AfroMystic, The AfroMystic, 20 Dec. 2017, https://www.theafromystic.com/blog/2017/11/4/a-veneration-prayer-to-invoke-the-ancestral-spirits
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Light a candle and perform an ancestral prayer before a meal.
Day 9 - Stretch
“Reach up to the stars, where millions of ancestors look down at you and smile. Reach down to the ground, to the feet that helped you survive to stand where you are now.” - Samantha Sims
Stretching is an act of self-care that reminds us we are capable of reaching beyond our current limits. It’s a physical and symbolic practice—a way to release tension, expand our boundaries, and prepare for growth. Each stretch is a small act of restoration and resilience, helping us stay grounded while creating space for what’s next.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Stretch with this 5-minute Crissy Mac video.
Day 8 - Recount a Family Migration Story
“When an elder dies, a library burns to the ground.”
Have you ever wondered how your family came to be where it is today?
Where you live is no accident. It reflects a history shaped by a series of migrations—some forced, like slavery, and others made by choice, but often in search of freedom or fleeing oppression. From the shores of Senegal to the island of Haiti, from London to São Paolo, from South Africa to the American South, solidarity is the throughline that bonds all indigenous Africans and peoples of the African Diaspora. Our kinfolk spread wide, covering the globe in color and tradition.
In America, beginning during the early years of the twentieth century, Black families in the South migrated to the North, an uncertain existence waiting for them, in search of opportunity, dignity, and freedom from the fear of getting lynched at night. This movement was known as the Great Migration. It was vast, leaderless, and a chapter in the lives of six million Black Southerners who chose to leave the land of their forefathers to spread across America.
So many of the families leaving the South were fleeing daily acts of white supremacist terrorism. Regressive social studies curricula in states like Florida that whitewash the history of enslavement, Jim Crow laws, commonplace lynchings, and rampant racism in this country make it impossible for students to learn these stories that are central to understanding the role of systemic racism in the United States.
Reference: Wilkerson, Isabel. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration. Vintage Books, 2011.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Discover your family’s migration story.
This is a great opportunity to connect with an elder to learn more about how your family arrived where it is today. Film or record them as they tell the story or jot it down in your journal.
To learn more about the Great Migration, watch the new PBS series Great Migrations: A People on the Move.
Day 7 - Enter New Dimensions
“Afrofuturism is an intersection of imagination, technology, the future, and liberation”
- Ytasha L. Womack, Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture
Afrofuturism offers a lens to imagine ourselves beyond the constraints of the present. Historical figures like W.E.B. Du Bois and Phyllis Wheatley wielded Afrofuturism as cosmic armor, challenging fallacies that predicted Black futures as empty voids. This vision endured through luminaries such as the band OutKast and films such as Black Panther (2018) which featured the late Chadwick Boseman; they reimagined Black existence.
For centuries, Blackness has been treated as alien, as “other.” Through Afrofuturism, that alienation is reclaimed. It becomes a source of creativity and resilience, a way to envision futures that center Black voices, stories, and possibilities. Imagination has kept Black people alive. Many hoped we would perish under the weight of white supremacy, colonialism, and imperialism, yet we dared to dream bigger. Refusing to be destroyed or rendered invisible, we redefined survival.
Our very existence defies a social fabric that never intended for us to survive. Afrofuturism is embedded in each of us—we are still here, thriving, despite attempts to erase us or to keep us tethered to a white man’s leash. With no place made for us, we were forced to imagine spaces where we could exist, as people. It takes imagination to see beyond the confines placed on Black futures, and through Afrofuturism, we are able to envision a world where Black people can live with joy, dignity, and without fear.
In dreaming beyond limits, we affirm that Black futures are boundless.
TODAY’S PRACTICE & REFLECTION:
Join Samantha on her journey through the Afrofuturism exhibit at the National Museum of African American History and reflect on:
How can you use Afrofuturism to imagine a different future for Black people?
What do you want to see for Black people in the future?
Day 6 - Create as an Act of Joy
Life is more than struggle and survival. It is also abundant and flourishing. Even in the harshest conditions, life is jealous for itself, and love finds a way. In addition to remembering the suffering of our ancestors, we must also highlight their joys and victories.
The stories of our ancestry teach us that in the face of the violent history and a callous present, some of us have dared to laugh. Some of us dared to pop gum, double dutch, forget our troubles, experiment, invent, pun, love ourselves, love one another, and love the culture that we’ve made. Our past has embraced highs and lows, inspiration from the Continent, and innovation across the Oceanic. Black artists continue to depict our dynamic experiences as people of African descent. Today, we dare to create art as an act of joy and resistance.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Draw or color in a coloring book as you feel inspired.
As you draw/color, reflect on when you feel inspired and what makes you feel most creative. Here are some coloring pages of Adinkra symbols from the National Museum of African American History & Culture to download. Other free downloads can be found here.
Day 5 - Make a Way Out of No Way
Black mutual aid is a community-based practice of providing support and resources to each other, especially in times of need. It's rooted in the idea that people can work together to meet each other's needs. In earlier eras of backlash, Black people built their own churches, clubs, unions, libraries, arts communities, and colleges. Many of those became foundational institutions that continue to sustain us.
In the 1960s, The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) created over 60 Survival Programs that served Black communities in areas where the federal government neglected and overlooked their needs. They distributed shoes, transported elders to grocery stores, tested for sickle cell anemia, and provided culturally relevant education for Black people. These revolutionary programs had a lasting impact and inspired countless mutual aid projects that continue to preserve and uplift Black communities. The BPP not only recognized the needs of oppressed Black Americans but also understood that Black people—doctors, educators, and everyday community members—could uniquely meet each other’s needs. They demonstrated the power of mutual reliance and solidarity within the Black community.
Reference: https://peopleskitchencollective.com/panthers-mutual-aid
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Read the Black Panther Party’s Ten Point Program below.
Think about how it’s similar or different to what your community needs today.
How can we better help one another? How can you uniquely help your community?
The Black Panther Party’s Ten Point Program
1. We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our black and oppressed communities.
We believe that black and oppressed people will not be free until we are able to determine our destinies in our own communities ourselves, by fully controlling all the institutions which exist in our communities.
2. We want full employment for our people.
We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every person employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the American businessmen will not give full employment, then the technology and means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.
3. We want an end to the robbery by the capitalist of our black and oppressed communities.
We believe that this racist government has robbed us and now we are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules were promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor and mass murder of black people. We will accept the payment in currency which will be distributed to our many communities. The Germans murdered 6,000,000 Jews. The American racist has taken part in the slaughter of over 50,000,000 black people; therefore, we feel this is a modest demand that we make.
4. We want decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings.
We believe that if the landlords will not give decent housing to our Black and oppressed communities, then the housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that the people in our communities, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for the people.
5. We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society.
We believe in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of self. If you do not have knowledge of yourself and your position in the society and the world, then you will have little chance to know anything else.
6. We Want All Black Men To Be Exempt From Military Service.
We believe that Black people should not be forced to fight in the military service to defend a racist government that does not protect us. We will not fight and kill other people of color in the world who, like Black people, are being victimized by the White racist government of America. We will protect ourselves from the force and violence of the racist police and the racist military by whatever means necessary.
6. (alternate) We want completely free health care for all black and oppressed people.
We believe that the government must provide, free of charge, for the people, health facilities which will not only treat our illnesses, most of which have come about as a result of our oppression, but which will also develop preventative medical programs to guarantee our future survival. We believe that mass health education and research programs must be developed to give all black and oppressed people access to advanced scientific and medical information, so we may provide ourselves with proper medical attention and care.
7. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people, other people of color, all oppressed people inside the United States.
We believe that the racist and fascist government of the United States uses its domestic enforcement agencies to carry out its program of oppression against black people, other people of color and poor people inside the United States. We believe it is our right, therefore, to defend ourselves against such armed forces, and that all black and oppressed people should be armed for self-defense of our homes and communities against these fascist police forces.
8. We Want Freedom For All Black Men Held In Federal, State, County And City Prisons And Jails.
We believe that all Black people should be released from the many jails and prisons because they have not received a fair and impartial trial.
8. (alternate) We want an immediate end to all wars of aggression.
We believe that the various conflicts which exist around the world stem directly from the aggressive desires of the U.S. ruling circle and government to force its domination upon the oppressed people of the world. We believe that if the U.S. government or its lackeys do not cease these aggressive wars that it is the right of the people to defend themselves by any means necessary against their aggressors.
9. We want freedom for all black and poor oppressed people now held in U.S. federal, state, county, city and military prisons and jails. We want trials by a jury of peers for all persons charged with so-called crimes under the laws of this country.
We believe that the many black and poor oppressed people now held in U.S. prisons and jails have not received fair and impartial trials under a racist and fascist judicial system and should be free from incarceration. We believe in the ultimate elimination of all wretched, inhuman penal institutions, because the masses of men and women imprisoned inside the United States or by the U.S. military are the victims of oppressive conditions which are the real cause of their imprisonment. We believe that when persons are brought to trial that they must be guaranteed, by the United States, juries of their peers, attorneys of their choice and freedom from imprisonment while awaiting trials.
10. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace and people’s community control of modern technology.
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
Day 4 - Grieve What Has Been Erased
After January 6th rioters stormed the Capitol, then President Biden famously said, “this is not who we are.” But which people, whose histories, and what narratives have been continually and systematically erased from that “we”? Is the story of us truly a story of all of us? Why is the history of prior coups attempts in American history – in places like Colfax, New Orleans, or Wilmington – largely unknown?
Many of us were never taught about the prosperous Black community of Wilmington, North Carolina, for example, that thrived in the Reconstruction Era, nor about how Wilmington’s Black leaders came to briefly join forces politically with some of their white neighbors in a multiracial city government. The not-knowing makes it harder to grieve the dead, as well as their homes, their churches, and their newspaper that were attacked on November 10th, 1898. An armed white supremacist mob pushed out the duly elected, multiracial government of the city, destroyed Black property, forced thousands to flee, and murdered between 60 and 300 African Americans.
This history has only recently begun to be taught in classrooms and to be written into textbooks, yet it is already under threat of censorship or of being watered down as state history standards are rewritten to appease anti-woke extremists. As Prof. Kimberlé Crenshaw and civil rights leader Barbara Arnwine discovered on their visit to Wilmington, even at the memorial, the language used to describe what happened whitewashes the brutality of the attack. Some of the historic sites in Wilmington, like the empty lot where the city’s Black-owned newspaper was burned to the ground, remain unmarked and their history invisible.
How can we grieve these losses and mourn for the people whose lives were lost if the truth is not written in our history books or told in our classrooms? As Barbara Arnwine said, “Until we get to where we can talk honestly about what has happened in this country, we are bound to be in a circle of repetition.”
This is Black history. This is American history. This is history that we must know and understand if we want to preserve our democracy.
TODAY’S PRACTICE:
Watch an interview with filmmaker Yoruba Richen about the documentary “American Coup: Wilmington 1898.”
What are you grieving that’s been erased, made invisible, less visible?
For more: Prof. Kimberlé Crenshaw’s and civil rights leader Barbara Arnwine’s visit to the 1898 Monument and Memorial Park in Wilmington, NC.
Day 3 - Remember We Are Our Own Sun
"We should not be eternal guests. It is up to us to create our own values, to recognize them and to carry them throughout the world. We are not alone in the world, but we are our own sun. I do not define myself relative to Europe. In the darkest of darkness if the other does not see me, I do see myself. In the darkest of darkness if the other does not see me, I do see myself. And surely do I shine!"
- Ousmane Sembène, Senegalese Filmmaker
As Black people descended from West and Central Africa and from enslaved Africans brought to the Caribbean and the United States, we have all been subject to the myth of Black inferiority. But Senegalese filmmaker, Ousmane Sembène, reminds us that, in a world that asks us to see the Western and European countries as the center of civilization and desirability, we, in fact, are the sun.
We understand our Blackness as a compass gifted to us by our ancestors, guiding us to liberation and expression. It leads us back to ourselves while carrying us into the future.
TODAY'S PRACTICE:
Journal
In what ways have you witnessed the decentering of Black voices, experiences, and ideas—including your own or those of your ancestors? How can you re-center your own experience, your own ideas along with those of our ancestors, thinkers, and artists in your daily practices?
To learn more about Ousmane Sembène and his films read this article from Criterion or watch his film, Black Girl (1966).
Day 2 - Breathe
Inhale, Exhale
Inhale, Exhale
Inhale, Exhale
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Join Black Yogi Nico Marie in this 5-minute breathing exercise
Day 1 - Embark on a Shared Journey
We’re Embarking on a Journey Together.
Let’s first take part in a libation ritual to connect with our shared ancestors who brought us here.
Libation is a sacred practice that bridges the present and the past, allowing us to honor the sacrifices of our ancestors and celebrate our lineage.
To perform a libation, a cup is filled with liquid—often water—and ceremonially offered to the earth, floor, or a plant. The liquid may also be poured or sprinkled in the north, south, east, and west sides of the room, then over the shoulder. This ritual is a tangible expression of gratitude, honoring those who paved the way for us and connecting us to the generations before us.
In the Akan community of Ghana, libation is one of the most sacred spiritual traditions (Adjaye, 2001). It’s central to ceremonies marking significant life transitions—births, weddings, and funerals—but also woven into everyday life.
Libation connects us to our past with deep gratitude, acknowledging the generations who made sacrifices for our freedom and progress.
Reference: Adjaye, JK. 2001. The Performativity of Akan Libations, an ethnopoetic construction of reality. Ghana Studies, Volume 4, p. 107.
TODAY’S PRACTICE & REFLECTION: Perform your own libation
We invite you to watch this video to learn more about how libations are practiced.
Before performing the libation, take a moment to reflect on whether there is anyone specific to whom you’d like to offer it. You may also choose to light a candle as you begin.
Day 29 - Meditate On Your Journey
We are incredibly grateful to have shared this Liberation Calendar journey with you. We hope you’ve gained new insights and feel a deeper connection to your ancestors. Our practice doesn't end here. Liberation Calendar is an awareness practice, meaning that in spaces beyond this calendar, beyond Black History Month, we must continue honoring our past, pushing the boundaries of our present, and building the future we wish to see.
We hope that the Liberation Calendar has served as a reminder that we come from greatness and contain infinite reservoirs of power. To close out this Liberation Calendar practice, we will begin today with a guided meditation. This meditation is both for beginners and those more experienced.
Afterward, we invite you to take some time to reflect upon your Liberation Calendar experience. We would greatly appreciate any and all feedback you have for us so that we may continue to improve both the Liberation Calendar and Liberation Table.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Enjoy a 10-minute guided meditation.
DAILY REFLECTION: What traditions from this Liberation Calendar would you like to carry forward? What did you learn about yourself through this experience?
TAKE ACTION: Complete the Liberation Calendar Survey.
Day 28 - Imagine Our AfroFutures)
Have you heard of Afrofuturism? Today, we’ll learn more about Afrofuturism and the myriad ways it has inspired and continues to inspire Black culture.
“Afrofuturism’s ideals began in diverse African societies and traveled through enslaved Africans’ experiences of slavery and freedom and emerged in our contemporary world. At every point Africans, and then African Americans have envisioned their own freedom. Their ideals, while situated within a distinct African American experience, speak to larger human demands and calls for freedom, for understanding, for expression, for life.
…Afrofuturism enables its authors, thinkers, artists, and activists to interpret the history of race and the nuances of Black cultural identity on their own terms. Reimagining the Black experience of the past provides new templates for reimagining Black futures to come–while also informing Black life in the present…By envisioning a history unimpeded by the restrictions of racism, Afrofuturism provides an alternative pathway for African American artistry and creativity” (Strait & Conwill, 2023, p. 10-12).
References: Kelley, Robin D. G. Freedom Dreams : the Black Radical Imagination. Boston :Beacon Press, 2002.
Strait, K. M. A., & Conwill, K. (2023). Afrofuturism: a history of Black futures. Smithsonian Books.
TODAY’S PRACTICE: Explore the Smithsonian Museum of African American History’s Afrofuturism exhibit here and watch this short video on Afrofuturism.
DAILY REFLECTION: What is one bright and beautiful thing you see in your Afrofuture?
TAKE ACTION: Learn more about Afrofuturism by visiting The National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.