Our ancestors found ways to fight oppression even as they walked shackled onto slave ships or labored in fields cultivating the crops that created economies throughout the Americas. “Their fight was fugitive, creative, insistent, unbowed. It is important for us to remember their resistance. Have you heard the story of Carlota Lucumi?” In today’s practice, you’ll read more about Carlota’s story. On February 22, we’ll begin a sugar fast to honor enslaved people like Carlota Lucumi, who labored on sugar plantations under some of the most brutal conditions and who risked their lives to fight back against these inhumane conditions.

Nielsen, Euell A. “Carlotta Lucumi, ‘La Negra Carlota’ (?- 1844).” Black Past, 8 June 2020, https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/carlotta-lucumi-la-negra-carlota-1844/.

TODAY’S PRACTICE: Read pages 34-35 in the Liberation Table Guide.

DAILY REFLECTION: How can you leave space for mourning as you celebrate Black History Month? How can you meditate on loss even as you honor our triumphs? 

TAKE ACTION: Uplift a photo of yourself with a banned book that changed your life (post with #freedomtolearn).