Talk With You Like a Woman, feat. Dr. Cheryl Hicks

"The state's stance toward young Black women changed dramatically during the early 20th century, from viewing Black women as simultaneously endangered and dangerous to simply defining them as dangerous during the 1920s and 1930s." --Cheryl Hicks, "Talk With You Like a Woman"
Racism and sexism are embedded in U.S. systems and institutions. These inequities produce barriers and disadvantages that increase Black women's risk of coming in contact with law enforcement, courts, and places of confinement. And when we do come into contact, the interactions can be devastating and traumatizing.
We must work to dismantle the racist and patriarchal US criminal-legal system that denies Black women and girls access to safety, well-being, economic stability, and life.
In this conversation, Dr. Cheryl Hicks and NBWJI Executive Director Dr. Sydney McKinney discuss what history can teach us about Black women & girls' experience with the criminal-legal system today. We learn from the voices & viewpoints of the Black working-class women who were the subjects of early 20th-century urban and penal reform and the direct connection to the criminalization of Black women & girls today. We also learn what inspires Dr. Hicks’ work, and how we can translate our new knowledge and experiences into healing-centered justice.
Cheryl D. Hicks is an associate professor of Africana studies and history at the University of Delaware. Her research addresses the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, and the law. She specializes in late 19th and 20th-century African American and American history as well as urban, gender, and civil rights history.