5 Years of "Imaging Ourselves" & Celebrating the Women of Bedford Stuyvesant

DIVAS for Social Justice is celebrating five years of offering the program, “Imaging Ourselves”.

The program trains youth from Central Brooklyn in digital photography and Adobe Photoshop while engaging in critical discussions about how women of color are portrayed by the media.

DIVAS for Social Justice was honored when Maxine Cooper, former Library Manager of the Macon Branch asked for our youth work to hang in the Dionne Mack-Harvin Center, located at the Macon Branch in honor of Women’s History Month.

Dionne Mack-Harvin is the Immediate Past Executive Director of Brooklyn Public Library (BPL). She became the first African American to lead BPL, and the first African American woman to head a major public library system in New York State, when she was appointed the library’s 11th executive director.

In 2007, Ms. Mack-Harvin launched BPL’s first large-scale fundraising campaign in Bedford-Stuyvesant to create Macon Library’s African American Heritage Center, a research and educational community space dedicated to preserving the history and culture of Bedford-Stuyvesant and the African Diaspora.

Every summer for the past five years, DIVAS for Social Justice has offered a free digital photography program in Brooklyn .At the end of each summer session the organization would have a closing exhibit featuring youth work.

Our youth have captured their beauty through creating magazine covers, portraiture, and connecting with the environment. In the summer of 2012, I made the decision as the main facilitator that there would be a focus on young women learning about women in Central Brooklyn who have made a difference in the community.

I also felt it was important that the youth researched the legacy of each woman and portrayed her in an iconic style. We decided to focus on the style of Andy Warhol and his iconic screen print of Marilyn Monroe. Like Monroe, the Women of Bedford Stuyvesant who have served their community deserved to be portrayed in an iconic fashion as well.

The youth used Adobe Photoshop to create the iconic screen prints of the following women: Shirley Chisholm, Elsie Richardson, Velmonette Montgomery, June Jordan, Lena Horne, and Lia Neal.

On March 19, 2013, DIVAS for Social Justice will host a community exhibition party honoring women who are currently volunteering their time with DIVAS for Social Justice.

DIVAS for Social Justice are honored to recognize our volunteers, Andrea Taylor, Nadine Huggins, and Abi Ishola. Andrea Taylor, Pace University Professor and resident of Bedford Stuyvesant spearheaded the development of our robotics team and is helping the organization develop a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) program.

Nadine Huggins, a visual artist volunteered her time to help our youth create fruit and vegetable signs for the Bed Stuy Farm which featured the botanical plant of each produce. Ms. Huggins currently works for the CUNY Citizenship Center and lives in Flatbush. Abi Ishola is a resident of Bedford Stuyvesant and a producer CUNY TV. Ms. Ishola volunteered her time and has successfully gotten our group publicity in over 5 media outlets.

In addition to honoring our volunteers, the Macon Library will honor: Mavis Thompson, Juanita Bobbit, Melissa Ebanks and Maxine Cooper for their dedication to serving the Bedford Stuyvesant community. The ceremony will begin at 6pm.

We look forward to honoring the Women of Bedford Stuyvesant, past and present on March 19^th at Macon Library. Please join us for the ceremony at 6pm at:

Macon Public Library

361 Lewis Ave.

Brooklyn, NY 11233 

You can RSVP for the event at:https://www.facebook.com/events/505376079498080/?ref=3