Women You Need to Know

When: Sunday March 15th 12:30 PM
Where: via Zoom* & In-Person at 269 4th Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11215
*must RSVP above to receive the link.

Seemingly, humankind has always been in some form of struggle. Rarely, if ever, was there a “golden age” of peace and harmony outside and beyond the home. Historians generally select men and kings, mighty men to determine what happened in this or that episode of existence. Long ago, I learned that men did not do whatever is attributed to them by themselves. Often women were beside them, frequently, as partners in what, in fact, was their joint pursuit. Sometimes the women were ahead of the men, bringing forward new information. Sometimes women were opposed to the prevailing norms, mounting their counter arguments and often paying a price.

With music by Chris Oledude.

About the Speaker

As a member of SNCC, Muriel Tillinghast was one of three female project directors in the state of Mississippi during “Freedom Summer” of 1964. As director, she was responsible for voter registration and other work in three river counties within the second congressional district. At a later point, Ms. Tillinghast headed state operations out of Jackson, MS, after which she handled regional administrative work at SNCC headquarters in Atlanta, GA. Government interference and reaction to a published recommendation for a 2-state solution on the issue of Palestine brought about the collapse of the organization. Since that time, Muriel Tillinghast has pioneered in domestic violence abuse, worked at River’s Island and the Brooklyn House of Detention, built St. Margaret’s House for Trinity Church, aborted scientific experimentation on a child, worked in reviving landlord abandoned housing, tried to save a church and worked in a community garden. Muriel Tillinghast is a member of BSEC’s board of trustees and chairs two committees. One of the committees, Lucy’s Children, named after one of mankind’s oldest fossilized remains, was established for and is dedicated to the study of Black life in America and selected peoples’ history and events from around the world. She spends a great deal of time doing historical research as is a recognized autodidact in Black and American History. She and her cat live in Brooklyn, NY.

About the Musician

Chris Owens is a Puerto Rican-born, African American, white-Jewish artist with a songwriter’s lifelong dedication to truth-telling. Part of a creative family, Chris grew up harmonizing with his two brothers in a household where classical, folk, pop, funk, and protest music all had a place.  His mother, the late Ethel Werfel Owens, was his first music teacher, and his father, the late Major R. Owens, was a librarian-turned-elected official and Chris’ first political hero.