Every Black History Month, you hear the legendary names, Rosa Parks, Frederick Douglass, Angela Davis, Huey Newton and Harriett Tubman. These icons have indeed contributed to American history with their freedom fighting, risk taking and trouble starting. We’ve got some new, modern-day names to add to the list of abolitionists, movement builders, and badass community leaders who continue to do the work on the ground in the name of bright, Black Futures.
 Our Justice Project partners are the unsung heroes, the everyday martyrs working to end our reliance on prisons and police. It’s everyday people working regular jobs in addition to volunteering their time to the movement. Like Ferguson Collaborative member Fran Griffin, a Ferguson, Missouri, community member who protested Mike Brown’s killing by a police officer in 2014. Fran’s grassroots advocacy turned into a thirst for political power and she was elected to the City Council of Ferguson in 2018.
 There’s also Inez Bordeaux, a member of the Close the Workhouse campaign who was in jail for a month for unpaid parking tickets due to the City of St. Louis’ wealth-based pre-trial detention. Inez, a nurse, is now an advocate for closing the inhumane jail known as the Workhouse and works for ArchCity Defenders to mobilize St. Louise community members.
This is why Advancement Project National Office continues to work on the ground with grassroots partners in Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Virginia, and Wisconsin, fighting to end our reliance on mass incarceration and policing. There are scores of names you should add to your Black History icon list; people who we are working alongside in an effort to divest from policing and reinvest in communities disproportionately impacted by counterproductive structures.
We pay homage to the base-building leaders of organizations reimagining justice including:
Learn more about our efforts to end mass incarceration. Join the Justice ReMix’d campaign to reimagine justice with our partners at Ben & Jerry's. Purchase a pint (or two) of our limited batch flavor, Justice ReMix’d Ice Cream. Donate to Advancement Project National Office—it’s all in the name of Black Futures. |
