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Dear John,

This Women's History Month, Race Forward invites you to explore and
celebrate the powerful legacy of women-led resistance movements that
continue to guide our work for racial justice and collaborative
governance.

When we look back at the most pivotal moments in our movements for
justice, we find women and activists of color not just participating in
resistance movements, but fundamentally reimagining what resistance
could be. These visionary leaders broadened our understanding of
resistance:

Fannie Lou Hamer

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built political power in Mississippi despite brutal opposition and
violence, showing how community-centered organizing creates powerful
movements. Her famous testimony at the 1964 Democratic Convention showed
how personal stories could mobilize national support for local
struggles.

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Photo of Fannie Lou Hamer attending the Democratic National Convention,
Atlantic City, New Jersey, August 22, 1964. (Photo by Leffler/Library of
Congress/Interim Archives/Getty Images)

Marsha P. Johnson [[link removed]]
co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with Sylvia
Rivera, demonstrating how creating new models of community care could
protect our most vulnerable communities.

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Marsha P Johnson at the LGBT Pride March, New York, June 29, 1975.
(Photo by Fred W. McDarrah/MUUS Collection via Getty Images)

Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press [[link removed]]
created space for women across communities to authentically share their
stories in their own words, demonstrating how amplifying
underrepresented voices builds powerful cross-cultural understanding and
collective consciousness.

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SOURCE: Joan Biren

Wilma Mankiller,
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as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation, revitalized Cherokee
self-governance by blending traditional cultural values with
contemporary solutions, highlighting how indigenous wisdom provides
powerful frameworks for addressing modern social, economic, and
environmental problems.

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Portrait of Chief Wilma Mankiller on November 15, 1993. (Photo by Judy
Weintraub/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Yuri Kochiyama
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and Malcolm X forged powerful cross-racial solidarity between Black
liberation and Asian American movements, demonstrating how building
genuine relationships across communities creates coalitions capable of
challenging interconnected systems of oppression.

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SOURCE: Kochiyama family/UCLA Asian American Studies Center

These leaders created frameworks that reshaped movement strategy across
generations. Their work showed that effective resistance requires not
just opposing injustice but articulating and building new models that
center the most impacted.

Today, we continue this movement building legacy through Race Forward's
work:

* Defending honest, equitable public education that tells our full
histories through our HEAL Together [[link removed]] initiative

* Supporting government leaders advancing racial equity across
institutions through our Government Alliance for Racial Equity
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Govern for Racial Equity
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* Building resilient coalitions for housing and land justice
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* Creating community-based approaches to public safety and care
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* Developing local power through place-based strategies
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* Training leaders who understand interconnected systems
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Reimagining our media platforms to better serve the moment
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Strengthening our narrative power through multiracial solidarity
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Working with local communities as owners and decision-makers over
policies that directly affect their daily lives through our Policy
Innovation Lab
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What's new?

Remembering Bloody Sunday

Even as we continue to face unyielding threats to our multiracial
democracy, Bloody Sunday reminds us to harness the courage, the drive
and the tenacity of our ancestors.

"On this day [March 7] 60 years ago, our ancestors endured brute
physical violence," said Glenn Harris, president, Race Forward. "Civil
rights activists were beaten for no reason other than having the
audacity to demand the right to vote. While those who opposed voting
rights assaulted the bodies of brave freedom fighters, they could never
extinguish our ancestors' yearning for the ballot box. In the same way
our ancestors persisted, we must persist today in our fight against
those determined to turn back not only the progress of the past decades,
but the very notion that everyone deserves the right to thrive in this
country'.

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Read our full statement
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What's next?

Reimagining Resistance

Reimagining Resistance expands our imagination of what's possible in our
fight for racial justice and democracy by spotlighting creative and some
lesser-known forms of historical resistance and connecting them to our
contemporary movements. The campaign highlights the diverse and
innovative ways communities of color have resisted authoritarianism,
while honoring the foundational role of Black resistance in American
justice movements.

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Community members in Selma, Alabama commemorate the 60th anniversary of
"Bloody Sunday" on March 8, 2025.

(Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Through participatory storytelling, we invite audiences to share their
own stories of resistance, creating a living archive of strategies that
strengthens our collective power to make change. Follow our social media
channels to stay connected and stay tuned for more opportunities to
participate.

Get Early Access to Just Narratives!

Join us at the Just Narratives for Multiracial Solidarity convening, the
anchor event of Cultural Week of Action 2025. Just Narratives, held
November 13-15, 2025, in St. Louis, MO, is ideal for narrative
practitioners, researchers, storytellers, campaign and messaging
strategists, organizers, cultural bearers, and racial equity advocates.

Early bird tickets are extremely limited. Sign up to be notified when
they become available.

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Get On The List!
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Subscribe to The Fire We Face Newsletter

The Fire We Face is a newsletter for those committed to protecting
democracy, racial equity, and public service in the face of systemic
threats. As we monitor the Trump Administration's embrace of Project
2025 and other anti-democratic, racist initiatives, The Fire We Face
will document actions targeting federal agencies and civil servants
striving to serve the public equitably. Through in-depth analysis,
reflections, and tangible examples, this newsletter aims to empower
readers with the knowledge to understand and navigate these challenges.

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Sign up here for updates!
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Services for Organizations

Race Forward is committed to transformational, sustainable change for
racial justice. We provide services to help organizations develop and
advance racially equitable policies and practices.

Our services are developed and delivered by a multiracial and
multigenerational team of experts with extensive knowledge and
experience in various areas, including policy and program development,
leadership development and strategic coaching, community organizing, and
racial equity.

Learn More
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Follow us on Bluesky!

Given the current political climate and our declining engagement on
Twitter, we have made the decision to remain inactive on Twitter until
further notice.

To keep the conversation going, we encourage you to join us on Bluesky.
Be a part of an ever-growing network of racial justice advocates as we
continue to share engaging content that moves the needle to a just,
multiracial democracy.

Follow @raceforward.org
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John, we are stronger when we recognize that our
freedom is bound together.

The struggles of different communities aren't separate battles but
interconnected parts of the same fight against systems of oppression.
When we honor the leadership and wisdom of those most impacted, we
create movements that can transform not just policies, but possibilities
for all of us.

In solidarity,

Race Forward

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