The theme for NYC Pride Month is “Strength in Solidarity”, reflecting the power and resiliency of the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies.
Dr. Nanika Coor shares tips for talking to kids about the ways that the Black Freedom Movement—from the abolitionist movement in the 1800s to the Black Power Movement in the 1960s and 1970s—inspired many future movements—including the LGBTQIA+ liberation movement.
Project Parenthood is hosted by Dr. Nanika Coor. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
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It’s LGBTQIA+ Pride Month in the U.S.! This year in New York City where my practice is located, the theme for Pride Month is “Strength in Solidarity”, reflecting the power and resiliency of the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies. Tune in all month long as I focus on tips for LGBTQIA+ kids, parents, families, and allies.
Today is Juneteenth—a holiday commemorating the end of race-based chattel slavery in the United States—and as we continue to celebrate Pride Month, I’m talking about tips for talking to kids about the ways that the Black Freedom Movement—from the abolitionist movement in the 1800s to the Black Power Movement in the 1960s and 1970s—inspired many future movements—including the LGBTQIA+ liberation movement.
Welcome back to Project Parenthood! I'm your host, Dr. Nanika Coor—clinical psychologist and respectful parenting therapist. Each week, I’ll help you repair and deepen your parent-child connection, increase self-compassion and cooperation from your kids, and cultivate joy, peace, and resilience in your relationship with them.
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Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day when Major General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and announced the official end of race-based chattel slavery in that state, two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.
On June 17, 2021, President Joe Biden signed into law the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act making Juneteenth a federal holiday—a day to celebrate not only the abolition of race-based chattel slavery, but also to celebrate progress, joy, and hope for Black Americans. It’s also a time to center Black people’s ongoing contribution to their own liberation.
For example, Black Americans like David Walker, Frederick Douglass, and Sojourner Truth were a part of the organized and radical abolitionist movement in the early 19th century that sought to end the practice of enslaving Black people. The abolitionist movement, along with other factors, fueled the growing divide and hatred between the northern and southern states, which led to the Civil War, which ultimately resulted in the end of slavery in America.
Twelve years after the ratification of the 13th Amendment abolishing the enslavement of Black people, as Black people were gaining social and political power, southern whites became enraged, calling for “Redemption”—a return of white supremacy and the restriction of rights for Black Americans. This was the first of the many periods of backlash following any incremental gain in or promotion of Black freedom in the United States.
This ushered in the period of the Klu Klux Klan and Jim Crow—lynchings, race-based terror, segregation, and discrimination that continued until the civil rights resistance movements of the 1950s and ‘60s. Black resistance helped to bring about legislation that ended segregation and Black voter suppression, along with discriminatory employment and housing practices.
In the late 1960s, some Black leaders had become frustrated with the slow progress of Martin Luther King Jr.’s brand of nonviolent strivings toward freedom. The Black Power movement was a social and political movement that sought to empower Black Americans and achieve equality and justice through self-determination, economic empowerment, and cultural pride. The movement raised awareness of the challenges Black people faced, inspired a new generation of activists, and led to an era of art, music, and literature that celebrated African American culture.
Black Americans’ fight for freedom, civil rights, and self-determination also inspired activism for other marginalized groups. In the late 1800s for example, women in the abolitionist movement were routinely discriminated against. Using their skills to organize and raise funds, as well as the confidence to speak in public—developed in their work in abolitionism—women fought for their own rights by holding state and national conventions to campaign for legal changes. Later, in the 20th century, women who had been involved in the Black civil rights movement realized that if collective action could tear down white-superiority-based racial segregation, women could organize to challenge ideas about female inferiority. The feminist organizations The National Organization for Women (NOW) and the Younger Women's Liberation Movement were founded to fight for women’s equality within the current legislative system and to radically overhaul American society by eradicating sexism and oppression.
The Black Freedom Movement also set the tone for other social justice causes and civil unrest. In the 1960s, Mexican-Americans began to realize that their heritage was being lost to the “melting pot” of the U.S. and were fed up with social and economic inequality and second-class citizenship. Leaders of what came to be called the Chicano Movement fought for causes including workers' rights, political representation, and Mexican culture-, identity-, and heritage- affirming education and self-determination. Inspired by the Black Civil Rights Movement, Mexican-Americans also fought for equality in American society.
Similarly, much of the ideologies that drove the creation of the Asian American Movement came from the Black civil rights struggle for equality. In the mid-1970s, Asian Americans who aided Black people in their fight for equal rights took inspiration from Black leaders like Malcolm X and his views on self-determination and knowing one’s history and how it relates to present-day politics as well as the rejection of assimilation. Asian Americans for Equality in New York City fought for workers' rights and organized against systemic inequality in employment and housing.
Also in the 1970s, Native Americans fought to preserve their culture and traditions, rather than to be fully integrated into white society. They wanted to be granted self-governance and have their rights as sovereign nations recognized by the federal government. The tactics and strategies of the Black Freedom Movement were admired by the founders of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who adopted the Black Freedom Movement’s ideology of empowerment and self-determination and used similar strategies of protests, marches, and sit-ins.
And finally—the foundation laid by Black civil rights activists showed LGBTQIA+ people that they could also fight for their rights using similar strategies like sit-ins and protests. In fact, the seeds for Pride Month were planted in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, when there was a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan in New York City.
Fed up with police harassment and social discrimination, the local gay community responded with six days of protests and violent clashes with law enforcement. This was a pivotal moment for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States and around the world.
Since the first parade commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprisings in 1970, Pride Month has been a time to celebrate LGBTQIA+ communities, to promote queer visibility and joy, and to highlight significant policy and resource issues the community experiences with parades, parties, picnics, concerts, workshops, panel discussions, and other programming and events.
So, you might be wondering—how do I talk to my kids about all of this? When you’re talking to kids about the Juneteenth, Black Freedom Movement, and the example it set for future social justice movements like the LGBTQIA+ liberation movement, it is important to use age-appropriate language. Use words and concepts that kids can understand.
It’s also important to be honest and open. Kids deserve to know the truth about history, even if it’s difficult to discuss. It makes sense to feel sadness and/or anger when learning about the humiliations and indignities people have and continue to endure. Hold space for those feelings if your child expresses them—these are normal and not harmful emotions. So be honest with your child about the challenges that people faced in the past, but also the progress that’s been made.
It’s important to create a safe space for kids to ask questions about Juneteenth and the civil rights and liberation movements in this country.
Encourage their questions, and be prepared to answer them honestly and thoughtfully.
Focus on legal and social victories, positive progress that’s been made over oppression and discrimination, and the hope for a more just and equal future.
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Since the official end of race-based chattel slavery, Black people have been fighting for the recognition of their humanity, their civil rights, and the destruction of white supremacy. The example they set for LGBTQIA+ activists, as well as other marginalized populations, has led to progress in the fight for everyone’s equality and continues to inspire resistance and triumph over ongoing injustice.
So have open conversations with and learn alongside your children about Juneteenth, Black Freedom Movements, as well as the LGBTQIA+ liberation movemen—and the freedom movements of other groups. And as a family, get involved in the fight for equality for all people!
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That’s all for today’s episode of Project Parenthood—thanks for listening, and I hope you found it helpful! Be sure to join me live on Instagram @bkparents on Monday, July 10 at 1 pm for a Brooklyn Parent Therapy “Ask Me Anything!” I’m excited to answer your questions in real time!
If you have a question for me about parent-child relationships, respectful parenting tips and/or parental mental health like you’d like me to cover in a future episode, shoot me an email at parenthood@quickanddirtytips.com, leave a message at 646-926-3243 or leave a message on Instagram @bkparents. And you can learn about my private practice working with parents living in New York State at www.brooklynparenttherapy.com.
Happy Pride Month and catch you next week!
Bill of Rights Institute. (n.d.). The Gay Liberation Movement. In Essays. Retrieved from https://billofrightsinstitute.org/essays/the-gay-liberation-movement
Chen, E. (n.d.). Black Power Movement and The Asian American Movement. In Dartmouth History. Retrieved from https://www.dartmouth.edu/~hist32/History/S18%20-%20The%20Black%20Power%20Movement%20and%20the%20Asian%20American%20Movement.htm?fbclid=IwAR0_k4IX1IBWtDaqHz0b_a5QScHFiSUCIe9PkojPY0dtU7nMxG5yD42iwLc
Kenney, C. (2022, March 8). The 19th Amendment: Suffrage, Women's Rights, and Race Abolitionism. Futurity. Retrieved from https://www.futurity.org/19th-amendment-suffrage-womens-rights-race-abolitionism-2423092-2/
Lin, J. (2022, June 9). Asian Americans and Black Solidarity: A History. Time. Retrieved from https://time.com/5851792/asian-americans-black-solidarity-history/
National Museum of African American History and Culture. (n.d.). The Foundations of Black Power. In Explore Stories. Retrieved from https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/foundations-black-power
Stein, J. (2022, March 8). Different fight, “same goal”: How the Black freedom movement inspired early gay activists. NBC News. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/different-fight-same-goal-how-black-freedom-movement-inspired-early-n1259072
Tate, W. (2022, March 8). The Forgotten History of Solidarity Between Black and Indigenous Freedom Movements. Indigenous Rising. Retrieved from https://ibw21.org/editors-choice/the-forgotten-history-of-solidarity-between-black-and-indigenous-freedom-movements/
University of Georgia Libraries. (n.d.). Black Power. In Civil Rights Digital History Project. Retrieved from https://digilab.libs.uga.edu/exhibits/exhibits/show/civil-rights-digital-history-p/black-brown-power
PBS NewsHour. (2013, March 11). Civil Rights Launched the Fight for LGBT, Women's Equality. PBS NewsHour. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/civil-rights-launched-the-fight-for-lgbt-women-s-equality