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Feminists Around the World: Michelle Browder · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Sadie and Samantha and welcome to Stephanely
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  Speaker 1: never told your protection of iHeartRadio, and welcome back to
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  Speaker 1: another feminist around the world. Our Tuesday segment where we
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  Speaker 1: talk about amazing people who are doing some amazing things
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  Speaker 1: all over the world. And because it is Black History Month,
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  Speaker 1: we are focusing a little more on our area, the
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  Speaker 1: United States, so bear with us. We will go back
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  Speaker 1: out globally soon. But we think it's really important that
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  Speaker 1: as things have happened in the US, and as politics
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  Speaker 1: and critical theory and all those things are making an ugly,
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  Speaker 1: ugly turn here in the US, we really think it's
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  Speaker 1: important that we focus and make sure that we're giving
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  Speaker 1: flowers and giving accolades to those who are with us
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  Speaker 1: today and changing the world and changing perspective, and hopefully
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  Speaker 1: their efforts will be heard more and more and more.
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  Speaker 1: Yea out there right, and we want that to be
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  Speaker 1: global too. So yeah, we are continuing Black History Month
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  Speaker 1: with an amazing artist, activist and historian who's making sure
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  Speaker 1: that we don't forget the work and contributions of the
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  Speaker 1: enslaved women in the United States. We were talking about
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  Speaker 1: Michelle Brouder and before we begin, we do want to
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  Speaker 1: put a content warning. As you may know, when it
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  Speaker 1: comes to the enslaved history in the United States, in America,
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  Speaker 1: the early realms of America, and even honestly today, it's
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  Speaker 1: not pretty. So we are going to talk about some
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  Speaker 1: things that could be upsetting to some people. Just be aware.
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  Speaker 1: But I still think you should listen because I think
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  Speaker 1: it's important to know this history. Because we're not going
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  Speaker 1: to go in depth, just mentions of some of the
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  Speaker 1: historical contacts that Browder House brought out, and that makes
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  Speaker 1: sure we don't forget because it's important. As we say so, Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: Michelle Browder is a fighter in every way, as she's
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  Speaker 1: talked about being a young child who did not take
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  Speaker 1: things lying down and wasn't afraid to use her fist
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  Speaker 1: to push back. Coming from Denver to the South, specifically
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  Speaker 1: to Alabama, Browder was no stranger to the racism and
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  Speaker 1: prejudice that is all too prominent in these areas, and
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  Speaker 1: she has witnessed the fight that her own family has
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  Speaker 1: been in to push back against the racial injustice of
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  Speaker 1: the country. Her father was the first black chaplain for
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  Speaker 1: the Alabama prison system in nineteen sixty three, and her aunt,
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  Speaker 1: Aurelia Browder Coleman, was an activist who was arrested multiple
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  Speaker 1: times for refusing to give up her seat on a
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  Speaker 1: bus to white people. Essentially, and this is way before
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  Speaker 1: Rosa Parts. I feel like seven or eight years before
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  Speaker 1: Rosa Parts. So she definitely knows and he has been
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  Speaker 1: in the activist lifestyle for a while. And it was
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  Speaker 1: her father who helped reroute her anger and frustrations out
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  Speaker 1: onto the canvas rather than the bullies who continued to
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  Speaker 1: bully are Essentially. She talked about that moment with her
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  Speaker 1: father and the Montgomery Advertiser articles. She said, I grew
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  Speaker 1: up in a small town just after the Civil rights integration,
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  Speaker 1: and the N word and the B word those were
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  Speaker 1: words that were used and oftentimes by my teachers. I
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  Speaker 1: didn't like it right, so there was always a fight.
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  Speaker 1: And my father said, if you don't find a way
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  Speaker 1: to channel that energy, you're going to find yourself in
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  Speaker 1: Tutwiler prison. And I was like, no, I'm not going
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  Speaker 1: to tut Wiler. And it was then he gave me
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  Speaker 1: some T shirt and paint and I started painting and
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  Speaker 1: I found my individuality in that because it was okay
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  Speaker 1: to be strange and now I'm using it hopefully to
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  Speaker 1: liberate others, and yeah, she has done just that. She
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  Speaker 1: attended the Art Institute of Atlanta after high school and
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  Speaker 1: where she study visual communications. It was there that she
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  Speaker 1: began to study in depth the herring history of doctor J.
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  Speaker 1: Marion Simms, who's considered the father of gynecology, whose statue
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  Speaker 1: was erected on the lawn of the Alabama State House.
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  Speaker 1: And for some background information, doctor Sims is known as
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  Speaker 1: the father of modern gynecology for some of the recorded
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  Speaker 1: discoveries and experiments he conducted, but something that has often
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  Speaker 1: loved out is how he used enslaved women for experiments,
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  Speaker 1: and doing so without anesthesia, as he held onto the
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  Speaker 1: racist theory that black women did not feel pain. He
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  Speaker 1: himself was an enslaver, and it should also be noted
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  Speaker 1: that many scholars in medical organizations now believe that many
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  Speaker 1: of the things he claims to be the first to use,
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  Speaker 1: like the type of speculum he used, were not actually
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  Speaker 1: the first time, and his procedures were deemed as cruel
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  Speaker 1: or even dangerous, and in fact, the statue of doctor
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  Speaker 1: Sims was removed from New York's Central Park in twenty eighteen,
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  Speaker 1: but unfortunately remains in Alabama, and Browder not only saw
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  Speaker 1: the injustice of this narrative, but also the complete erasure
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  Speaker 1: of the women who were so cruelly used and discarded
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  Speaker 1: not only by the people and the doctors, but by history.
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  Speaker 1: She told People magazine about the experiences of this woman.
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  Speaker 1: She said, it was a crime against humanity. Often these
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  Speaker 1: girls would have to hold each other down. Lucy, who
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  Speaker 1: was one of the women's that she recognizes, had twelve
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  Speaker 1: surgeries and it nearly killed her and there are reports
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  Speaker 1: of her screaming in pain. And yeah, she was infuriated
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  Speaker 1: by the lack of acknowledgment and recognition of the enslaved women.
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  Speaker 1: And she said, how can this one person be elevated
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  Speaker 1: and amplified and heralded as the father of modern gynecology,
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  Speaker 1: but there's no mention of these enslaved women, girls that
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  Speaker 1: were raped and trafficked. I said, I'm going to change that,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm going to erect a monument. And she did.
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  Speaker 1: In twenty twenty two, on Mother's Day, Browder unveiled the
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  Speaker 1: Mothers of Gynecology monument. The monument is made up of
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  Speaker 1: three women figures representing the women who were discovered to
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  Speaker 1: be three of dozens of unsaved women who were experimented
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  Speaker 1: on by doctor Simms. The women were Anarca, Lucy, and Betsy.
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  Speaker 1: Doctor Simms had used them to try to develop a
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  Speaker 1: way to repair a painful terror caused by hard childbirth,
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  Speaker 1: called vaginal fistula, but he did it by repeatedly performing
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  Speaker 1: surgeries without anesthesia. Right. Browder designed the different statues with
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  Speaker 1: the help of a team of artists from Montgomery and
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  Speaker 1: San Francisco. So here's a description of the figures from
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  Speaker 1: a Washington Post article. And Arca has a gaping hole
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  Speaker 1: through her midsection. Her womb stands alone nearby, made of
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  Speaker 1: gold mesh and containing objects that would make any woman
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  Speaker 1: shudder in this context needles, medical instruments, scissors, cut glass,
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  Speaker 1: anything sharp, any object that looks like it could harm you.
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  Speaker 1: Said Deborah Cedric, a Montgomery artist recruited by Browder, to
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  Speaker 1: the wombmaker, I wanted you to experience the physical pain,
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  Speaker 1: the emotional pain, the spiritual pain. And then there's Lucy,
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  Speaker 1: who stays nine feet tall, wears hair in bontu knots
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  Speaker 1: to convey that quote. Black women are stigmatized for wearing
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  Speaker 1: their hairs and natural coils. Browder said Betsy at twelve
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  Speaker 1: feet is pregnant, signifying that black women are more likely
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  Speaker 1: to die of complications from childbirth than white women and
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  Speaker 1: referencing other health disparities, and she wears a crown of speculums.
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  Speaker 1: And for a lot of the materials they used, they
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  Speaker 1: were given to them by friends and others who responded
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  Speaker 1: to the call Broader had made to get these materials,
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  Speaker 1: which included chains, hinges, tools, and even kitchen items. And
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  Speaker 1: she told the Post in the article about her work,
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  Speaker 1: she said, I made all of their jewelry to help
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  Speaker 1: bring humanity to them. The condition they suffered from alone
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  Speaker 1: is the meaning. These amazing monuments aren't her only working concepts.
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  Speaker 1: Broader also runs a youth empowerment initiative which includes creating
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  Speaker 1: a campus which would include a park, gullies, resources and
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  Speaker 1: student centers and so much more. She runs historical tours
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  Speaker 1: called More Than Tours, which provides educational tours about racial
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  Speaker 1: bias and history in Montgomery, Alabama, and just recently, Browder
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  Speaker 1: purchased the site where the makeshift hospital Doctor Sims created
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  Speaker 1: to torture the enslaved women once stood and she plans
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  Speaker 1: to make it a museum, clinic and training space for
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  Speaker 1: medical students. She said in another interview, whether it's a
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  Speaker 1: duelo service if you just need that friend to walk
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  Speaker 1: you through prenatal care or after postpartum depression. We want
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  Speaker 1: to provide a safe place for women and birthing people
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  Speaker 1: to come and find some relief, find a friend, and
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  Speaker 1: then also find some support, which would take place in
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  Speaker 1: the Brothers of Gynecology, Health and Wellness clinic. They have
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  Speaker 1: planned for in that space, and groundbreaking is scheduled for
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  Speaker 1: Mother's Day twenty twenty three. Yeah. Of course, she's being
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  Speaker 1: recognized for her amazing work, including being given the Community
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  Speaker 1: Hero Award by Thegomery Mayer presented the Rising Star Tourism
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  Speaker 1: Award from the State of Alabama, and named as one
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  Speaker 1: of the USA Today's Women of the Year in twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty two. So obviously she's doing some amazing works. We're
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  Speaker 1: definitely going to keep an eye out on what she's doing.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe we should do a visit. To be honest, I
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  Speaker 1: feel like we need to do this tour. I think
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  Speaker 1: she had paused the tour during the pandemic and release
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  Speaker 1: of the monument, which was a huge project for her,
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  Speaker 1: but we should chat. I think we need to go
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  Speaker 1: check it out. I think that would be our next visit.
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  Speaker 1: That would be a good one. Yeah. Well, any listeners
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  Speaker 1: who have any more information about that have visited, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: know about any of this, That would be awesome if
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  Speaker 1: you could contact us, and also if you have any
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  Speaker 1: more suggestions for people we should cover in this segment,
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  Speaker 1: always welcome. You can email us at Steff the media mom,
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  Speaker 1: Steff at iHeartMedia dot com. You can find us on
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  Speaker 1: She's putting us everywhere. Yes, yes, amazing, amazing, Thanks to
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