Reading of the Combahee River Collective Statement (Central Square)

"If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression." 

- Combahee River Collective, April 1977 

Come to the Central Square Library to gather for a reading of the Combahee River Collective (CRC) statement. Centered in Black feminist lesbian socialist politics, the CRC argued for the centering of anti-racist and anti-sexist politics within feminist and civil rights organizing respectively. Though the CRC is no longer active, its work and its members continue to have deep influence in Black feminism and beyond.  

We will read the statement aloud together, sharing the words and wisdom of the Combahee River Collective with opportunity to discuss their continued resonance. 

This event will be followed by a 4-session reading group to discuss the second edition of How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. For more information and to register for the reading group, please see here.  

This event was created in partnership with Community Conversations: Sister to Sister, the Cambridge LGBTQ+ Commission, and the Cambridge Women's Commission.