Role Models
Learning from Legends and Leaders
Donato-Sapp, H. (2019). Dr. Angela Y. Davis: The Dymally Distinguished Speaker Series. Attendee,
California State University Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA, Monday, February 11, 2019.
In my continuing efforts to learn more about American history, I took an afternoon off from 4th-grade to see scholar, author, and activist Dr. Angela Y. Davis speak at California State University Dominguez Hills. Through her activism and scholarship over the last decades, Angela Davis has been deeply involved in our nation’s quest for social justice. Her work has always emphasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender justice.
Donato-Sapp, H. (2018). Nonviolent protest - countering hate and extremism. Conference Attendee, California State University Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA, Saturday, February 27, 2018.
I attended my second professional conference on February 27, 2018. Lecia Brooks was the outreach director for the Southern Poverty Law Center (and, well, also my Auntie), which uses litigation, education, and other forms of advocacy to teach and promote equity and inclusion in K-12 schools, track and monitor hate and extremist activity, and seek justice for the most vulnerable members of society. Lecia also served as the director of the Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery, Alabama.
Donato-Sapp, H. (2018). Feminist Majority Foundation Global Women’s Rights Awards. Attendee, The Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts, Los Angeles, CA, Monday, May 21, 2018.
I was invited to attend the Feminist Majority Foundation Global Women’s Rights Awards ceremony to see my Auntie Monica Ramirez receive a Global Women’s Rights Award. Monica is a civil rights attorney and co-founder of Alianza Nacional de Campesinos, which represents 700,000 farmworker women and their families working in the agricultural fields and packing sheds across the U. S. I was introduced to some of the great women in the movement, like Adama Iwu, Maria Elena Durazo, Laura Dern, Elizabeth Nyamayaro, and Nina Shaw. I also had a chance to meet Dolores Huerta, who I ended up doing my 3rd-grade biography project on.
From left to right clockwise (or top to bottom): (1) The youngest feminist at the awards ceremony, (2) Me and Auntie Monica Ramirez, (3) Me and Dolores Huerta, and (4) Me working on my biography project on Dolores Huerta for 3rd-grade.
(Below) Recreating a famous picture of Dolores Huerta that was taken during the Delano Grape Boycott.
Donato-Sapp, H. (2018). A People’s Education Conference on Intersectional Ethnic Studies. Conference Attendee, Augustus Hawkins High School, Los Angeles, CA, Saturday, February 24, 2018.
I attended my first professional conference on February 24, 2018. On the way home from the conference, my two dads asked me what I remembered most and I said, “You have to fight to be free.” Below are photos of me with one of the conference organizers, Dr. Ed Curammeng, and a photo of me taking notes during the poster sessions.
