Sonja Haynes Stone Memorial Lecture advocates involvement

To African-American feminist Beverly Guy-Sheftall, black women need to use their voices to fight for equality.

The late UNC professor Sonja Haynes Stone believed activism is the most important strategy for positive social change.

Guy-Sheftall, who established the first women’s studies department at a historically black college, Spelman College in Atlanta, Ga., spoke at the annual Stone Memorial Lecture Tuesday, emphasizing the beliefs they both fought for.

“The Stone Lecture is our signature program here at the Stone Center,” said Clarissa Goodlett, the center’s public communications specialist.

“Dr. (Joseph) Jordan, our director, is familiar with her work and also friends with her, so she was one of our top choices,” Goodlett said.

“We reached out to her and she agreed to do it, so we’re really excited about that.”

Guy-Sheftall’s lecture was entitled “Legacies: Black Women as Dissidents and Peacemakers.”

She discussed feminism as it relates to African-American women.

“Black women here and around the globe have been engaged in a broad range of public organized political activities in diverse institutional contexts,” Guy-Sheftall said.

She said African-American women have more of a voice than they formerly had, but that black women are still a heavily marginalized group.

“African-American women’s struggles around black feminist politics have been, in recent years, both celebrated and demonized,” she said.

Goodlett said the lecture series speakers are chosen because of their closeness to Stone’s legacy.

“We choose people who embody the spirit of Dr. Stone,” she said. “We pick people who are activists and pioneers — who embody that spirit of social justice, activism, and engagement.”

“We do this every year, and we try to target different aspects of diaspora culture.”

At UNC, Stone was one of the leading faculty in pushing for a freestanding Black Culture and History Center.

After Stone died in 1991, the center was renamed in her honor. The center began the lecture series also bearing her name in 1992.

Domonique Baldwin, a senior English and sociology major who attended the lecture, said she agreed with Guy-Sheftall’s message encouraging activism.

“I think it’s important for students to get involved in activism because it makes you aware of the people around you,” she said.

“I think it’s very easy to only think about yourself and your own circumstances.”

Kevin Claybren, a junior women’s and gender studies major, said students at UNC should be activists.

Claybren is currently leading the initiative for gender neutral housing on campus.

“If students only stay sedentary, then nothing will change on this campus or in society,” he said.

Contact the desk editor at university@dailytarheel.com.