online event; open to the public and all mentees & mentors
This year, activist Ida B. Wells makes her debut as part of the Barbie Inspiring Women Series. To celebrate, Michelle Duster, author of Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells, takes salon guests through the process of writing her incredible tribute to her great-grandmother and civil rights icon, Ida B. Wells. Not all of us have a transformational civil rights leader in our family, but we do have people in our lives who inspire us.
Join us for a cozy evening of sharing stories, as Michelle Duster leads us in uncovering history through the tales of the people most near and dear to our hearts.
Michelle Duster is an author, professor, public historian, and champion of racial and gender equity. She has written, edited, or contributed to sixteen books. Her most recent is the picture book, Ida B. Wells, Voice of Truth (January 4, 2022) which followed Ida B the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells – released in January 2021. She also co-wrote the popular children’s history book, Tate and His Historic Dream; co-edited Impact: Personal Portraits of Activism; Shifts: An Anthology of Women’s Growth Through Change; Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls; and edited two books that include the writings of her paternal great-grandmother, Ida B. Wells. She has written articles for Ms. Magazine, TIME, Essence, HuffPost, Teen Vogue, People, Glamour, Daily Beast, and the North Star. She has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, WTTW, CBS & CW as well as numerous radio shows. Her advocacy has led to street names, monuments, historical markers, murals, statues, and other public history projects that highlight women and African Americans, including Wells. She is working on several other projects that celebrate trailblazers, including the picture book, You Dared which will be published in 2024.
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