We can’t wait to meet you in the Magic City.

We know that JOY is essential. Since we’ve last shared space together we have lived through a pandemic, racial and social justice protests, a contentious electoral cycle, and a continuous slate of violent racially-motivated shootings. We learned from women before us that Joy is a lifesaving strategy.  Rosa Parks, Septima Poinsette Clark, Shirley Sherrod, Diane Nash, Johnnie Carr, JoAnn Robinson, Fannie Lou Hamer and Coretta Scott King have been the first defense against systemic racism and other forms of oppression. The Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium is rooted in joy, love, and self-determination recognizing that these are the only real responses to protect ourselves from harm. Indeed, JOY is our Journey.

Your ticket to the Black Girls Dream conference also includes FREE admission to the Joy Is Our Journey Dream Village happening after the conference at Kelley Ingram Park.

Commemorating Four Little Girls 

The Black Girls Dream Conference dates were chosen to pay homage to the memory of the four southern Black girls killed at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. This year will mark the 60th year since the bombing.

September 15, 1963, was the monthly youth service at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Children hurried to the church basement for Sunday School. A bomb planted by the Ku Klux Klan exploded, shook the church, shook the community, and shook the nation. Fourteen-year-olds, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and
eleven-year-old Cynthia Wesley were killed. The bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church in
Birmingham, Alabama was an act of terrorism intended to slow the progress of the civil rights movement.

2022 Event Closed.
2023 Event Information Coming Soon.

Opening Session 9:00 AM

Invisible Giants: Black Girls of the Civil Rights Movement
Moderated by Joy Reid Host of the REIDOUT
and MSNBC Political Analyst

Sarah Collins Rudolph
16
th Street Baptist Church Bombing Survivor

Sarah Collins Rudolph was injured in the 1963  bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church, which killed her sister, Addie Mae, and three other girls.

Paulette Porter Roby
Birmingham Children’s March

Paulette Roby, marched in the Birmingham Children’s crusade in 1963  at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. She was   13 years old during the children’s marches.

Robertiena Fletcher
Leesburg Stockade Girls

In 1963, at the age of 13, she marched and was jailed along with approximately  thirty teenage girls to the Leesburg Stockade.

Sheyann Webb-Christburg

Selma Civil Rights Movement

Civil Rights Activist, Author, and Youth Advocate, author of Selma, Lord Selma: Girlhood Memories of the Civil Rights Days, which is now a Disney Movie

11:30AM-1:00PM

SISTA CIRCLE LUNCHEON
MANIFESTING YOUR BLACK GIRL DREAMS
Featuring: LaTosha R. Brown, Joy-Ann Reid, Teresa Younger

LaTosha Brown

Visionary founder of Southern Black Girls and co-founder of Black Voters Matter

Joy-Ann Reid

Political analyst for MSNBC and
host of “The ReidOut”

Teresa C. Younger

President and CEO of the
Ms. Foundation for Women

WORKSHOP SESSIONS

Civics/ Social Justice

  • Herstory:  How your story shapes justice! Learn the value story and how we can create change together.
  • Don’t Touch My Hair: Youth leaders help pass the C.R.O.W.N. Act   – Learn from Nia Weeks about what it took to CROWN Act in New Orleans.  C.R.O.W.N. is an acronym for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.
  • powHER – Learn why the Black Youth Voter is so important now and how to use your power at the polls to shape policy.

Education/Travel

  • Quilt Your Story – Join the quilters of Gee’s Bend to learn how to make a quilt,  talk about current issues and history and, celebrate the accomplishments of Black women in girls.

Health &Wellness

  • Get the Skin-E: Skin Care Basics for Young Women – Learn how to know your skin and  how to care for it.
  • Healthy vs. Toxic Relationships For Teens  – This workshop aims to give girls and young women the information to know how and when to set boundaries to prevent being in toxic and abusive relationships. This session is about how to deal with a breakup, understand teen dating violence and identify the red flags in relationships.  PRESENTED BY BLACK GIRL DREAM FUND GRANTEE
  • Smile Black Girl: You’re Beautiful – Self-care and mental health are a priority for everyone. Learn how to care for your head, and your heart and restore your soul. PRESENTED BY BLACK GIRL DREAM FUND GRANTEE

SKILLS BUILDING

  • Strategic Planning 101 – Organizations often create a strategic plan that is kept on the shelf collecting dust.  In this interactive session, participants will receive tools and resources to create a strategy that positions them for success. PRESENTED BY CORE MOVEMENT PARTNER
  • Grantseekers Introduction to Program Evaluation – Learn to create programs and improve programs with an evaluation tool that is useful and usable.
  • Gender Responsive programming: How to create successful gender-responsive programming for girls and women. Beyond a focus on all girls and women, programs should also be consistent with youth development. Gain skills to learn the components of successful programs that serve girls and women.  PRESENTED BY SAGE CIRCLE LEADER

SPEAKERS

Erniko Brown is an elected official born and raised in rural McCormick, SC, where she grew up on land that’s been in her family for 8 generations. Brown is the Founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit OURS (Organized Uplifting Resources & Strategies). In the past 15 years she has led political, community, advocacy, and civic engagement efforts at the local, state, and federal levels.

Lauren Carson, is the Executive Director and Founder of Black Girls Smile Inc. a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting positive mental health education, resources and support.

Kimberly Farris is a Senior Health Scientist on the Performance Improvement and Evaluation team in the Division of Diabetes at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  With over 22 years of experience, she has served as an Evaluator and Health Scientist in various organizations, including non-profit organizations, government, and educational settings. Dr. Farris is a registered yoga instructor and also the owner and creator of Kymistri Wellness LLC, which was created to provide a space for health and wellness that is inclusive and safe, where Black and Brown women can practice being intentional about self-care, and work toward a more balanced, holistic lifestyle.

Robertiena Fletcher was born,  raised, and educated in Americus, Georgia. In 1963, at the  age of 13, she marched and was jailed along with approximately thirty teenage girls to the  Leesburg Stockade.  In 1964, I was one of four blacks to integrate public schools in Americus, Georgia and was later among the three African Americans to graduate in 1967.

Janelle B. Floyd She is a youth engagement specialist who leads and designed evidence-based programs for girls. Janelle served as a program specialist at the Pace Center for Girls in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where she spearheaded the Girls Voice Task Force, a nationally recognized advocacy group for young girls to learn leadership and political science. Janelle’s passion for the advancement of girls led her to design a faith-based non-profit titled Girls in Christ, Inc.

Natasha Harrison is a facilitator, racial equity practitioner, strategist, collaborator, and philanthropist dedicated to the collective work of dismantling structural and institutional racism.  In 2011, she founded CommunityBuild Ventures, a pro-Black, solutions-focused firm committed to eliminating racial disparities by developing powerful, impactful racial equity-centered leaders and organizations.

Natasha was recently selected as a Center for Civic Innovation’s 2022 Good Trouble Honoree for Championing Equity.

Dr. Nadia Richardson is a mental health advocate, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) consultant, professor and speaker. She is the Founder of No More Martyrs, a mental health awareness campaign that seeks to build a community of support for Black women and girls. No More Martyrs encourages diverse conversations on mental health with signature programs such as the Mental Health Equity and Liberation Summit (previously known as the Minority Mental Health Awareness Summit), Sister Speak Suicide Awareness Initiative and Voting Matters to Our Mental Health campaign.

After losing her sister from a senseless act of domestic violence, Davida Roach turned her tragedy into triumph by creating Dear Deanndra, a nonprofit organization built to stop teen dating violence. In 2020, she received a Champion of Change Award from United Nations for her work with Dear Deanndra to make a change for young women.

Dr. Aleta Simmons, MD is a board-certified dermatologist in Nashville, TN. Dr. Simmons practiced dermatology as an Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center where she served as a Diversity Champion and was selected as a Fleming Scholar. She was also invited to serve on the Racial Equity Taskforce and Patient Equity Committee.  Through her company, Get the Skin-E, Dr. Simmons educates her community through public speaking, writing, and workshops. Her current endeavors include bringing Simmons Skin Center to life.

Civil Rights Activist, Author, and Youth Advocate, Sheyann Webb-Christburg has built a lifelong career as a voice for hope, justice, equality, and humanitarianism.
Mrs. Webb-Christburg is nationally recognized for her book Selma, Lord Selma: Girlhood Memories of the Civil Rights Days, which is now a Disney Movie. Mrs. Webb-Christburg is known as one of the youngest activists during the Civil Rights Movement in Selma, Alabama in the 1960s and named by the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as the “Smallest Freedom Fighter”.

Nia Weeks is a native of New Orleans, and has spent years fighting for the rights of women, children, and families. She is currently the founder and Director of Citizen SHE United, which mobilizes Black Women around the state to actively participate in changing the system so that it begins to work for them and their children.