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Salsa Soul Sisters 50th Anniversary Celebration
August 28 @ 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm
The Center is honored to welcome home the Salsa Soul Sisters (or the African Ancestral Lesbians United for Societal Change), who from 1987 onward met within our very walls, creating a revolutionary safe space and supportive community for creative lesbians of color to explore and speak their truths. Please join us in celebrating their legacy on the year of their 50th anniversary.
Doors will open at 5:00p.m., and the evening will include:
- Founding members in attendance
- Delicious food and drinks provided
- Drumming Procession and Ancestral Tribute
- Special screening of the Sisters' appearance in Lesbian Bar Project
- Panel conversation with leaders in the LGBT+ community
And of course, in true Salsa Soul Sisters fashion, the evening would not be complete without a lively reception to follow.
Background:
The Salsa Soul Sisters (AALUSC) was the vision of Rev. Dolores Jackson. The organization was founded in 1974 and incorporated in 1976 in New York State. It is the oldest Black lesbian and lesbians of color womanist organization in the United States. The group consisted primarily of African American lesbians and was inclusive of Latinas, Asian American, and Indigenous women, who identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or same-gender-loving.
The group created a safe space and supportive community through weekly meetings, with members exploring and speaking their truths. Other events included retreats, annual dances, holiday celebrations, and participation in Pride Marches. Drawing on the inspiration and freedom of this radical work, Salsa Soul women expressed themselves in ways that had not been thought possible. Feeling powerfully supported within their community, women studied and mastered African drumming and dancing. Poets, visual artists, writers and singers blossomed in this environment. Many were political and educational activists, nontraditional workers, and entrepreneurs.
The Salsa Soul Sisters created a revolutionary political and creative lesbian of color community — a movement which continues to this day.
