Hidden Figures: Johnnie Lacy #BlackHERstoryMonth 14/28 (Patreon)

Hidden Figures: Johnnie Lacy #BlackHERstoryMonth 14/28

If you enjoy my work, please consider supporting! CashApp: $SerenSensei Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seren_sensei All Patrons get access to the Discord server! NEW MERCH SHOP: https://the-bheezebake-project.creator-spring.com Johnnie Lacy (1937-2010) was a Black disability rights activist. Through her activism, she brought to light the intersectionality of race and disability, and worked to tackle ableism in the Black community and racism in the largely white-dominated disability community. Lacy was born in 1937 in Huttig, Arkansas. Educated in segregated elementary schools in Louisiana, when she was 10 her family relocated to Mcloud, California. In California, she attended integrated schools for the first time, but continued to feel the effects of informal segregation, stating many people brought their prejudices with them out West. Lacy was diagnosed with polio at the age of 19, while working on her nursing practical at San Francisco General Hospital in 1956. Her first symptoms were severe headaches and then blurred vision, which made her think she needed glasses; a local physician tested her, and diagnosed her with polio. At Fairmount Hospital, Lacy was placed in an iron lung for two weeks. She switched to a chest respirator and rehabbed for 2-3 years before regaining her strength. However, she remained paralyzed, needing a wheelchair for the rest of her life. After rehab, Lacy went back to San Francisco State University in 1958. Studying speech pathology, she faced blatant ableism and discrimination from the head of the department, who attempted to block her from attending, saying there was no way she would ever be able to become a speech therapist because of her disability. Lacy was admitted to the department despite being told up front she would not become a speech therapist, and chose to attend school anyway, completing her degree and graduating. Even though she excelled in her schoolwork, she was not allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies. After graduating, she helped found the Berkeley Center for Independent Living in 1981. From 1981 to 1994 she served as the director of the Community Resources for Independent Living (CRIL), a nonprofit in Hayward, CA that provides advocacy, mentoring, and other services for people with disabilities. Lacy also served on the California Attorney General’s Commission on Disability, Hayward’s Commission on Personnel and Affirmative Action, and the Mayor’s Disability Council for the city and county of San Francisco. In 1998, Lacy recorded several interviews on her life for UC Berkeley’s oral history archive. As a Black woman in a wheelchair, she sought to educate communities about race and disability, opening up the door for groundbreaking conversations around race, identity, and disability. She often spoke of feeling unwelcome in the disability movement due to her Blackness, and unwelcome in the Black power movement due to her disability. Johnnie Lacy died in 2010 at the age of 73. #JohnnieLacy #HiddenFigures ****************** Merchandise! MAKE SURE U GETTA SHIRT!! https://www.teepublic.com/user/sssseren https://www.shophouseof950.com/embroidery-tees/theblackamericans https://www.shophouseof950.com/embroidery-tees/dacs?rq=d.a.c.s Follow me on social media! Instagram: @sensei_aishitemasu Personal Tumblr: http://sensei-aishitemasu.tumblr.com Tumblr for my work: https://sssseren.tumblr.com Snapchat: sssseren GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/tc5wh7q ****************** Did you know I wrote a book? ☺️ 'So, About That... A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture' Paperback: https://www.amazon.com/About-That-Contemporary-Essays-Culture-ebook/dp/B013V0CHK6 Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013V0CHK6 Digital download (e-book): https://gumroad.com/l/IkUa ****************** Links: Johnnie Lacy: https://www.dnswm.org/johnnie-lacy/ Johnnie Lacy: Director, Community Resources for Independent Living: An African-American Woman's Perspective on the Independent Living Movement in the Bay Area 1960-1980: https://californiarevealed.org/islandora/object/cavpp:21826 https://oac.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt0p30012x/ Black History Month 2017 - Johnnie Lacy, Defiantly Black & Disabled: http://www.rampyourvoice.com/black-history-month-2017-johnnie-lacy-defiantly-black-disabled/ Honoring Black History Month - Unsung Heroes of the Disability Rights Movement: https://www.ncld.org/news/honoring-black-history-month-unsung-heroes-of-the-disability-rights-movement/ Johnnie Lacy: https://bancroft.berkeley.edu/collections/drilm/collection/items/lacy.html Johnnie Lacy, Social Justice Pioneer: https://www.innow.org/2021/02/01/johnnie-lacy/ Johnnie Lacy—An Advocate for Independent Living: https://www.centerforlearnerequity.org/news/johnnie-lacy-an-advocate-for-independent-living/