Dr. Okazawa-Rey Honored at Black Feminist Conference

Dr. Margo Okazawa-Rey, faculty in the School of Leadership Studies, received the Lasting Legacy Award at the Words of Fire Conference last week at Atlanta’s Spelman College.

Organized by Black Women’s Blueprint, the conference celebrated the life and work of Dr. Beverly Guy Sheftall and the 20th anniversary of her publication Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought. The event also marks the first anniversary of the formation of the Black Women’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Sexual Assault.

Whether instructing Fielding students in Feminism and Gender Studies or advising clients at the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling in Palestine, Dr. Okazawa-Rey (left) has spent decades working to understand the root causes of social inequality.

Dr. Margo Okazawa-Rey at Fielding

With an EdD from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, Dr. Okazawa-Rey helped establish and serves on the board of PeaceWomen Across the Globe, an international network of women addressing violence and redefining what peace means. Her books Women’s Lives: Multicultural Perspectives and Beyond Heroes and Holidays: K-12 Anti-Racist, Multicultural Education and Staff Development are impacting the way that schools view women’s studies and diversity education.

At the conference, below, Dr. Okazawa Rey (seated, front, second from left) met with Black feminist human rights and civil rights activists, artists, and scholars including Fania Davis, Loretta Ross, Byllye Avery, Michelle Wallace, Elsa Barkley Brown, Julianne Malveaux, Fran White, Beth Elaine Richie, Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Beverly Guy Sheftall, friends Demita Frazier, Akasha Hull, Sharon Page Ritchie,  Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Paula Giddings, Loretta Ross, and many more.

Photo by Tonya Lovelace-Davis