#UjimaWednesdays | An Incomplete History of Black Protest & Direct Action | 11.12.25

Month Description: Tranformation through Direct Action

This November, we explore the long tradition of Black protest and the unfinished work of direct action. From its deep historical roots to the frameworks that guide strategic, intentional planning today, these sessions invite us to study how Black communities have organized, disrupted, and created under constraint—and how we continue to shape freedom struggles in our own time.

Event Description:

This session traces the lineage of Black protest and direct action in the United States. We will consider how Black communities have long organized, disrupted, and created under conditions of constraint, and how these practices continue to shape the present. From collective refusals to carefully planned interventions, direct action has always been a tool for asserting power and possibility.

Guiding us is Epiphany Summers, Program Coordinator with the Center for Third World Organizing at the BlackOUT Collective, where she supports and develops Black direct action practitioners across the country. Together, we will study how these traditions live on and ask what it means to carry them forward in our own time.

Facilitator Bio:

Epiphany Summers, she/her pronouns, is a Philly native and currently lives in Atlanta. She is a scholar, a Black Queer Feminist, an organizer and a music enthusiast. While in graduate school, at George Washington University, she focused her research on Hip Hop music and the interpretations of Black women listeners. Following that she started her career in community organizing with faith based organizing in Florida, which eventually lead her to Dream Defenders. At Dream Defenders Epiphany held the role of Organizing Director where she developed young people of color nationally as leaders and agents of social change for 5 years. Currently the works with the Center for Third World Organizing at BlackOUT Collective as Program Coordinator. There she develops Black direct action practitioners nationally to execute powerful and creative actions.