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Change Goin’ Come
Read more: Change Goin’ ComeThe call for change resonates widely, yet individual desires often clash with collective needs. The ongoing revelation of systemic exploitation highlights entrenched corruption and racial…
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Natural Consequences
Read more: Natural ConsequencesBreathe Before You Build: A Labor Pains Project Update I didn’t post a MetaCocoMom blog yesterday. Instead of sitting behind a screen, I made a…
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Ladies and Loopholes
Archive & History, black women, capitalism, Economics & Admin, economy, labor, political, Voices & StoriesRead more: Ladies and LoopholesThe Ladies Auxiliary significantly impacted Black American labor, particularly through the role of Pullman Porters and Maids. Despite facing systemic racial barriers, Black women organized…
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The Underground Uncovered
Read more: The Underground Uncovered“Vigilance” Tickets Are Live! Let’s talk about the “tea” they didn’t pour in your standard history books. When we talk about the Underground Railroad, the…
Collective Initiatives
The Labor Pains Project
This foundational oral history and archival initiative documents the paid and unpaid labor of Black American women to reveal the hidden “care economy” that subsidizes the nation.
By collecting somatic body maps and personal narratives, the project preserves the intellectual and physical history of labor as a radical act of community preservation.
It serves as the primary research engine for the Collective’s broader social justice mission.
Myth & Marrow: An American Drama
A participatory courtroom drama that transforms archival research into an immersive theatrical experience exploring the intersection of American capitalism and Black womanhood.
The performance challenges audiences to act as a jury, weighing the deficit of care provided to Black women against the immense economic value their labor has generated since the era of chattel slavery.
It is a creative reclamation of the legal and social narratives surrounding Black labor.
Map & Meet
Healing happens in community.
Map & Meet invites community members to gather, share a light meal, and share their vision for embodying a liberated future.
Through guided storytelling and somatic body-mapping, individuals chart their path to healing.
Myth & Marrow Body Map Exhibit
Trauma is carried in the body.
Body-mapping examines how we physically experience life.
Using critical fabrication and narratives gathered from the Labor Pains Archive, this exhibit makes the trauma of American capitalism visible.
Tracing Scars & Mapping Healing in cities to design geographies of belonging.
Tracing Scars & Mapping Healing is a multi-city research endeavor that investigates the communal emotional and physical impact of deindustrialization in mid-size American cities.
Using somatic body mapping and storytelling, the project explores how the decline of industry leaves lasting “scars” on both the geography of a city and the bodies of its residents.
It aims to bridge the gap between urban history and public health to foster community-led healing.
MetaCocoMom & A.F.R.O.xpress
The media and cultural incubator arm of the collective, MetaCocoMom explores the intersections of metacognition, Black feminism, and motherhood in the 21st century.
Through the AFROxpress newsletter and sharp sociopolitical commentary, this initiative provides the “intellectual tea” on how we think about our labor, our legacy, and our lives.
It serves as the digital hearth for the Collective, fostering dialogue among Black mothers and thinkers.
