Lecturers discuss black women's roles 

Black women were encouraged to learn from the past and set positive examples for future generations Monday as part of "Women and Womanism in Black Studies: Academic and Social Dimensions."

"Black women are the heirs and custodians of a great legacy," said panelist Chimbuko Tembo to an audience of more than 100  gathered in the faculty staff conference room in Library East.

As part of a series for Black History Month Two, panelists Erylene Piper-Mandy, Tembo and Assumpta Ocam-Oturu lectured from personal, cultural and historical perspectives aiming to define and understand, social and cultural expectations placed on black women. 

"My mother taught me a saying, ëDo the do ëtil the doings done,'" said Piper-Mandy, a Cal State Long Beach lecturer in black studies. "To me that means ëBelieve in challenges -- not obstacles.'" 

Piper-Mandy also explained the importance of examining achievements by black women in the past. 

"The truth is hidden by definitions under layers," she said. "We have to dig for the truth to reconstruct and reclaim our heritage." 

This idea of learning from the past was reinforced by Tembo, a lecturer at the Kawaida Institute of Pan-African Studies and chairwoman of the Senut Sisterhood Society. 

Tembo also gave a definition of what it means to be a black woman in today's society. 

"African-American womanism is the struggle for liberation, adjusting and relating," Tembo said.

Last to speak was KPFK radio host Assumpta Ocam-Oturu, a Ugandan national and delegate to the International Conference  on Women.   

"In Africa, it is hard to define women's roles," Ocam-Oturu said.