In March 1972 Gary, Indiana hosted the very first National Black Political Convention. Attendees included Black Panther co-founder Bobby Seale and US Presidential Candidate Shirley Chisholm. Artists and athletes like Muhammad Ali and Harry Belafonte also attended.  The convention produced a foundational document titled The Black Agenda.

Here at Gary we are faithful to the best hopes of our fathers and our people if we move for nothing less than a politics which places community before individualism, love before sexual exploitation, a living environment before profits, peace before war, justice before unjust “order”, and morality before expediency (The Black Agenda)

The Takeaway Melissa Harris-Perry and co-host Dorian Warren take a Deep Dive into the political gathering that changed Black politics, asking how it affected the women leading locally today. Melissa and Dorian talk about Gary with former Gary, Indiana mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson about the anniversary, her current work as the President and CEO of the Chicago Urban League, and the importance of Women Leading Locally.

The Takeaway presents Deep Dive

(Courtesy of WNYC Studios The Takeaway)

Throughout March for Women’s History Month, The Takeaway is joining forces with the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University to bring you the stories of Women Leading Locally. Professor Wendy Smooth is Associate Professor and Associate Dean at Ohio State University. Her scholarly work includes Perceptions of Power and Influence: The Impact of Race and Gender in American State Legislatures, which examines the impact of race and gender on the distribution of power and influence in U.S. state legislatures. She joined to discuss the importance of women in leadership positions on the local level and her advocacy work to insure more women are elected to office.