Black Girls Bill of Rights
At the historic Black Girl Movement Conference in 2016, Black girls from across the US gathered to imagine a world that values them and where all girls and women of color could contribute ideas to create a world that they would want to live in. This is their founding document.
Based on the United States Bill of Rights, we’ve created the Black Girls Declaration of Freedom and Humanity. It declares the rights and privileges that Black girls and women deserve in order to thrive in our contemporary society. Created in partnership with Black girls across the country, we will present our bill to the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls to advance issues and legislation important to the welfare of women and girls of African descent.
We, Black girls, women, and gender-expansive youth deserve the right to exist with love, care, and a commitment to our needs. We stand united in our desire to be affirmed and celebrated in our Blackness in our communities and on every institutional and systemic level.
Every Black girl deserves:
- The right to education and information about African and Black history
- The right to express our blackness however we defines it without judgment
- The right to be safe and have our physical, emotional, and mental health honored, protected, and nurtured
- The right to real sex education, contraception, tampons, and pads
- The right to agency and control over our own bodies in every space
- The right to justice and reparations
- in response to harm and sexual assault
- when police officers murder people of color
- The right to play and have fun
- The right to community, sisterhood, and support from other girls
- The right to BE—exactly who we are, free from stereotypes and insecurity, our full unique selves