The Coltrane Family
Last Friday we put the call out to women on the island of Martha’s Vineyard to join us for a walk on Monday morning. We couldn’t have imagined that more than 80 women would come, representing every part of the diaspora from Haiti to Botswana. We stood, titans of industry, artists and creators, activists and alchemists, mothers and daughters, on the shores of historic Inkwell Beach in a sacred circle, and we called the names of the women in our families.
I am the #daughterof.
It was the perfect ceremony to usher in the big announcement that would land in your inboxes later that afternoon.
Thank you for the outpouring of love that has come from this community since then.
Tomorrow we will carry that love and your prayers into the 1,000 Blackest neighborhoods and beyond for our 3rd Saturday Welcome Walk series happening across the country.
Every woman is asked to participate by taking a solo walk, or inviting a woman to walk with you, or representing in your superhero blue as an act of solidarity. #GirlTREK.
This is what Audre Lorde meant when she said, “Revolution is not a one time event.”
Revolution is both the big, bold news that GirlTREK has reclaimed the historic site where Dr. King had his office in Montgomery and organized the most pivotal event of the Civil Rights Movement.
And it’s the work of the women who—unseen by most—will wake up in the early morning hours of Saturday, without fanfare or celebration, to leave the comforts of their warm beds and the demands of their families and homes to give back in service of this movement by taking a walk in their neighborhood to serve as beacons of hope and comrades to other sisters who are in the trenches and in the fight for their lives.
This is what we do.
This is who we are.
And our work is not in vain.
We are restoring desert lands, renewing faith, and telling stories that reignite our fight for joy and justice.
One of those stories is the story of the greatest jazz musician to ever live, John Coltrane, and that of his wife, the force of nature and genius, Alice Coltrane.
The telling of their stories on Black History Bootcamp inspired the Coltrane family and the John and Alice Coltrane Home to reach out with an appeal. The historical home where John recorded “A Love Supreme” and Alice recorded her legendary albums in the basement is being reclaimed and turned into a safe haven for the next generation of artists who will use their work to heal like John and Alice did.
Their daughter Michelle Coltrane is at the forefront of this work, and next Friday at 7pm ET/4pm PT, on the occasion of Alice’s birthday weekend, she will join us for a powerful #daughtersof Walk and Talk where she will reflect on the legacy of her family and tell us all what we can do to be a part of preserving this important history. So mark your calendars now.
It’s an honor that continues to affirm for us that our community is divinely orchestrated.
Every person who is reading this is part of a powerful, generational solution and we invite you to join us and Michelle Coltrane for this Walk and Talk.
This is the first of many Walk and Talks and conversations to come, featuring the #daughtersof women who were the architects of our modern world and the gatekeepers and makers of our culture.
