The Boston Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were very proud to be able to return to the History Maker awards this year, as always presented by Boston’s History project. It was an evening filled with camaraderie, respect and of course, history. Sister Brother Freddie Anne Willing and Novice Sister Cheri Tonin happily paraded around the Lavender Rhino we received last year, answering questions and learning a bit more about the storied award.
When the time came we were thrilled to hand it off to this year’s recipient, Print Ain’t Dead. Named after one of the early symbols of the Gay Liberation movement, the Lavender Rhino Award is presented to an activist or organization whose current efforts are making history for the LGBTQ+ community. The History Project is proud to recognize Print Ain’t Dead for their practice producing exhibitions, publications and public spaces that highlight Black, Brown and Indigenous artists and organizers, with an emphasis on queer and trans perspectives. Print Ain’t Dead is a bookstore, reading room and micropress.
The 2024 HistoryMaker award went to The Combahee River Collective. Active in Boston from December 1975 through June 1981, the CRC was one of the first groups to document the connection between racial injustice and other social inequities. Formed as a radical alternative to the National Black Feminist Organization and named after Harriet Tubman’s 1853 raid on the Combahee River that freed over 750 enslaved people, the CRC addressed the realities of Black women who felt excluded from other feminist movements. Although many founding members identified as Black lesbians, all were unified in a Black radical feminist movement inclusive of any Black feminist woman from the global Black diaspora. In 1977, the CRC released the Combahee River Collective Statement, authored by Demita Frazier, Barbara Smith, and Beverly Smith. This foundational document is essential — and still highly relevant — to contemporary Black feminism; pioneering the concept of interlocking oppressions of race, gender, class, and sexuality that intersect to create something more devastating than the sum of its parts.
We wish everyone continued success as we all do the work of making our history something we can be proud of.
