About the event
Black women have been the backbone of the Black church. Yet, the Black church has played a pivotal role in promoting oppressive theological teachings that stigmatize reproductive and sexual freedom and bodily autonomy. Dr. Toni M. Bond will discuss the findings from her research about the reproductive and sexual experiences of Black Christian women and how oppressive theological teachings have impacted their lives.
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About the Speaker:
Dr. Toni M. Bond has been a social justice activist for over 30 years. She has worked specifically to elevate the voices of Black women around issues of reproductive and sexual health, rights, and justice. In 1994, Dr. Bond was one of the twelve Black women who gave birth to the concept of “Reproductive Justice,” creating a paradigm shift in how women of color would add their collective voices to the fight for reproductive autonomy and freedom. In 1996, she co-founded and led the first Black women’s reproductive and sexual justice organization in the country, Black Women for Reproductive Justice, which was based in Chicago, Illinois.
A scholar/activist, Dr. Bond is adjunct faculty at Claremont School of Theology (CST) where she teaches graduate students about Christian and classical ethics. She has served on the boards of several national organizations, including as one of the founding board directors of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. Dr. Bond is currently on the board of Collective Power for Reproductive Justice and is a co-founder and the board chair of Interfaith Voices for Reproductive Justice (IVRJ), a national reproductive and sexual justice organization that works with religious scholars, religious leaders, and grassroots activists to create a culture shift around issues of religion and reproductive and sexual justice in the religious academy and other religious institutions.
Dr. Bond is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the Dr. Sharon Watson Fluker Doctoral Fellowship from the Forum for Theological Exploration and the 2019 Auburn Seminary Coolidge Scholars Fellowship. Her dissertation, “Faithful Voices: Creating a Womanist Theo-Ethic of Reproductive Justice,” collected the oral reproductive and sexual narratives of Black Christian women. Dr. Bond received her B.A. from DePaul University, M.A. in Theology/Ethics from CST, and Ph.D. in Religion, Ethics, and Society from CST.
This event is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Women and Society, the Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean (IRADAC), Women's Studies Quarterly, The Center for the Humanities, the CUNY Graduate Center MA Program in Liberal Studies, the PublicsLab, and The Feminist Press.
