*On this date in 1984, Black Women Stirring the Waters, a black women’s discussion group founded in the San Francisco Bay Area, was founded.
Clara Stanton Jones and Aileen Clarke Hernandez conceived the group. It has no formal structure, taboo subjects, or membership requirements other than an interest in the dialog. Black Women Stirring the Waters is a quote attributed to the 19th-century abolitionist Sojourner Truth.
The group has a large roster of members from six Bay Area counties ranging in age from mid-twenties to mid-nineties; bi-monthly meetings are held to discuss the perspectives of black women on many subjects. In 1997, forty-four group members published a collection of autobiographical memoirs discussing how they have dealt with obstacles and have grown in their lives and careers.
