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| Photograph of Tamika D. Mallory |
Early Life
Tamika Mallory was born on September 4, 1980, in The Bronx, New York. Her parents, Stanley and Voncile Mallory, were founding members of Al Sharpton's National Action Network (NAN), a leading U.S. civil rights organization. Their work in NAN influenced Mallory and her interests in social justice and civil rights. Not too much can be said about Mallory's early life, but one important fact about Mallory is that she joined NAN at age 11 and was a staff member by age 15. She became the youngest executive director at NAN, stepping down in 2013 to work on behalf of her own activist goals.(1) Mallory is a single mother to her son, Tarique. Though her sons father, Jason Ryans was murdered in 2011. Following the murder, she worked closely with the Obama administration on gun control legislation. In 2014, she was selected to serve on the transition committee of the New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, helping to create the NYC Crisis Management System. She also served as co-chair for Gun Violence Awareness Month, an initiative through the Crisis Management System.(1)
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| Tamika Mallory at the Women's March, 2017 |
Woman's March
An esteemed social justice leader, advocate, activist, and New York City native, Mallory has remained a consistent fixture in the civil rights movement for nearly 20 years. Tamika’s focus on civil and human rights issues includes extensive work around equal rights for women, economic empowerment, gun violence, criminal justice reform and police accountability. From her position as the former Executive Director of the National Action Network to her instrumental role in creating New York City's Crisis Management System, Tamika is stitched into the fabric of the new revolution for civil rights.(2)
But, it was when she stepped onto the public stage as one of the four co-chairs for the Women's March on Washington that she became internationally recognized as an integral voice for civil right, social justice and the new wave of feminism.(2) After the November 2016 presidential election, Mallory and three others held the Women's March on January 21, 2017, as a protest against the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump. The march also advocated for women's rights, immigration reform, LGBTQIA rights, healthcare reform, environmental reform, racial justice and racial equality. An estimated 500,000 people attended the Washington D.C. march and millions more participated in sister marches across the country, making it possibly the largest single-day protest in U.S. history. All together there were about 5 million people who participated worldwide. This landed Tamika and the other co-chairs on the 2017 Time 100 Pioneers list as well as Fortune's 2017 list of the World's Greatest Leaders.(2)
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| (left to right) Carmen Perez, Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory, and Linda Sarsour at the 2017 Time 100 Gala |
Works Cited:
(1): Iowa State University Archives of Women's Political Communication
- https://awpc.cattcenter.iastate.edu/directory/tamika-mallory
(2): Tamika D. Mallory Bio
- http://tamikadmallory.com/bio/
Before reading this posting I had never heard of Tamika Mallory and I’m genuinely mad that I haven’t. For someone who has actively been apart of social justice and civi rights activism for a majority of her life (all of my life) i don’t understand why we aren’t talking about her more. I also love that she was protesting the inauguration of our “President,” that takes balls and she has all of them. I want to learn so much more about her.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed that I haven't heard about her before this post! Her work against gun violence and her role in the Women's march are both examples of how inspirational of a person she is and will continue to be in these movements.
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