For centuries, Black enslaved communities invoked mermaids as they organized rebellions against slavery. From the 16th century, kidnapped West African ancestors brought water spirits across the Atlantic and introduced them to the New World: the simbi from the Congo, the orisha (like Oshun) from Nigeria, or the vodun (like Ayida Wedo) from the Fon. In West African lore, these water spirits were worshiped for healing and protection, and they took many forms, from snakes to fish-tailed women. Slavers also used the image of the mermaid, seeing it as a cultural patron of their slaving enterprise, a wraith that delivered the "amazing grace" of safe passage across treacherous seas. But to the enslaved Africans transported on these ships, that mermaid was a symbol of righteous rebellion and holy mutinies. This is because West Africans often saw water spirits as arbiters of justice—they preserved social harmony, and if that harmony was disturbed by human avarice, watery destruction was sure to follow. By the 19th century, after thousands of coercive journeys across the Atlantic, West Africans had absorbed European images of mermaids—from ship figureheads to a mass-produced chromolithograph of a dark-skinned female Samoan snake charmer, Maladamatjaute—and remade the Western mythic creature into the mermaid, Mami Wata, Mother of the waters. SOURCE: Time Magazine https://time.com/7313994/mermaids-culture-history/

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The foundational course designed to help you build real understanding of how race and racism actually function, beyond surface-level conversations, good intentions, or personal anecdotes. This course breaks down key concepts like systemic racism, power, racialization, and harm, while challenging common myths and misunderstandings that keep people stuck. You’ll learn how racism operates not just through individual actions, but through systems, structures, and everyday participation, and how to recognize your role within that without collapsing into defensiveness or avoidance. This course centers impact over intent, and gives you the language, frameworks, and self-awareness needed to engage responsibly in conversations about race. 👉 Doing the Work is the recommended starting point before taking more applied courses like the Allyship Toolbox. Want to learn more about Deconstructing Race, Racism and Theater? Take the course. This isn’t about perfection or being seen as “good.” It’s about building the clarity and capacity to show up differently, consistently, and with accountability.