| Sister Souljah | |
|---|---|
| Born | Lisa Williamson 1964 (age 47–48) Bronx, New York |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Cornell University, Advanced Studies Program Rutgers University, B.A. American History and African Studies University of Salamanca, Study Abroad Program |
| Alma mater | Rutgers University |
| Occupation | Author Activist Recording artist Film producer |
| Known for | Sister Souljah moment No Disrespect The Coldest Winter Ever Midnight: A Gangster Love Story |
| Spouse | Mike Rich |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | |
| sistersouljah.com | |
Sister Souljah (born 1964) is an American hip hop-generation author, activist, recording artist, and film producer. She gained prominence for Bill Clinton's criticism of her remarks about race in the United States during the 1992 presidential campaign. Clinton's well-known repudiation of her comments led to what is now known in politics as a Sister Souljah moment.
Souljah was the executive director of Daddy's House Social Programs Inc., a non-profit corporation for urban youth, financed by Sean Combs and Bad Boy Entertainment.
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Souljah was born Lisa Williamson in the Bronx, New York. She recounts in her autobiography that she was born into poverty and raised on welfare for some years. At age 10 she moved with her family to the suburbs of Englewood, New Jersey, a suburb with a strong African-American presence, a slight change from the big city feel of the Bronx.[1] Englewood is also home to other famous Black artists such as George Benson, Eddie Murphy, and Regina Belle.[2] There she attended Dwight Morrow High School.[3]
Souljah disliked what American students were being taught in school systems across the country. She felt that the school systems purposely left out the African origins of civilization. Also, she criticized the absence of a comprehensive curriculum of African American history, which she felt that all students, black and white, needed to learn and understand in order to be properly educated. She felt that she was being taught very little of her history, since the junior high school and high school left out Black history, art, and culture. The Englewood school district, however, took an active role recruiting Black educators and administrators, which has lasted to the present day.
Souljah took a very active and special interest in learning everything she could about African history, which she felt was left out of the education curriculum in the United States purposely: "I supplemented my education in the White American school system by reading African history, which was intentionally left out of the curriculum of American students."[4] While at Dwight Morrow High School, a school that had a relatively even distribution of Black-, Latino-, and Jewish-student enrollment and a majority Black administration during the time of her studies, from 1978 to 1981. She was a legislative intern in the House of Representatives.[2] Souljah was also the recipient of several honors during her teenage years. She won the American Legion's Constitutional Oratory Contest, a scholarship to attend Cornell University's Advanced Summer Program.[2]
Throughout college she traveled, visiting Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Finland, and Russia. Her academic accomplishments were reinforced with first-hand experiences as she worked in a medical center in Mtepa Tepa, a village located in Zimbabwe, and assisted refugee children from Mozambique. She also traveled to South Africa and Zambia. She graduated from Rutgers University with a dual major in American History and African Studies. She became a well-known and outspoken voice on campus and active writer for the school newspaper. One of her noted campus initiatives was spearheading a campaign to bring Jesse Jackson to Rutgers to speak against the university's controversial investments in South Africa at the time, when divestiture from apartheid-era South Africa was a heated political issue. Sister Souljah was part of the Rutgers Coalition for Divestment, which successfully organized the Rutgers University administration to divest US$3.6 million in its financial holding companies doing business in racist, pre-Nelson Mandela South Africa. Sister Souljah and students across the state of New Jersey also organized a successful campaign to get the state of New Jersey to divest more than US$1 billion of its financial holdings in apartheid South Africa.
In 1985, during her senior year at Rutgers University, she was offered a job by Reverend Benjamin Chavis of the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice. She spent the next three years developing, organizing, and financing programs such as African Survival Camp, a 6-week summer sleep-away camp in Enfield, North Carolina. She also became the organizer of the National African Youth-Student Alliance and outspoken voice against racially motivated violence in cases such as Howard Beach, Yusuf Hawkins, and more.[5]
Sister Souljah became a controversial figure during the 1990s as a frequent guest on American television and radio talk shows. Her comments drew attention and criticism due to their inflammatory nature concerning race relations. Her position of influence among Black Americans as a hiphop artist polarized groups and individuals both black and white and led to public controversy.
Sister Souljah is married to Mike Rich.[6] They have one child[7] named Michael Jr.[6]
She appeared on several tracks as a featured guest with the hip-hop group Public Enemy, and she became a full member of the group when Professor Griff left the group after making anti-Semitic remarks. In 1992, she released her only album, 360 Degrees of Power. Both of her videos, "The Final Solution: Slavery's Back in Effect" and "The Hate that Hate Produced," were banned by MTV because of their inflammatory imagery. Her album sold only 27,000 copies, and so her label, Epic/SME Records, dropped her. It is believed that the album sold poorly because of public backlash from her comments in response to the beating of Rodney King, but it also received mixed reviews in the music press.
Souljah became infamous for her statements about the 1992 Los Angeles riots. In an interview conducted May 13, 1992, she was misquoted in the Washington Post as saying:
| “ | If Black people kill Black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people? | ” |
The quotation was later reproduced in the media, and she was widely criticized. Presidential candidate Bill Clinton publicly criticized that statement—and Jesse Jackson for allowing her to be on his Rainbow Coalition—thus the Sister Souljah moment was created.
The above, however, did not publish the question that the Post interviewer asked her, which was
| “ | But even the people themselves who were perpetrating that violence, did they think it was wise? Was that wise, reasoned action? | ” |
In 1995 Sister Souljah published a volume of autobiography titled No Disrespect. (Times/Crown/Random House. ISBN 0-812-92483-5.). In 1999, she made her debut as a novelist with The Coldest Winter Ever. (Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-02578-3.). The latter was praised by The New Yorker.[8] An indirect sequel of the novel, titled Midnight: A Gangster Love Story. (Atria/Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-4518-7.), originally scheduled for October 14, 2008, was published November 4, 2008,[9] and entered The New York Times bestseller list at #7 its first week out and remained there as of February 2009.[10] Another sequel, Midnight and the Meaning of Love., was released on April 12, 2011,[11] and another novel, Porsche Santiaga, is due in 2012.
She also does occasional pieces for Essence Magazine and has written for The New Yorker.[12]
As a community activist, Souljah has organized a number of service programs. In 1985, during her senior year at Rutgers University, she developed and financed the African Youth Survival Camp for children of homeless families, a 6-week summer sleep-away camp in Enfield, North Carolina. She has been a motivating force behind a number of hip-hop artists' efforts to give back to the community, organizing major youth events, programs, and summer camps with artists such as Lauryn Hill, Doug E. Fresh, and Sean "Diddy" Combs.
Souljah was the executive director of Daddy's House Social Programs Inc., a not-for-profit corporation for urban youth, financed by Sean Combs and Bad Boy Entertainment. Daddy's House educates and prepares youth, aged 10–16, to be in control of their academic, cultural, and financial lives. The students progressing through the program earn support to travel throughout the world.[13]
| Album information |
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360 Degrees of Power
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