Our Vision.

Resource. Research. Respond.

Black. Migration. Houston. is an on-going collaborative project among a diverse group of Houstonians interested in the rights and concerns of black LGBTQ+ migrants who we welcome to the region. With this online space, we have begun to research, write, and create tools for our communities about the challenges faced by black LGBTQIA+ migrants.

In collaboration, we uphold the following values and orientation to the work:

  • We live in a society that is anti-black, and we are committed to increasing community awareness of anti-blackness by responding to it in our work together.

  • Through this project, we challenge structures of power based in imperialist white supremacist heteropatriarchy or systems that privilege whiteness, men, and the nations led by them. We draw on the theories of women of color in our approach to collaboration and community education.

  • This collaborative project is only possible through community engagement and its diverse leadership. We empower members of the collaborative to lead and share their expertise, and we find strength in leadership from women, queer people, and others whose voices are historically marginalized because of their identities.

As our website grows, we will link to resources which LGBTQIA+ migrants and first generation folks may access to learn more about including food and housing assistance in Houston, Texas. The webpage also serves as a landing site for the BLMP-HOU survey of Black LGBTQIA+ Migrants.

Through this work, we are responding to the present globalizing moment: the worldwide Covid-19 crisis, the scarcity of resources which aid the marginalized, and the presence of racism, anti-blackness, virulent nationalisms and more.

We are driven by the following questions that are foundational to our project:

  • How can we center the needs and concerns of those who are most marginalized and most vulnerable in our communities, in part, because of their blackness, gender identity and expression, and sexual orientation?

  • What is the most effective approach to teaching about this subject? How can we translate what we know about the realities of black LGBTQIA+ migrants in and beyond the classroom?

  • How can a Digital Humanities approach to this subject help us highlight the experiences of black LGBTQIA+ migrants during immigration and resettlement?

A Transnational Feminist Project

Resource.

To serve as an online access point for migrants in need of services, resources, and tools that might assist them in navigating migration and asylum policy and legal systems.

 

Research.

To conduct scholarly research in order to learn about Black, migrant, LGBTQIA+ experiences in the U.S. and better understand the challenges and needs of these members of our community.

 
 

Respond.

To respond to concerns and issues of structural oppression by educating students, community members, and service providers about the traumas of forced migration and experiences of Black, LGBTQIA+ migrants and first generation people to the US South.