Dr. Crystal A. deGregory
Keynotes that Sparked
The program featured an “electric” keynote, as attendees described it, by Dr. Ruha Benjamin on Sept. 3. On Sept. 4, a keynote panel and working sessions refined the bibliographies anchoring the work.
In an address that felt like both testimony and toolkit, Holly A. Smith, College Archivist at Spelman College, argued that radical empathy was action, not sentiment—a feminist ethics of care made concrete in policy, partnerships, and description practices that fundamentally shifted institutional behaviors toward equitable, just outcomes.
Borrowed from Smith’s talk, “Stack Sisters” is a nod to the stacks themselves and to the overwhelming number of women—across ethnicities—whose labor powered libraries. Their deep and abiding love was more than “shushing” patrons. Resourcing research was often intertwined with job hunts, housing or student-services referrals, tech troubleshooting, and everyday problem-solving.
Memory Workers, Not Neutral Custodians
Even so, Smith’s vantage point at Spelman was distinctive. The Spelman College Archives were embedded in the Women’s Research & Resource Center (WRRC), founded in 1981 by Black feminist scholar Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall, rather than a traditional academic library.
