ancestors upon whose shoulders we stand
In African, Asian and Indigenous traditions, Elders and Ancestors are acknowledged and honored for the ways in which they show us how to be Joyful, Resilient, and Fierce Freedom Fighters in the face of racial oppression. Baltimore has been home to such people, and BRJA is honored to dedicate this page to Those Upon Whose Shoulders We Stand. . .
Rest in Peace and Power
Since July 2020, BRJA has lost three Elders who played key roles in our founding and growth. We remember and honor Dianne Lyday, Avis Ransom and Betty Robinson as the first of our members to pass to the other side on this newly-created page of our website.
Dianne Dietrich Lyday
(March 3, 1951 - December 26, 2020)
It is with deep sorrow that we share news that Dianne Dietrich Lyday, a founding member of BRJA, has made her transition (Covid-related).
Dianne was a long-time member of the Agents of Change Collaborative before becoming a founding member of Baltimore Racial Justice Action (BRJA) when the organization was founded in 2003. An essential part of BRJA, Dianne shared her talents as a Facilitator/Trainer, and as Administrator for the group.
She worked at the Social Security Administration for 34 years, the final 20 as a computer programmer and IT supervisor.
Dianne was also an accomplished poet and writer, author of the book “For the Good of the Children: Racism, Red Tape and the Myth of Family Reunification" and a Baltimore City Historical Society prize winner for penning new lyrics to the state song "Maryland, My Maryland". (These lyrics did not replace the lyrics of the state song but provided alternative, more inclusive and justice-focused lyrics instead of the original pro-secessionist lyrics.)
Those knowing Dianne for many, many years have seen her grow into the person she was aspiring to be, transforming through her deepened understanding of the ways in which white supremacy and racism work in American society, and bringing a level of honesty and self-reflection to discussions that white people rarely have the courage to bring. Dianne knew that being a "white ally" was not an identity, but a sustained and honest practice, and she was faithful and unsparing in that practice. Those who knew her for many years or just a few months knew that about her, and we all loved her for it.
That practice made Dianne an excellent mentor to white people entering this work. Her honesty and level of insight about her own journey often provided hope and comfort to those making their own. She was loved for that, too.
Her acerbic wit and humor, as well as her ability to use her successes and growth-areas as "texts" during facilitations and trainings, made her an excellent and effective facilitator.
The commitment and honesty and humor and solidness and skills that she brought to BRJA as staff and Advisory Board member were varied and irreplaceable.
Dianne was not only a valued member, friend, and family within the BRJA community, but she was a daughter, a sister, a mother to Jason and Bryan, and a grandmother and great-grandmother. We stand with them in grief, and with gratitude and appreciation of their sharing Dianne with us for all these years.
Our hearts are broken today -- again -- as Dianne is the third founding member that we have lost in less than six-months time.
Our. Hearts. Are. Broken.
But our commitment to Racial Justice is not.
That remains strong, one of the many ways in which we will continue to honor Dianne and all those upon whose shoulders we stand.
Rest In Peace and Power, Dianne.
Your journey in this life is over. But we will continue to carry on with the gifts with which you have left us.
Avis L. Ransom | Betty G. Robinson |
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Avis grew up in racially-segregated rural Virginia and attended all-Black schools. She graduated from high school second in her class and moved to Baltimore, where she obtained a B.S. degree in chemistry from Morgan State University (1974) and an MBA from Loyola University Maryland (1983). After a fifteen-year career as an engineer working for Department of Defense contractors including Westinghouse and Bendix, she started and ran her own consulting firm, R&B Unlimited Inc., for 15 years, providing business planning, development, and technology transfer services. In the 1980's, Avis was very active with Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD) which was instrumental in getting Baltimore City to pass a living wage bill. In the 1990s, she received training from Paso Training & Consulting, a forerunner of BRJA, and developed skills to lead anti-racism transformation processes for individuals and organizations. She shared with the facilitator how the experience in the workshop changed her entire way of thinking about racism, and both the pain and liberation she felt in that transformation. She became a founder, senior consultant and advisory board member of Baltimore Racial justice Action. Avis was a 2002 Community Fellow at the Open Society Institute (OSI) Baltimore. Her program, Income and Equality for All, sought to engage low-wage and unemployed citizens in the process of creating and implementing innovative workforce solutions including worker cooperatives to increase their economic stability. She served on the Baltimore Sustainability Commission and on the boards- of Baltimore Algebra Project, Job Opportunities Task Force, and the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board. Her dedication to her family was as fierce as her dedication to communities of color. Sources: |
Betty was born in New York City. She enrolled in Skidmore College in 1956 and became involved with the National Student Association (NSA) and the National Student Congress. In 1960 she became the assistant vice-president of the NSA, organizing the National Student Congress for the following summer where she first met members from the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). In the fall of 1961 she attended graduate school to study Political Science in Berkeley, California. In November of 1963 she attended the Howard Conference in Washington, DC and was recruited to join the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), leaving graduate school for a position with the organization. Robinson then went to Mississippi for Freedom Summer in 1964 and became the Northern Coordinator in the Greenwood, Mississippi Office. 
Betty sitting directly in front of Andrew Goodman who was brutally murdered along with James Chaney and Michael Schwerner by white men in Philadelphia, Mississippi during Freedom Summer. In 1965, she moved to Washington, DC was involved in the Free DC Movement and the Bus Boycotts, and later the anti-war movement and women's movement of the 1970's. She moved to Baltimore in 1972 to work in a factory. She was the Lead Organizer for Citizens Planning and Housing Association (CPHA) from 1997-2003, supervising organizers in inner city neighborhoods. In 2003 she was awarded an Open Society Institute Community Fellowship to connect Baltimore organizers and to popularize the history of organizing in Baltimore. As part of this work she developed a curriculum on social justice organizing history which included analysis of different organizing models. She served on the Baltimore Civilian Review Board, sang with the Charm City Labor Chorus, and mentored generations of younger activists. In 2003 Betty became a founding member of BRJA, and served as an Advisory Board member for over a decade. In 2010 she saw the publication of Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts of Women in SNCC of which she was a co-editor. In 2012 she was instrumental in founding a Baltimore chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) and was an active member until her passing Betty's love of her family shined through like a light and served as a profound motivator for her tireless work for justice. Sources:
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