1936-09: (Othermothering: This “Othermothering” Being Not a Biological or Nationalist Celebration of Mothering That LFAS Women Both Adopted and Rejected at D…

1936-09: (Othermothering: This “Othermothering” Being Not a Biological or Nationalist Celebration of Mothering That LFAS Women Both Adopted and Rejected at Different Moments in the Organization’s History, a Sacred and Simultaneous Tending to the Past and the Present, the Public Letter Being an Offering That Archived Perez’s Experience and the Revolutionary History That Invoked It, the Letter Like a Vèvè Also Calling Forth an Ancestral Impulse That Perez Hoped Would Fasten to the Hearts of the Born and Unborn): This othermothering was not a biological or nationalist celebration of mothering that LFAS women both adopted and rejected at different moments in the organization’s history. It was a sacred and simultaneous tending to the past and the present. The public letter was an offering that archived Perez’s experience and the revolutionary history that invoked it. The letter, like a vèvè, also called forth an ancestral impulse that Perez hoped would fasten to the hearts of the born and unborn. The comparison to the sacred Vodou symbol was deliberate: the letter was ritual inscription, a calling-down of forces larger than any individual will.