The Arkansas Arts Council’s GetSmart! Learning series was the forum for a three-part virtual series, “Still I Rise: Women’s History Month Celebration,” during Women’s History Month 2020. The series included an author’s talk, featuring Robin White; a session centered around women sharing messages from their mother and other women in their lives, and during the final session, women were invited to share their stories of survival through the trauma of the global COVID season. Participants represented a diverse and intergenerational cross section of women throughout and outside the state of Arkansas, all sharing unique stories of the challenges, lessons, victories and dreams that impact their lives.

 As a follow-up to the writing and sharing series, the Arkansas Arts Council held an open submission for women who had participated in the Women’s History Month Celebration and others, to write and submit their own short memoirs and personal stories for possible inclusion in the Messages from our Mothers and Other Women Anthology.

We are excited to share these stories with our audience! We hope you will enjoy reading them and share them with your own circles.