Women of Color in Miami/ Broward
JORKOR BOOK CLUB

Jorkor is a Wolof word meaning "coming together"- this accurately describes our group.
We are a Book Club made of women of color currently living in Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
We meet the last Sunday of every month to discuss a book or movie selected by the group.
This September 2008 we are celebrating our fourth anniversary!

FOCUS OF JORKOR

When we pick our book/ movie, we look for stories of political or social relevance to women of color. We DO NOT do romance novels or tales of drama. The book can be about individuals of any race, country or gender, and either fiction or non- fiction. However our priority, again, is to ensure it is relevant to our lives as women of color. Using this as our criteria, we have selected a wide range of books and movies over the past two years to discuss when we gather together.

We alternate between books and movies to ensure that everyone will be able to attend our meetings.
Like most women, we have so many responsibilities that take almost every minute of our days- work, school, children, husbands, etc. So by selecting a movie every other month we can spread out the reading and watch movies that are not typically- or no longer- run in mainstream theaters.

JORKOR'S HERSTORY

While employed at a Florida International University research project, five women would often sit and talk about current issues taking place in popular culture, the local community and globally. So we formed a book club to meet and discuss these issues in our own spaces. Other friends, cousins and colleagues were invited and our initial meeting was very successful. We began getting calls for other women that had heard about the group and wanted to come to our next meeting.

Today 15- 20 women regularly attend our Jorkor meetings .
We are a diverse group of women in our early 30s to early 40s.
Although some are from the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area, other members have moved here from Chicago, Atlanta and New York.
And a larger number of us have- and continue to- call Jamaica, Argentina, Canada, Cuba, Trinidad, Gambia, Colombia, or Haiti
home. Among us are lawyers, event planners, graduate students,
professors, counselors, epidemiologists, stay- at- home moms
and teachers. From these varied backgrounds we come
together to make up the Jorkor Book Club.

But what is most amazing is that while the book being read brings
us together, it is not the heart of the group. Over the past two years
we have formed friendships individually and as a group through our regular gatherings. To date we have held baby showers, celebrated birthdays, thrown Christmas get togethers and hosted moving away parties for one another. We are
also supports for each other in other areas of our lives thorugh networking and career connections.

Similarly, our meetings are festive events held at members' homes. Everyone brings something to share-appetizers, side dishes, bottles of wine, desserts- nothing is ever left over! Although our monthly meetings begin at 4:00pm it is normal for the last guest to leave well past midnight. We are just talking, sharing and coming together as women of color- this is the heart of Jorkor!