Duke OTD Celebrates Black History Month

By Barbara Hooper, OT, PhD, Duke OTD Division Chair

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For occupational therapy, Black History Month is an excellent time to celebrate the profession’s Black elders and their transformative wisdom. I use the term elder instead of leader because it implies a particular place of honor. Elders tell stories from their lived histories that illuminate areas of professional growth. Elders are mentors who tell us what we need to know when we need to understand it; their stories call the profession deeper into its potential. Using this definition of “elder” from Clarissa Pinkola Estes, I would like to feature a few of occupational therapy’s Black elders whose stories continue to call the profession forward. Black History Month is a time to humbly remember, listen to, and receive these elders’ stories as told through their leadership, education, and scholarship and to celebrate how these stories echo the messages of today’s Black leaders. 

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