Aminah Pilgrim Photo

Aminah Pilgrim (or Aminah Fernandes Pilgrim) is a mother, an artist, author, community organizer and award-winning educator. She is a faculty member at UMass Boston who teaches in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies, the Critical Ethnic & Community Studies MS Program, and Africana Studies. In addition, she is an affiliate of Africana Studies at Berklee College of Music, the Pedro Pires Institute for Cape Verdean Studies at Bridgewater State University and the Clemente Program at Stonehill College. Her areas of study and teaching include late 19th and 20th century African-American history, African-American women’s history, African Diaspora studies, Cabo Verdean studies, critical education research, and hip hop studies. She has contributed to public history initiatives such as the Providence Black Studies Freedom School and the City of Brockton Community Black History Course. Her community organizing and advocacy focuses on children, youth/gang violence, the school to prison pipeline, immigrant transitions and women’s empowerment. She is an advocate of teaching using civic engagement and has empowered many colleagues and students to make a difference in this field. She is the founder of the HIPHOP Initiative (est. 2004). She is the co-founder of SABURA Youth Program (Student Ambassadors Bonded Under Recreation & Achievement, est. 2013), the co-founder of PODEROZA: International Conference on Cabo Verdean Women (est. 2016), and she serves as a volunteer for other Boston area organizations. Since 2005, she has led critical conversations and facilitated trainings in the field of Diversity Education in both public and private schools and colleges. In 2019, she helped lead a learning journey to Cabo Verde for Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and a delegation of 40, traveling as part of a historic Trade Mission to the country. Most recently she co-wrote a decolonized US History curriculum for Massachusetts DYS with colleagues from the Maurício Gastón Institute, and has worked with both Boston Public Schools and Brockton Public Schools on projects related to ethnic studies, Dual Language and Diversity initiatives. She is a frequently solicited speaker, trusted advisor and well-known leader in the region.