1. Sister Souljah gained significant attention in 1992, when Bill Clinton, running as the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for President of the United States, criticized her remarks about race in the United States.
23 Facts About Sister Souljah
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The incident was the basis for the phrase "Sister Souljah moment", referring generally to a politician's calculated public repudiation of an extreme person, statement, group, or position associated with the politician's own party.
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Sister Souljah recounts in her memoir No Disrespect that she was born into poverty and raised on welfare for some years.
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Sister Souljah felt that the school systems intentionally left out the African origins of civilization.
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Sister Souljah felt that she was being taught very little of her history, since the junior high school and high school left out black history, art, and culture.
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Sister Souljah was a legislative intern in the House of Representatives.
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Sister Souljah was the recipient of several honors during her teenage years.
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Sister Souljah won the American Legion's Constitutional Oratory Contest, for which she received a scholarship to attend Cornell University's Advanced Summer Program.
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Sister Souljah's education was reinforced with first-hand experiences as she worked in a medical center in Mtepa Tepa, a village located in Zimbabwe, and assisted refugee children from Mozambique.
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Sister Souljah graduated from Rutgers University with a dual major in American History and African Studies.
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Sister Souljah became a well-known and outspoken voice on campus and wrote for the school newspaper.
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Sister Souljah was part of the Rutgers Coalition for Divestment, which successfully prompted the Rutgers University administration to divest US$3.6 million in its financial holding companies doing business in that country.
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Sister Souljah spent the next three years developing, organizing, and financing programs such as African Survival Camp, a six-week summer sleepaway camp in Enfield, North Carolina.
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Sister Souljah became the organizer of the National African Youth-Student Alliance and outspoken voice against racially motivated violence in cases such as the racist murder at Howard Beach, the racially motivated murder of Yusuf Hawkins, and more.
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Sister Souljah appeared on several tracks as a featured guest with the hip-hop group Public Enemy, and she became a full member of the group when Professor Griff was forced to leave after making anti-Semitic remarks.
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The incident resulted in the phrase "Sister Souljah moment" being coined to describe a politician's public repudiation of extremist views that are perceived to have some association with the politician's own faction or party.
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In 1994, Sister Souljah published a memoir titled No Disrespect.
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Sister Souljah's work has been referenced multiple times in popular culture, including on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black.
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Sister Souljah contributes occasional pieces for Essence Magazine, and has written for The New Yorker.
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Sister Souljah has been a motivating force behind a number of hip-hop artists' efforts to give back to the community, organizing major youth events, programs and summer camps with musicians such as Lauryn Hill, Doug E Fresh, and Sean "Diddy" Combs.
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Sister Souljah was heavily involved with rallies against racial discrimination, police brutality and the lack of proper education for urban and underrepresented youths.
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Sister Souljah went on to hold several concerts and protests in New York City, which were supported by many prominent rappers.
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Sister Souljah was the executive director of Daddy's House Social Programs Inc for seven years.