Martha Diaz
We Dare You!
Support Hip-Hop organizations that focus on women, like Martha’s Womanhood Learning Project and the Hip Hop Association.
Be inspired by documentaries about women in Hip-Hop:
- Nobody Knows My Name by Rachel Raimist
- Say My Name by Nirit Peled
- Scene Not Heard by Maori Holmes
- All the Ladies Say by B-Girl Rokafella.
Pick up a good read:
- “Conscious Women Rock the Page: Using Hip-Hop Fiction to Incite Social Change” by Marcella Runell Hall, JLove, Black Artemis and E-Fierce.
If you aren't already, involve yourself in community projects. Seek out local organizations through:
Bigger Than Hip-Hop
March 2011
Martha Diaz smiles back on the Saturdays when she’d rollerblade to the sounds of artists like Shannon, Afrika Bambaataa’s Soul Sonic Force and the Sugar Hill Gang—all part of a culture that created her identity and position in life. “Through Hip-Hop I learned how to express myself and the different ways in which I could use my body, mind and soul to resist injustice.”
When Martha was a little girl, her mother—a victim of domestic violence—had few options when she left her husband. A recent Colombian immigrant with no family and not many friends, they settled in Paterson, N.J., where her mother worked days and nights at a factory to make ends meet. “From babysitters to daycare and afterschool programs, I was taken care of by the community. I was a latchkey kid—I would visit my friends and hang out in the streets at night. They became my extended family.”
In 4th grade, Martha left the Catholic school on the other side of town to attend a public school in her neighborhood, where she met kids who were into graffiti, emceeing and break dancing. “I was invited to different house and street parties where the DJ would mix the jams. It was the early 80s; I didn’t know yet that it was called Hip-Hop culture.”
With a new appreciation for the arts and the community that raised her, an urbane Martha faced her own struggle with domestic violence as an adult. Role models in hip-hop working to empower women inspired her to turn a new leaf—she left her husband and started a journey to discover her purpose in life. “For nearly two years, I was sad, ashamed and confused. I couldn’t find work. I became homeless and stayed with my little brother for a few months.”
Having established contacts in the entertainment industry and the community, she received a phone call that changed her life. She was asked to go to South Africa for 10 days to document a music tour. “Going to South Africa was an eye-opening experience,” she affirms. “The youth there showed me that I could do so much with so little. They used music and the arts as a form of resistance, healing, and community building. That’s when I was inspired to begin my career as a community organizer and educator.”
Among other projects, Martha founded the Womanhood Learning Project to cultivate existing and emerging women leaders in Hip-Hop culture. With workshops, forums, and movie screenings, she develops dialogue around important issues. She edited “Fresh, Bold, and So Def: Women in Hip-Hop Changing the Game,” a resource book documenting the achievements of 365 international women in the industry.
Through her projects, there are two women in particular Martha wants to reach. “My biggest blessing is having two smart, beautiful and fearless daughters. I feel they are already leaders in their own unique ways. My hope is that they will find the power within themselves to become social change agents.”
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