Biography
Early Life
Alicia Garza is best known for being one of the co-founders of Black Lives Matter (BLM).
Garza was born in Oakland, California, on January 4, 1981. She was raised by her mother and her Jewish stepfather. She grew up as Alicia Schwartz in a mixed-raced, mixed-religion household. She identifies as Jewish.
When she was 12 years old, Schwartz engaged in activism by promoting school sex education about birth control.
At the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), she continued her activism by working at the student health center. She also joined the student association and helped fight for higher pay for the university’s janitors.
In her final year of college, she helped organize the first Women of Color Conference, a university-wide convocation held at UCSD in 2002.
She graduated in 2002 with a degree in anthropology and sociology. In 2003, she met Malachi Garza and the couple married in 2008.
Before Co-Founding Black Lives Matter in 2013, Garza had already been working as an organizer. She was directing an organization focused on winning employment rights in the bay area.
The organization secured free public transportation for San Francisco’s youth. It also fought gentrification and called attention to police brutality.
Black Lives Matter
Garza’s spiritual influence is evident in The Black Lives Movement.
Hebah H. Farrag for The Salt Lake Tribune, noted after five years of interviewing BLM leaders, “the organization is not only seeking radical political reform but is also a spiritual movement seeking to heal and empower while inspiring other religious allies seeking inclusivity. There is no doubt this is a by-product of co-founder Alicia Garza’s spiritual foundation.”
Garza went on to start Black Lives Matter with Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi.
Community Leadership
Garza joined a campaign that researched the relationship between increasing economic security for People of Color and increased community security.
She said in an interview with Vanity Fair, “Building economic opportunities in local communities is a better alternative to dealing with crime and violence, than increasing police budgets.”
She also joined the National Domestic Workers Alliance. After joining, she created a program focused on Black domestic workers.
Today, she is the special-projects director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance in Oakland.
Advocacy Through Media
On April 10, 2020, Garza debuted her podcast titled Lady Don’t Take No. The podcast is a tribute to the Bay Area and discusses “political commentary with a side of beauty recommendations.”
Garza’s first book, The Purpose of Power: How We Come Together When We Fall Apart, was published in October 2020. Described as “an essential guide,” the book tells Garza’s story as an activist and shares lessons for future activists.
She writes, “My experience with BLM toughened my skin and softened my heart. it taught me how to recommit to work that broke my heart every day.”
