Ask almost any Black family that has summered on Martha’s Vineyard, and you’ll hear the same thing: the island carries a special weight. For generations of Black travelers, it has been a refuge where joy, history, and legacy live side by side. Oak Bluffs’ gingerbread cottages, Inkwell Beach’s long-standing role as a gathering place, and the community of Black professionals, artists, and families who made the island their summer retreat all tell a story of belonging in a world that often denied it.

This August, that story gained another chapter. The “75 Million” campaign — a national initiative led by 17 organizations working to secure lasting economic power for women, particularly Black women and women of color — chose Martha’s Vineyard as the setting for a major convening. On August 17, the campaign hosted a luncheon bringing together top women leaders, policymakers, and advocates nationwide.

The choice of venue was a deliberate nod to the island’s place in Black cultural history and a reminder that rest and resistance often meet in the same space.

A Setting Steeped In Meaning

Fatima Goss Graves, President/CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, emphasized the importance of the event and its setting. She described the luncheon as powerful precisely because it brought Black women together to focus on policies that will move communities forward — fair pay, stronger legal protections, and accountability in workplaces. “Martha’s Vineyard was the right setting,” she explained to Travel Noire, “because it has long been a place where Black communities come together to reflect, recharge, and chart the path ahead.”

For Jocelyn Frye, President of the National Partnership for Women and Families, the symbolism ran just as deep. She said the Vineyard setting let participants honor the past while envisioning a different future. The event, she stressed, underscored that “the barriers working women face are structural, not individual failures, and dismantling them requires intentional policy solutions and the collective will to get them done.”

Why The Luncheon Mattered

Inside Martha’s Vineyard’s Summer Gathering For Black Women — Mike Wyche

That sense of history and pride was shared by both organizers and guests. For Faith Campbell, the Vineyard’s legacy was inseparable from the gathering itself. “Martha’s Vineyard has always been a special place for Black people,” she reflected, adding that having The “75 Million” campaign bring women together to talk about their lives and work “just felt right” and made the afternoon “even more powerful.”

For some, the event also doubled as an introduction to the island’s significance. Austyn Burton-Burns described her first visit as transformative: “Coming to the Vineyard for the first time, I felt the history and the pride. To be part of The ’75 Million’ luncheon here, with so many brilliant Black women, was the perfect introduction.”

Building Power In Martha’s Vineyard

The luncheon was a strategic step by a campaign aiming to mobilize the voices of 75 million working women nationwide. Its mission is to advance policies such as pay equity, paid leave, protections against harassment, and stronger civil rights enforcement — changes that require sustained collective action. Holding the event on Martha’s Vineyard highlighted how advocacy and community are closely linked, with the island’s long history of Black gatherings reinforcing the campaign’s goals.