Celebrating Black Women
By George Pratt, Contributing Writer
Women’s History Month is a time for the country to commemorate the contributions of women to American history and society-at-large. The national celebration began when Congress passed a resolution in 1981 requesting the United States President designate the week of March 7 as “Women’s History Week.” The week-long observance was expanded to the entire month of March in 1987. Since then, the country has dedicated 31 days to highlighting the accomplishments and achievements of women. This year, there is a demographic of women who need a special spotlight: Black women.
Black women have long demonstrated the best of humanity. Over the past year, the country has been bountifully blessed with “Black Girl Magic.” The free world witnessed, for the first time, a woman—a Black woman, HBCU graduate, and member of the Divine Nine—ascend to the second-highest office in the land, the Vice Presidency of the United States of America. The Howard University alumna’s win was in part due to the efforts of her HBCU sister, Spelman College alumna, Stacey Abrams, in Operation Fair Fight, turning the once-Republican stronghold of Georgia blue!
The nation watched brilliant Black women like the Honorable Val Demings and Stacey Plaskett hold the former president, Donald Trump, accountable in impeachment proceedings as house managers. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, Isabel Wilkerson, delivered a reckoning truth to America in her book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Black women made strides in various fields and industries with Rosalind Brewer becoming the only Black woman CEO of a Fortune 500 company (Walgreens) and Rashida Jones, the first Black woman executive of a major cable news network (MSNBC). The lists of advancements Black women have made are infinite!
The entire globe was stunned during the summer of 2020, at the largest social movement in US history, according to the New York Times, the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM). A grassroots movement oriented toward a participatory democracy founded by three Black women, two of which are Queer. They are women who would have been excluded from public leadership in the Civil Rights Movement because of its male charismatic model. The inclusive nature of BLM is reflective of the hopes and visions of Septima Poinsette Clark, Ella Baker, Prathia Hall, Pauli Murray, and other heroines whose faces often remain hidden in the sphere of social change because of America’s glorification of the salvific Black hero.
A group of women whose contributions often go unnoticed during Women’s History Month are Black trans women. Rarely are names such as Marsha P. Johnson, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Andrea Jenkins, Lucy Hicks Anderson, Mary Jones, and others spoken. These are women whose activism, public and military service, and philanthropy help support their communities. They too should be celebrated for their contributions in the fight for equity, justice, and liberation.
During Women’s History Month the roles Black women have played in the country and world must be recognized and honored. They are the gifts and saving graces that continue to better the human experience.
