Historically, women have usually gotten the short end of the sociological stick, and this is true in the United States. For years, women were not able to vote, own property, or otherwise function as independent, free human beings.
This situation has created problems. In the African American community, the deficits have manifested as broken homes. For various reasons, there is a dearth of active fathers in the Black community. Divorce rates are higher in the Black community than in other American groups. This is partially due to disenfranchisement. For example, when women are raising their children after a separation or divorce, they often face discrimination, which is one of the factors that hinders Black economic progress. Women are frequently paid less than men for the same work, sometimes denied property rights, and face restrictions in other arenas of American life.
Women have also been restricted from participation in higher education, which limits access to professional opportunities. As a result of current political machinations, women have been denied control over their own bodies and are excluded from certain professions. Essentially, women have come under increasing scrutiny and are experiencing setbacks in women’s autonomy.
The winds of change are sweeping the world at this time, and the oppression that women have traditionally experienced is morphing into something new. Violence of various kinds has been used to keep women under control, but this is changing and is accompanied by the awakening of women everywhere. The Jeffrey Epstein debacle is a catalyst in this regard.
If we look at things objectively, we would recognize that women around the world are ascending. There is also opposition to this awakening. It is manifesting in the oppression of women in the armed forces, abortion restrictions, birth control limitations, and a number of other hot-button issues taking women back to an oppressive past.
The truth of the matter is that women, especially Black women, have had “to make a way out of no way” in an attempt to manage their lives. In spite of hardship, they have persevered, and many have ascended to high positions and garnered great success as they made the proverbial lemonade with the lemons they were given.
Some of the women who have achieved success in America include Oprah Winfrey, the first African American woman to become a billionaire and the first Black woman to own her own production company; Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress, serving from 1969 to 1983; Ida B. Wells, a civil rights leader, journalist, and educator who fought for women’s rights; Kamala Harris, the first woman, Black woman, and South Asian American to serve as Vice President of the United States; and Rosa Parks, the civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger and became known as the “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement.”
Other great Black women include Harriet Tubman, a leader of the Underground Railroad who was the first African American woman to serve in the military; Sojourner Truth, an African American abolitionist and women’s rights activist; Tarana Burke, civil rights activist and founder of the “Me Too” movement; Katherine Johnson, one of the first African American women to work as a NASA scientist; Misty Copeland, the first African American to become a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre; Simone Biles, the first African American to win the World All-Around title, the first female gymnast to win three consecutive World All-Around titles, and the first U.S. gymnast to win a World medal in every event; and Serena Williams, often called the “Greatest Athlete of All Time.”
This is an extremely limited list of successful and influential Black women who have paved the way to success for women—especially Black women—in America and around the world. They are role models who have demonstrated strategies for reaching success in spite of obstacles. Aluta continua.
(Reprinted from the Chicago Crusader)