Happy Black History Month snail mail readers, I hope you enjoy the second installment this month’s three-part black history series!
“If you can’t support me or you can’t endorse me, get out of my way. You do your thing and let me do mine.” – Chisholm ‘72
In the words of Kendrick Lamar, “Somebody gotta do it”. In viewing Black History Month through an anthropological lens we must highlight the forebearers of black history and civil progress throughout the world, black women. I take this moment to highlight an exemplary black woman, activist, and leader Shirley Chisholm who was the first black woman to serve in the United States Congress and sought for the presidency of the United States. Her advocacy as a black woman for women and minorities is a part of many contributions from others including Afeni Shakur, Ella Baker, Angela Davis, and more. Her motto “Unbought and Unbossed” encapsulates the vigor and dedication black women steer themselves with. To be independent and not beholden to anyone. Although many black women pride themselves in staying true to such a motto we actively work against the impositions that seek to diminish such truth.
To be informed as a black woman is to be informed in how you function within the larger lens of society. Often, black women’s efforts do not equate to the appreciation we’re given. Therefore we manueveur projections of our implied being stealthily and strategically. Historically black women have been seen as somewhere in between mulls and entertainment. Fixtures of society that are capable of getting difficult tasks done but are often overlooked and unrewarded. We see fictional characters like Aibileen Clark of The Help or Mammy of Gone With the Wind as archetypes of black servitude bound to the aid of others in the transgressions of their own doing. An extension of “The Mammy” archetype is “The Magical Negro”. The Magical Negro is a fictional portrayal within American fiction that usually supports an often white protagonist. The implications of such a character are strong devotion to the betterment of the protagonist through insight, special powers, and nobleness.
Although fictional, the characters reflect reality. These not-so-subtle subtleties within our characterization extend into our policies that determine our quality of life as a society. Nuance should be offered when referring to presidential candidates and their ability to alleviate and mitigate communal hardship through policy, but we can use the example of the 92% to highlight these tropes. In most recent history, 92% refers to the 92% of black women who supported the presidency of Kamala Harris for office opposing her bigoted and corrupt competitor, Donald Trump. Let it be understood that this election cycle was less than ideal morally all around but our current reality is even more so as America’s decision largely opposed that of women and minorities, specifically black women. As a black woman was positioned to be the savior from inevitable constitutional ruination, the nation opposed and continues to look to us for direction in rectifying said decision that excludes our rights.
Concerning the current state of the U.S. federal government and it intersects with the identities of black women, Substack user Anonymous BLK Girl shared this note saying:
The 92% thing is so ironically American (hyper individual). We are not virtuous by way of being black women and/or participating in a FEDERAL (!) election.. Like most of you don't even know your neighbor’s names at the very least, let alone participate in community care. What burden are you unloading lol? The Black women who are actually carrying more than their fair share are not engaged in self congratulatory rhetoric because they are busy helping to construct the world that they want to live in. Unfortunately, all of the bad things thrive on fragmentation and isolation. Systems of oppression only function when in group/out group sentiments are high. Look around….
Black women continuously fight for humanity, fight for the people, and with the people, but do the people fight for us? Terah J. Stewart in their academic essay “Where We Are, Resistance Lives” says, “Historically, Black women have participated in activism, but their contributions to social movements are sometimes rendered invisible (Barnett, 1993).” Despite this, black women continue to dare by challengingthe impositions of the magical negro in favor of coalition building that is at the root of survival for marginalized peoples. Coalition building is the process of joining forces with other groups to achieve a common goal. Coalitions can be formed by individuals, organizations, or interest groups sharing similar values (Spangler 2003).
In Chapter 5 of “Gendered Pluralism” by Belinda Robnett and Katherine Tate published by the University of Michigan Press (2023), Robnett and Tate state:
Race identities sharpen the effect of gender identities, and vice versa, in Black politics,
contradicting claims of pluralists that they might weaken them. Women
who hold strong beliefs about the prevalence of sexism, racism, and
homophobia in society are more likely to have high levels of gender con-
sciousness (Harnois 2015). Other work argues that Black women have a
unique type of identification that importantly contributes to a uniquely
gendered form of liberal group politics (Simien 2006).
Coalition building is at the root of survival for marginalized peoples and the politics surrounding them. I often gaze at a framed poster my friend Micquela gifted to me a while back depicting the contributions of women in the Black Panther Party. Many of its female members aided various grassroots organizations in collaboration with the BPP as they exemplified shared goals and morals. Rosemari Mealy, who served as the Lieutenant of Information for the BPP became a founding member of the National Alliance of Third World Journalists, Afeni Shakur, mentor and leader of the Panther Post, organized the Gay Liberation Front to address issues of homophobia within the BPP, Ericka Huggins and Elaine Brown who were high ranking members of the BPP involved themselves in community development, children’s education, and prison transformation. With the understanding that our identities within activism aren’t isolated, black women intersect their plight for black rights with women’s rights, gay rights, disabled rights, and the rights of many.
In The Origin of Others by Toni Morrison, she states, “Why should we want to know a stranger when it is easier to estrange another?” (Morrison 36). We cannot be strangers in our being as humans in an attempt to improve ourselves as a collective. We are not free until we all are free. The configurations of blackness cannot be that of a stranger as it touches all facets of life like the roots of a baobab tree nurturing its ecosystem. We thrive when we dare to challenge the singularity of inflicted definition. Black women who dare to challenge the imposition of their stereotypes are often pinned as subversive to the betterment of all when in actuality we are respectful to the plight of our wellbeing and identity and all who benefit from it. We can look to what Shirley Chisholm voiced in an interview during her run for the presidency in 1972 to understand what black women’s authenticity means for activism and communal amelioration.
“Mrs. Chisholm, why do you want to be President of the United States?”
“I want to be President of the United States because I’m very concerned about the direction this country is moving.”
“Do you think this country is ready for a president that is both black and a woman?”
Chism stood tall in her bid for presidency no matter the answer.
“I stand before you today as a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States of America. I am not the candidate of black America although I am black and proud. I am not the candidate of the women’s movement of this country although I am a woman and I’m equally proud of that. I am the candidate of the people of America and my presence before you now symbolizes a new era [in American political history].
Black women who dare to challenge are those who thrive in their own definitive being.
In TJ Stewarts essay Where We Are, Resistance Lives she also posits:
…Black women have created an activist tradition that legitimizes their
existence as resistance. They create “Black female spheres of influence that resist
oppressive structures by undermining them… they embrace a form of identity politics, a
worldview that sees lived Black experiences as important to creating a critical Black
Consciousness.”
Black and queer college student “Terri” contributed to Stewarts academic essay by stating, “I think my resistance comes from just existing in this white space, to be here unapologetically.”
Stewart supports this statement by positing, “Resistance as Being. Participants revealed that for them, in the places and spaces where they take up space, resistance lives. They push against the notion of conflating activism and resistance and tease out further the differences within how resistance is understood both online and offline, making clear that existence is
resistance…As a theme, existence as resistance also included being their authentic selves inside of dominant spaces and dominant expectations as well as inside of their own communities.”
Clock it – Resistance is authentically being. Resistance for black women has been defined as pushback in any form, disrupting the status quo, and redirecting the dominant narrative as it pertains to their experiences, identities, and personhood. It is so often that our mere existence disrupts so why not utilize such disruption for change. This upliftment of black women echoes across generations and mediums. In her acceptance speech for Best Rap Album at the Grammys Doechii voice, “The last thing I want to say… I know there is some Black girl out there. So many Black women out there that are watching me right now. I want to tell you, ‘You can do it. Anything is possible. Don’t allow anybody to project any stereotypes on you that tell you that you can’t be here, that you’re too dark, or that you’re not smart enough, or that you’re too dramatic, or you’re too loud.’”
So, what was heard? Our actions, words, and stereotypes have real-life implications when it comes to the impact it has on black women though we continue to remain resilient amidst such fortitude. Black women are forebearers of change though we refuse to embody the responsibilities of all when it comes to our contributions to communal betterment. Our presence will continue to disrupt in the best of ways, so I urge you (black woman or not) to let it inspire and spark a movement within your heart. Don’t let your observation of black women be in vain, let it guide you toward your activism and movement. Let us appreciate the seeds that black women have and continue to lay in our nurturing of them.
Yep yep yep I love everything about this