This MLK Day, I want to hype black women.
Yesterday a dear friend poured out a bit of her heart concerning the recent resignation of Claudine Gay and on the heels of that, Antoinette “Bonnie” Candia-Bailey taking her own life. These, she shared with us, are just two of the many black women struggling in positions of power. My friend told of her own journey in leadership and the intense pressure and discrimination that comes with that role when you are not only a woman but black. She spoke of bosses who felt the need to put her in her place after she won a national award, rather than congratulate her. She spoke of being called in to facilitate when a fellow black woman, and vice-principal of a high school, was threatened with hanging by students who were angry over not getting a course they wanted. She spoke of the black women she’s known who have stepped down from leadership and who have fallen into despair. She let us know that it happens all the time, but most black women don’t feel safe enough to talk about it. And when you think about the history of whiteness putting black women in their place, white society’s “be seen and not heard” policy, it makes a lot of sense. It doesn’t take much digging to know that when black women have spoken up they are labeled hysterical, dramatic, ghetto or for too long in this country’s history, lynched.
On May 19th, 1918, when Mary Turner was eight months pregnant she was brought news of her husband’s lynching. She was not pacified by this news, instead she cursed the mob, threatened to have them arrested and proclaimed her husband’s innocence to all who could hear. The angry mob did not listen, nor did they care about her bulging belly, they turned on her. They hung her, lit her on fire and riddled her body with bullets. The baby was cut from her womb and its skull crushed by the heel of a white man. No one was ever held accountable.
This was not a one off, according to conservative estimates, almost two hundred black women were lynched from the time of Mary Turner up until the 1970’s.
I don’t wish to dwell on the violence and I certainly don’t want to use stories like Mary Turner’s for effect. But I think the inclusion is important because while we may think we’ve progressed as a society, it seems clear to me that there is a direct path from the lynching of Mary Turner to the campaign against Claudine Gay, the bullying of Bonnie Candia-Bailey and the experience of my own dear friend.
So how does all this “hype” black women? It doesn’t, but I’m getting there. What we need to learn from our past atrocities is to hear and believe black women. There are plenty who have been brave enough to speak out recently, there are those who are fighting the good fight against injustice, there are those who are still holding the dream for a world where all people are judged on the content of their character. But what I know from listening is that they are so very tired and they are often scared.
US history is littered with black women martyrs, but it is also littered with strong, intelligent women who have moved us all forward. Find them, read up on them.
- Althea Gibson
- Nina Simone
- Audre Lorde
- bell hooks
- Maria “Molly” Baldwin
- Emma Azalia Smith Hackley
- Fannie Lou Hamer
- Frances E. W. Harper
And of course Coretta Scott whose daughter reminds us on this day:
Lastly, follow, listen, believe and support the black women who are valiantly doing the good work today:
- Erin Jones
- Austin Channing Brown
- Layla Saad
- Bernice King
- Kaya Henderson
- De’Ara Balenger
- Rachel Elizabeth Cargle
- Cleo Wade
- Amanda Gorman
- S. Brown
And please, if you have another name that should be added to this list, comment so we can all be the wiser.
For further reference:
Rediscovering Black History, Lynching of Women in the United States Blog Series: The Lynching of Mrs. Mary Turner and Her Family
An Analytical History of Black Female Lynching in The United States, 1838-1969
Lincoln University Community Calls for President’s Termination Amid Dr. Bonnie Bailey’s Passing
The culture war came for Claudine Gay–and isn’t done yet
Tara Lindsey Fraga 