Representation Matters: Black History, Black Love
February is a special month for me because my birthday kicks off on the 1st day of the month. Another year around the cosmos, grateful for the lessons and blessings. How blessed am I to celebrate my birthday, black history and love in one month!
History Lesson
My mother always ensured our ethnicity and ancestry was showcased throughout our home. Posters with African kings and queens, books on inventions by blacks. I remembered myself and my siblings were with my mother one Saturday morning shopping downtown Boston. As we walked through the Boston Commons, we saw the statue of Robert Gould Shaw and his all black regimen. My mother made it a point, to emphasize the features on the soldiers, reiterating they were black soldiers.
In my primary and secondary school years, we rarely learned the entire history of African/African American contributions. The same heroes were recycled: Martin Luther King Jr., Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman. If it weren’t for my mother exposing us early on to other prominent black historical facts, as a child I would’ve been duped into believing the aforementioned heroes were the only examples of our history.
When I became a parent, I followed suit with my children. Ensuring they were represented, I too housed our bookshelves with vast knowledge of ancestry and self. For Black history school projects I had my children expose their teacher and their classmates to other unknown or untaught black historical heroes that ranged from Marcus Garvey, Garret A. Morgan (inventor of the stop light, gas mask among other inventions), to Ellen Craft (who escaped slavery passing for a Caucasian male). I felt it was important for my children and other children to learn how diverse our history is, and how much of it was left out of school books and school curriculum.
It’s why representation matters. The pride felt in a child who sees someone who looks like them, likes the same things as them, are “weirdos,” artists and nerds like them, is reassuring. So when they show up in the workforce, they feel they too have a right to a seat at the table.
Celebrate your Melanin 365
“American history is replete with horrific episodes that prevented the accumulation of black wealth for centuries,” The Economist. In this millennia, this decade; however, there has been a surge of black folk moving toward accumulating wealth, and not only for selves and generations to come after, but for quality of life. The corporate culture talks about diversity, but truth be told, corporate America talks a good game. The fact that we’re still experiencing racial disharmony in 2020 speaks volumes.
But we as a people, are waking up!
We are our ancestors' wildest dreams! We’re college graduates, entrepreneurs, movers, shakers and motivators. We’re breaking generational curses, falling back in love, traveling abroad, taking care of our mental health. We’re healers, tapping into our spirituality, practicing mindfulness. There’s been a huge surge of black women in the mindfulness/yoga/healthy living field and it’s a beautiful sight to see (I see y’all on the gram doing the dam thing)!
Thirty-eight percent of African-American small business owners are women. There were 2.4 million African American women-owned businesses in 2018, most owned by women 35 to 54 (Forbes). Twenty eight percent went into business for themselves to either pursue their passion (primary reason), were ready to become their own boss, or dissatisfied with corporate America, (Source: PR Web). Women-of-color account for nearly 90% of the new women-owned businesses annually, with a growth rate of 10%, (Become.com).
That’s cause for celebration!
Love Lessons
As we enter this month of February and celebrate our history, we also find ourselves falling into the trappings of Valentine’s day. The pressure to give gifts, the reminder to single folks that they aren’t so lucky to have a Valentine. Although the day is named after a martyred saint, its roots are pagan. The month has been long associated with love, dating back to ancient Rome where the pagan festival Lupercalia was celebrated, honoring the birth of twins Romulus and Remus, the founders of the city, which later would become a festival honoring fertility and the arrival of spring.
The festival, celebrated annually on February 15th, was a sacrificial rite, where women were struck with skins of the sacrificed animal, to symbolize fertility. Women would also place their names in an urn and eligible men would draw a name and the couple would pair off for the rest of the festival.
In many cultures and society, love has been celebrated.
February 13th is Black Love Day in America. It is an observance of atonement, reconciliation, celebration and 24-hour demonstration of Black love, illustrated through 5 Tenets:
Love towards the Creator
For Self
For the Family
Within the Black Community
For the Black Race
Black Love Day was founded in 1993 by founder/director of the African American Holiday Associate, Ayo Handy Kendi. It is an African-centered alternative to Valentine’s Day, with spiritual goals of encouraging black self-love instead of self-hatred, increased peace to stop violence, and racial healing. Every February 13th people of African descent show love for each other for 24 hours. We are encouraged to demonstrate the 5 Tenants and recommit to the 7 principals of Kwanzaa.
“In recognizing the humanity of our fellow beings, we pay ourselves the highest tribute.” ~ Thurgood Marshall.
Let’s continue this melanin magic wave in 2020.
Be inspiring, be encouraging…the world needs more of that!
XO
~Gillian
