Here are the black women I most admire. This is very much a work in progress – I am sure there are some I am forgetting! It is limited only to those famous enough to have their own page in the Wikipedia.
1. Rosa Parks (1913-2005) was an American seamstress. I admire her for her courage in not giving up her seat on the bus to a white person and so changing my life for the better and that of millions.
2. Billie Holiday (1915-1959) was an American jazz singer of the 1940s and 1950s. The way she put her broken heart into her songs so that you could feel it helps me to know that I am not alone, that life is not as advertised on television, that it is more important to be truthful than to paste a smiley face over everything.
3. Aqualtune (1600s) was an African princess who found herself standing in an ox cart with her former subjects being sold as a slave in Recife, Brazil. She escaped to help lead a black kingdom deep in the woods of Brazil. Her two sons went on to fight the Dutch and the Portuguese. I admire her for her courage and dignity, never letting cruel fate break her heart or make her forget that she was a princess.
4. Angela Davis (1944- ) is a black thinker who fights for equality for all. To accept American society the way it is would mean accepting that she as a black person is less than fully human, so she works to change it.
5. Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) was an American writer, the first black woman to write a Broadway play, “A Raisin in the Sun” (1957).
6. Michelle Obama (1964- ) is now the first lady of America!!! I admire her for conducting herself with grace and dignity, countering the stereotypes that many people have of black women. I also admire her courage to say what she did about her pride in America.
7. Dorothy Dandridge (1922-1965) was an American actress from the 1950s. She led the way for all the black actresses that we have today. It is hard not to admire how she held up as long as she did under the tragedy of her short life.
8. Cicely Tyson (1933- ) is an American actress. I admire her for only taking parts that show black women in a good light. That means she barely works, but that is what makes it an act of courage.
9. Condoleezza Rice (1954- ) was the first black woman to be Secretary of State, the American foreign minister. History will judge her part in President Bush’s foreign policy, but regardless of how that turns out, I admire her for her faith in freedom and democracy, for her grace under trying circumstances and for always doing what she felt was right no matter what other people thought of her.
10. Jamaica Kincaid (1949- ) is an American writer who was born in Antigua in the West Indies. I admire her for her writing style and for stating the truth that others would prefer not to hear.
See also:
- Michelle Obama
- Toccara Jones
- Jamaica Kincaid
- Dorothy Dandridge
- Aqualtune
- Condoleezza Rice
- Angela Davis
- Lorraine Hansberry
- stereotypes about black women
Araminta Ross!
Wonderful list.
Toccarra is a good left-field choice. (I believe that every list should have one “wild card” or “curveball”.)
What about Oprah Winfrey? That’s one black woman is I feel is very admirable. She came from nothing to ALL of something.
I LOVE Michelle Obama. She’s so classy!
It’s great that you have a list that doesn’t focus on thick women or the way women look, but their merit, character and achievements!
Every one on the list is a great choice, then at the end, there’s Tocarra? I don’t get that. She’s too cocky with no humility or class. If Halle or Gabrille was that cocky, people would not be able to stand them.
I agree with the Tocarra one. She’s proud of the way she looks in an environment that doesn’t hold women who look like her as beautiful
That’s an impressive list of your favorite Black women, Abagond. We Black women don’t get the recognize as much during Black History Month. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to make a tribute to the unsung heroines of Black history. I truly appreciated what you did.
Stephanie B.
wow that’s a nice list full of black women that have respect for themselves. at least someone represents black women without putting us down.
Do you think that we (black women) are responsible for us being put down? I know not in all cases, but there are some when we are responsible for the way we get treated. I’m still young (20 years old)and each day I’m growing more aware of how I am perceived by others. I am also paying more attention to how my friends act and the way they carry themselves. I think evidence of this can be found on social networking sites, where girls are talking about how classy they are, and then they have pictures of themselves being pissy drunk or girls talking about how much they want a gentleman but they’re not a lady they’re way too vulgar. One thing that my Mom taught me that is certainly ringing true, you teach people how to teach you.
*Disclaimer: I was not talking about ALL black women. I know for a fact that there are a lot of classy women*
LOLROF
Abagond I love you buddy. I see you just had to find a way to add Toccara to your list. lol
well ashley, there are some black women that do put themselves down but black women have always been looked at as being ghetto, loud mouthed, hoochie mamas, baby daddy drama and so on. no matter how black women may act, we still get looked at as being negative so i’m happy that abagond does appreciate black women without calling them names and looking at them like a piece of meat. there are a lot of other women that act trashy and whatnot but the finger always get pointed at black women no matter what. things like that pisses me off because they don’t represent me as a black woman. at least there’s someone that loves black women.
Thanks.
Araminta Ross and Oprah Winfrey are both excellent suggestions, but, as worthy as they are, for some reason neither one ever caused much admiration in me.
I think you should definitely feature Samata Angel at some point on this website, she is really inpirational. There is information about her here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samata_Angel
This is a nice list, but Colin Powell was the first black secretary of state, not Rice.
Oops! Thanks.
Yeah put Samata on she rocks!
This smells like astroturfing to me.