"A Moment In Afro Herstory: Kathleen Neal Cleaver"

"Activist,  Educator and Intellectual, Kathleen Neal Cleaver "

At one time Kathleen Cleaver was a very prominent member of The Black Panther Party and was once married to one of the founding members, Eldridge Cleaver. Any individual over the age of forty remembers how the lives of those in The Black Power Movement turned out. After Eldridge’s legal situation was resolved, Kathleen went back to school in 1981, receiving a full scholarship from Yale University. She graduated in 1983, summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. In 1987, Kathleen divorced Eldridge Cleaver.

She then continued her education by getting her law degree from Yale Law School. After graduating, Cleaver worked for the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and followed this with numerous jobs including: law clerk in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, the faculty of Emory University in Atlanta, visiting faculty member at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York City, the Graduate School of Yale University and Sarah Lawrence College.

In 2005, she was selected an inaugural Fletcher Foundation Fellow. She then worked as a Senior Research Associate at the Yale Law School, and a Senior Lecturer in the African American Studies department at Yale University. She is currently serving as faculty at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia.

.

"A Moment In Afro Herstory: Nikki Giovanni"

"Activist, educator and poet Nikki Giovanni"

Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni  is a Grammy-nominated American poet, activist and author, intellectual and shero. Nikki Giovanni is currently a Distinguished Professor of English at Virginia Tech. The civil rights and black power movements inspired her early poetry that was collected in Black Feeling, Black Talk (1967), Black Judgment (1968), and Re: Creation (1970).

She has since written more than two dozen books including volumes of poetry, illustrated children's books, and three collections of essays. What great books of poems to read to your young children and grandchildren. I admire Nikki because she speaks her mind. Shouldn't we all have the courage to do that?

"A Moment In My Own Hair-story"

Graduation Day Many Moons Ago!

Three of My Friends Representing Saint Louis and Philadelphia!

Ah! Gotta love the Afro in all it's magnificent glory! I wish these pictures were more clearer, but they were damaged during a flood in Germany and their all that I have left of "little ole" me and my Afro past.Yes, I've been fried- dyed and laid to the side in my life as hairstyles go, but this is where I'm most comfortable at- wearing my hair in it's natural state. I've had my share of hair salon mishaps and episodes with chemical and hot-comb burns to last me a lifetime.

¡Una mujer tan hermosa negra!

I never conformed to one set of beauty standards as a part of my existence and have been happier and freer ever since. There was not a day that went by that I was not more proud of my African Heritage and what I looked like, because I love ME!. Again it's totally up to the individual how they want to wear their hair and not up to me. Do You! My hair is not a limit, libel, nor a limitation to my humanity as a woman on this earth and I will not make it one either.

Me Today, older, wiser, alive and loving life!

"A Moment In Afro Herstory: Angela Davis and Toni Morrison"

Angela Davis and Toni Morrison

Most of us know Angela Y. Davis as the most iconic Afro wearing women in "American His-story," but others know her as an activist, educator, intellectual, socialist and was a vocal activist during the Civil Rights Movement and a former Black Panther. Her research interests were in feminism, African American studies, critical theory, popular music culture and social consciousness, and philosophy of punishment and prisons. Since moving in the early 1990s from communism to reformist she has identified herself as a democratic socialist. Davis is the founder of Critical Resistance, an organization working to abolish what it calls the prison-industrial complex.

If you are an avid reader like I am, I'm sure you've read one of many Toni Morrison's excellent works of Literature. Toni Morrison  is a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize-winning American author, editor, and professor. Her novels are known for their epic themes, vivid dialogue, and richly detailed black characters. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Beloved. As an editor at Random House, Morrison played an important role in bringing black literature into the mainstream. No one can tell our Her-story like we can and these women had the courage to tell the truth even when it made others uncomfortable.

(Photo:Jill Krementz)

"A Moment In Afro-Herstory" Susana Baca

Susana Baca and her sociologist/manager husband Ricardo Pereira established the Instituto Negrocontinuo (the Black Continuum Institute) in 1992. The institute aims to preserve and celebrate Peru’s significant African heritage and invaluable contributions to Peru, and has been credited with facilitating the resurgent interest in Afro-Peruvian music.Susana Baca herself is best known for her song “Maria Lando,” included on David Byrne’s 1995 compilation,The Soul of Black Peru.

Susana won a 2002 Latin Grammy Award for her album Poesia y cantos negros. Just remember that the Portuguese, Spanish, French, Americans and English attempted to destroy much of our African culture, and our language diction, music, religion and dance forms are ways to keep our heritage alive and is all that we have left once arriving to the colonies. Once we lose these cultural influences we will become extinct.

"Gracias Susana para ser una inspiración a Descendientes de Mujeres africanos en todas partes de la Diáspora."

"A Moment In Afro Herstory-Ursula Burns, CEO Xerox Corporation"

Ursula Burns THE CEO of THE XEROX CORPORATION

The joy and elation that I and probably others felt when Ursula Burns was named the new CEO of Xerox was one of great pride in this woman's accomplishments through perseverance and hard work. I also loved the fact that previous CEO Anne M. Mulcahy handed the helm of the company over to her and to me that was what the true succession of power is all about, especially when you know that this individual shares much of the same visions and goals of the company. I wish Ursula Burns immeasurable success for the future of The Xerox Corporation.

The CEO of The Xerox Corporation is a native New Yorker who grew up in a lower East Side housing project and is the first women of African descent to head a Fortune 500 company. Burns ascended the corporate ladder at Xerox, beginning as a summer engineering intern in 1980 and becoming the president of the printing giant in 2002.

In 2008, Burns ranked 10th on Fortune magazine's top 50 Most Powerful Women in America. She's the second-highest placed African-American woman behind only Oprah Winfrey, who was ranked No. 8 that year. Ursula Burns, was and is a math whiz, who graduated from Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn with an engineering degree. She received a master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1981 from Columbia University. Burns is married to Lloyd Bean, a retired Xerox scientist. The couple have two children.

We tend to celebrate celebrities, but not the real trailblazers who are really the most influential in the world. Even though she's on the cover of Black Enterprise Magazine this month, she should have been boldly front and center on the cover of Essence Magazine instead of their usual celebrities. Sure they wrote a small article about her, but this was a cover defining moment in "Our Herstory" and as usual they saw no significance of her accomplishments.


Many women claim that wearing their hair the way it grows from their scalps feel that they won't get promoted or hired because of their appearance and that our natural hair is too radical. Really? It's not the appearance of your hair that's not accepted in corporate America-it's your inability and unwillingness to succeed for the success of the company that's not.

Failure is not an option and neither are excuses. We're not judged by our hair or what we look like anymore, were judged by are talents. Ursula Burns is an example of many women in corporate America who wear their hair in it's natural state knowing that they are more than a skin color and hair texture. Again, it's not all about ones appearance- it's all about your talents.


"My perspective comes in part from being a New York black lady, in part from being an engineer. I know I'm smart and have opinions worth being heard." ~Ursula Burns

"A Moment In Afro Herstory"

Miss Black America 1969 Gloria O. Smith

When I saw this beautiful photo of Gloria O. Smith, I was nearly speechless! She is Beautiful!!! I was eight years old when this photo was taken at the height of the"Black Pride Movement" of the late 1960's during the second Miss Black America Pageant.

Yes- in the earlier days we held separate pageants because women of African descent in this country were not allowed to participate in The Miss America and Miss USA pageants, so Mr. J. Morris Anderson  created his own version of the pageant  in 1968 as a competition for young African American women — basically the black version of the popular Miss America pageant. 

The pageant is still held today even though it has been deemed racist by some and considered not needed since our inclusion as participants.

I basically added this historical tidbit to highlight this woman's beautiful halo of hair and impeccable beauty, because before-during and presently at this time "our natural  beauty" is still not celebrated. I don't know where Miss Smith is today- but she was and is still an inspiration to many.

"All Hail To The Queens"

The Black Queen has ruled … and continues to rule. Her realm is universal and extends beyond geographic boundaries and political ideologies.

Photo: MBAP