Politically Inspiring Black Women

Yesterday, we held our second annual "politically inspiring black women" event for a group of first-year women. Various black studies contributors provided biographical sketches of more than 20 living black women whom they found inspiring, political, or both.

Several of the young sisters who attended informed me that one of the women that they found especially intriguing was Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, president of Liberia. Here's the write-up that our contributor Rozina Roleman provided:

President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf Her destiny was confirmed at birth when she was named Ellen, which means “torch, bright light.” Sirleaf has burned bright in a patriarchal political system by becoming the first woman to lead a nation on Africa’s massive continent. She has gone from prison to president; from exiled to exalted. Fortitude has a distinct way of looking adversity square in the eyes and proclaiming victory: If not now, definitely later. It took some three decades, which included attempted peace talks during two Liberian civil wars, but Madame President inspires us to remember that pause does not extinguish possibility.

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Politically Inspiring Black Women