Unfortunately, exceptional Black women have to endure mediocre, untalented, unqualified White men, even at top levels of government and business, when they pathetically whine about “reverse racism” as an excuse for their lack of success. These underachievers have been socialized to believe they are entitled to 100 percent of all opportunities and benefits, and complain that the reason anyone else excels is due to “preferential treatment.” When they experience hardship, barriers, setbacks or disappointment or anyone else outshines or out performs them, they have run to get the full force of every government lever to brutally undermine any competition, so they can have “it all” as they have for most of the past 400 years. Despite their whining, as a group they remain the significant majority in many professions.
Unlike mediocre White men who can fail up, most Black women face significant structural barriers and have had to be overwhelmingly qualified and emotionally strong in order to get their foot in the door of many professions above servitude. Most trailblazers have navigated incredibly hostile environments where their right to be there was challenged and their abilities questioned. Affirmative action or Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs made it possible for many brilliant Black women to be considered for positions that historically were limited to predominantly White men. Once in the door, these women shined and excelled to the point where apparently untalented, barely average White men felt threatened and some of them, who are approximately 29 percent of the population (versus Black women’s six-plus percent) seem to be terrified of losing their racial majority and dominant status.
Now the person occupying the White House is issuing one executive order after another to erase, diminish and deny the incredible accomplishments of Black women in every way possible. Despite these efforts, no sniveling from insecure White men will dim the women’s brilliance or trivialize their influence on every aspect of the United States.
Black women celebrate the strength of actors like Pearl Bailey, Cicely Tyson, Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, Josephine Baker and Ruby Dee who exhibited class, strength and dignity on the big screen. They paved the way for Halle Berry, Angela Bassett, Viola Davis, Kerry Washington and many others whose talent cannot be denied.
Others who commanded the stage in the form of dance include Katherine Dunham, Judith Jamison, Debbie Allen and Misty Copeland. They defied Eurocentric norms and transfixed the world with their beauty, creativity, grace and power.
Singers like Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Diana Ross and Tina Turner made a huge impact on music as they expressed through song heartache, pain, triumphs and joys. Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey and Beyoncé carried on the tradition of excellence and performed in ways that millions globally try to emulate.
In the world of opera, Marion Anderson, Jessye Norman, Leontyne Price and Kathleen Battle with their contralto and soprano voices graced stages donning glorious costumes. They exuded grandeur with regal presence.
Beverly Johnson, Jayne Kennedy, Vanessa Williams and Tyra Banks transformed modeling and the beauty industry with their savvy and fierce style, elegance and steely determination.
Through their creations in mediums including sculpture, paintings, drawing, printmaking and quilts, Loïs Mailou Jones, Elizabeth Catlett, Faith Ringgold and Bisa Butler depicted the lives and perspectives of African Americans.
Adventurous women like Bessie Coleman, Willa Brown, Mae Jamison and Joan Higginbotham defied the odds and became pilots and astronauts to explore the skies and outerspace.
And back on Earth, in places where Black women could not sit, eat, shop or live anywhere they wanted or vote at all, determined women like Rosa Parks, Daisy Bates, Angela Davis, Kathleen Cleaver and Fannie Lou Hamer put their lives on the line in the face of hostility and danger in the fight for freedom and full citizenship.
In that same fight, indomitable women like Dorothy Height, Diane Nash, Ella Baker, Dorothy Foreman Cotton and Pauli Murray strategized, sacrificed, spoke out, boycotted, marched and outwitted the dullwitted small-minded mediocre White men who wrote unfair laws meant to oppress and depress.
Even though Black women have only had full voting rights for 60 out of 400+ years, leaders like Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, Maxine Waters, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Sharon Pratt Dixon and Kamala Harris entered politics and made an impact on policies and laws.
In sports arenas, exceptional athletes like Wilma Rudolph, Evelyn Ashford, Florence Griffith Joyner, Jackie Joyner Kersey and Allyson Felix broke records and made history with speed, fashion and flair.
Black women have been unstoppable and pushed the sports of gymnastics, swimming tennis and figure skating. Dominique Dawes, Gabby Douglas, Simone Biles, Simone Manuel, Althea Gibson, Serena Williams and Venus Williams, and Debi Thomas invented moves, broke records and won medals as they pushed their sports to new levels through grit and determination.
No amount of effort could dim the writing talent of Phillis Wheatley, Gwendolyn Brooks, Maya Angelou, Sonia Sanchez and Nikki Giovanni to document and express Black women’s experiences through poetry. We lift up the women who broke through in male-dominated comedy. Moms Mabley, Whoopi Goldberg, Leslie Jones, Wanda Sykes and Amber Ruffin helped us laugh at ourselves and the world we inhabit.
Despite efforts to keep Black people uneducated and relegated to underresourced, underdeveloped segregated schools, brilliant women like Mary McLeod Bethune, Johnnetta Cole, Marva Collins and Ruth Simmons forged through and earned degrees, then turned around to create and manage schools.
Groundbreaking doctors like Rebecca Lee Crumbler, Susan McKinney-Steward, Jocelyn Elders, Dorothy Lavinia Brown and Nola Hylton made significant contributions in medicine. And the engineering field would not be the same without Aprille Ericsson-Jackson, Marian R. Croak and Donna Auguste.
Writers like Harriet Jacobs, Toni Morrison, Terry McMillan and Alice Walker created biography and prose to tell our untold stories to show the beauty and strength of our culture. We pay respect to journalists like Ida B. Wells, Ethel Payne, Alice Dunnigan, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Gwen Ifill, April Ryan and Joy Reid who unmuted our truths and exposed uncomfortable realities that impact our world. Lorraine Hansberry, Ntozake Shange, Pearl Cleage and Anna Deavere Smith wrote plays that captured in theater our perspectives, unique challenges, trials and victories. And filmmakers like Julie Dash, Ava Duvernay and Dawn Porter created features and documentaries to capture our realities and inspire us all.
Black women like Maggie Lena Walker and Madam C J Walker maneuvered around mediocre White men and built businesses over a century ago. They blazed trails with their entrepreneurial brilliance and business acumen. More recently Ann Fudge, Cathy Hughes, Oprah Winfrey, Mellody Hobson and Shonda Rhimes have followed that tradition.
Black women have always been smart, talented, beautiful, innovative, creative, brave and charismatic. Despite the efforts of insecure White men to erase or diminish contributions of Black women who threaten their egos, we will continue to flourish in every profession. The contributions of Black women are undeniable, expansive and cannot be captured in one article, book, or even entire college degree programs. The United States would not be what it is without us.
Black women have always had to overachieve, outmaneuver, outsmart and outwit systems and navigate untold barriers in order to succeed. No matter how many executive orders are written or programs are dismantled, brilliant Black women will undoubtedly shine even while mediocre White men continue to whine.