A Black Woman Defied the Odds
Published June 19, 2020
Gratitude.
A Black woman struggled. She helped to build flourishing kingdoms and empires. She helped to invent mathematics, medicine and architecture.
A Black woman resisted. She fought to protect her children and her villages. When she could fight no more, she would braid seeds into her children’s hair, because she knew one day we would own land again and she would be able to feed them on her own.
A Black woman survived. She endured months at sea on the Middle Passage.
A Black woman persisted. She labored and toiled and worked the land. She birthed generations of children in bondage. She never allowed them to dream bigger than what they saw.
A black woman endured. She endured 400 years of enslavement. 100 of legalized segregation. Another 100 of a New Jim Crow.
A Black woman challenged. She challenged the systems that oppressed her.
A Black woman defied the odds.
Because of these fearlessly, dynamic, and courageous women, I can struggle, resist, persist, defy, challenge, SURVIVE! I survive to fight for other Black women to survive.
I thank all of the elders and ancestors who fought to survive. I thank all the freedom fighters of all races from all places who dared to dream, who dared to fight. We fight because you fought. We celebrate Juneteenth today because you survived.
Eternal and immense gratitude. The struggle continues…
Peace, love and joy
Franchelle
Please visit the local Juneteenth resources:
Juneteenth of Buffalo Website
Juneteenth of Buffalo Facebook Page