Happy Black Girl Day!!! Today's HBGD is special to me because it comes the day after International Women's Day. How could I not pass up a chance to celebrate womanhood one day and then celebrate the specialness that comes with being a BLACK woman the very next day. Can't beat it with a baseball bat!
My tribute today goes to the creativeness of the black woman. For as long as I can remember, I have always loved to read. From the age of 3, I was never separated from books for long periods of time. The library in my hometown didn't really carry books by black authors and the library inside my high school wasn't short stopping.....until my senior year in high school. I wrote an AP English paper about The Third Life of Grange Copeland by Alice Walker. To this day, it remains my favorite book of all time. This was the first time in life that I read a book for pleasure and was able to connect with the characters on a level that I never had before. Today I throw myself into Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, BeBe Moore Campbell and Terry McMillian to name a few. I love the intricacies of their writing. It makes me feel like a little piece of me is between the pages.
Naturally - Audre LordHappy Black Girl Day!!!
Since Naturally Black is Naturally Beautiful
I must be proud
And, naturally,
Black and
Beautiful
Who always was a trifle
Yellow
And plain though proud
Before.
I've given up pomades
Having spent the summer sunning
And feeling naturally free (If I die of skin cancer, oh well -- one less black and beautiful me)
Yet no Agency spends millions
To prevent my summer tanning
And who trembles nightly
With the fear of their lily cities being swallowed
By a summer ocean of naturally woolly hair?
But I've bough my can of
Natural Hair Spray
Made and marketed in Watts
Still thinking more
Proud beautiful black women
Could better make and use
Black bread.
