Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman elected to the House of Representatives in 1968. She was also the first to run for president. (Library of Congress/Creative Commons)
As a Fierce woman, you’re part of the most successful, highly educated and independent generation of black women in history, which in part fueled the recent birth of FierceforBlackWomen.com. Henry Louis Gates Jr. salutes you and other women who have been making their mark since the ’60s in an article that we’d like to share titled “The Era of the Black Woman.”
“In surveying the landscape of recent African-American history, I think the most remarkable accomplishment has been rise of black women, in a blend of what we might think of as black power meets black feminism,” the Harvard University professor writes.
“So extensive has this phenomenon been that this most recent period can be — perhaps should be — characterized as the Era of the Black Woman, an era fueled by increased access to higher education, structural changes in the U.S. economy and dynamic social attitudes and norms.”
“There are few fields in this period, it seems, in which black women either haven’t dominated or managed to shatter glass ceilings,” says Gates, founding director of Harvard’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research a editor-in-chief of The Root.
Gates singles out everyone from political pioneer Shirley Chisholm to tennis champion Serena Williams. His article embodies our Fierce Manifesto, which states in part:
“To be Fierce is to embrace all that’s wonderful about being a black woman. To live your dreams, celebrate your strengths and appreciate your true beauty. It means being confident and unapologetically you!”
