Women of the Past Lead the Way

Pioneers. Trailblazers. Way-makers. Madam C. J. Walker, Mae Jemison, and Maya Angelou are a few amazing women who earned these well-known titles. They set the examples and inspire women today. Plato, the Greek philosopher said, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” But I say, “Out of necessity comes progress.” Feel free to use that. One woman pioneered progress through hair care and created a million dollar business. Another woman blazed a trail that smoothed the path for one who followed, and two way-making women who never met know what it’s like to be caged. 

Let’s meet the pioneer. Sarah Breedlove, known as Madam C.J. Walker (1867-1919), lost some of her hair due to a scalp condition, so she created her own hair care line by experimenting with treatments she bought from the store and those she created at home. She advertised her hair care treatment then eventually began doing demonstrations of the “Walker method” in which she used pomade and hot combs. She promoted her business in the U.S., Caribbean and Latin America, opened factories, and became the first self-made female millionaire in America.¹ Fast forward. Tired of bondage to relaxers, Whitney White turned a natural hair tutorial into an empire. White started her own YouTube channel in 2009, and it now has over a million subscribers. She has 673,000 Instagram followers @naptural85. Madam C.J. sure was onto something. Today, the black hair industry is now a $2.7 billion (yes, with a B) business and since 2013, it increased 7%.² Let’s meet our trailblazer, Dr. Mae Jemison. 

Mae Carol Jemison (1956 - ), the first African-American woman to fly into space, graduated on our side of town from Morgan Park High School in 1973 and obtained her M.D. in 1981. She entered the NASA Astronaut Training Program in 1992 but had to apply twice. Fluent in Swahili, Russian, and Japanese, she inspires young people today through her company, The Jemison Group.³ Jemison made history by becoming a first. Joan E. Higginbotham is the third African-American woman to fly into space. She didn’t have to apply, though. She was chosen.

Joan E. Higginbotham, like Jemison, graduated from a Chicago School (Whitney Young Magnet High School) in 1982. Higginbotham worked at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as an engineer. Her subsequent promotions lead her to work with the Columbia and Atlantis space shuttles. Higginbotham didn’t have to apply to the Astronaut Training Program. NASA selected her. Like, tapped her on the shoulder and said, “Girl, you going into space.” She went to the Johnson Space Center in Texas to train, and in 2006, NASA launched her into space where her primary job was to operate the Space Station Remote Manipulator System.⁴ Now, I’m no NASA expert, but based on the title, it sounds like she controlled the movements of the space station. Another great woman in history is Maya Angelou, a way-making literary giant.

Maya Angelou (1928 – 2014) is known for her poetry. Most notably “On the Pulse of the Morning,” and “Phenomenal Woman.” She wore many hats as a director, editor, playwright, essayist, civil rights activist, educator, and writer. This superstar served on committees for Presidents Ford and Carter. She received awards from Presidents Clinton and Obama. Her novel, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” became a film in 1979, and her poems provide the emotions that Janet Jackson’s character recited in the 1993 film, “Poetic Justice.”⁵ Like Angelou, Michelle Alexander, a civil rights lawyer, Professor, New York Times Columnist and author knows a thing or two about caged birds. 

Alexander’s book, “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” won the NAACP Image Award for best non-fiction in 2011. Her book blasts wide open the notion that since slavery ended, we are no longer in bondage. Quite the contrary. She said that mass incarceration is the new Jim Crow and that “We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.” Her book is used in college curriculums and is cited in judicial decisions. It has created a whole new group of prison reform activists.⁶

The bottom line is this: women’s history is connected to our present. We are linked not only because of our gender, but because we inspire each other. We nurture, teach and set the path for the next generations. Madam Walker inspired women at the turn of the century. Whitney White inspired women at the beginning of a new decade. Mae Jemison and Joan Higginbotham are products of Chicago. Angelou and Alexander both know a thing or two about cages. Look hard enough, and you will see the connections in your circle of women, too. 

Sources:

^{1, 3}Biography.com
²Dandy, Brittany. “[Watch] Whitney White Turned Her Youtube Platform Into a Booming Natural Hair Career.” Black Enterprise. 18 Sept. 2015.
www.blackenterprise.com/whitney-white-turned-her-youtube-platform-in-a-booming-natural-hair-career. Accessed March 9, 2019.
⁴Ahmed, Neima. “Joan Elizabeth Higginbotham (1964 - )” 4 Nov. 2018. www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/higginbotham-joan-elizabeth-1964. Accessed March 9, 2019. 
⁵Smith, Troy L. “5 Films to Remember Maya Angelou By.” Cleveland.com. 28 May 2014. Accessed March 9, 2019. 
⁶newjimcrow.com/about-the-author