By Edwina Welch

In 1851 Sojourner Truth uttered these four words - Ain’t I A Woman at a suffragists rally and this question echoes to this day.  A contemporary book title reimages this same sentiment -  All the Women are White,  All the Blacks are Men and Some of Us Were Brave an edited volume of stories, political theory, and more (Hull, Scott, & Smith, 1993).   As the national theme for Black History Month (BHM)  focuses on the lives and legacies of Black Women how far have we come to answering Sojourner Truth’s  question from 161 years ago?

Theorists (Collins, 2000; Crenshaw, 1989) look at law and politics and show where the systems are in place that continue to ask Black women to either be black or a woman but never both.  I was struck in learning about legal cases in which, because of the way race and gender are constructed in American Law, women of color had to choose which type of claim to make and that the law did not recognize that there might be a specific experience germane to the lived experiences of Black Women that would differ from the category of women.  I am still reading and wrapping my head around the power of the binary construction to directly impact lives of women of color.

I think about the ways in which binaries work to instantly generate mental pictures in our head.  Let’s try and experiment - when you hear the words -American, Immigrants, Disabled, Veteran, Poor- what images came to mind?  What backgrounds? Ethnicities?  This is the power of hegemony, the ability to make associations “dominant” or “normal” and to have these images go unchecked.

So as we honor Black History Month which icons come to mind?  Most often for me - even as someone who has a lot of exposure to history - its King and Malcolm X.  I honor the work and change that both these men symbolize but sometimes I think hegemonic structures want this to be my first thoughts because it blocks a deeper, richer understanding of how communities come together.  How multitudes of men, women, people from different backgrounds all worked so these leaders and icons could shine in the way that they did.  History and community change is never about one person - even when they symbolize a movement or historical moment in time. 

I am currently reading a biography about Ella Baker and her work with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and again I am struck to learn such history so late in life. Why did I not know about such an important figure? And at the same time, I think  it is  wonderful that this and other new stories about women activists and other movements are coming to light.   So again, as we honor Black History Month and the theme of Black Women’s Legacies and Journeys, let us ask ourselves why within the construct of Black History it is s still important to mark gender explicitly.  It is not a critique but a central question that I ask myself as a Black woman every day.