On the last episode of The OverExplainer, we shared a couple of amazing Black women throughout history who have used their activism to disrupt the system and effect change. Sharing the stories of women like Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hamer, Marsha P. Johnson and Tarana Burke.
One thing these women all have in common is that they used their activism and desire for equality to fight for the marginalized.
Ida B. Wells, the journalist, the mother of Black women’s suffrage, the entrepreneur. Think about the fact that this woman did all of this in the 1890s! It wasn’t enough for Wells to be an editor at Memphis’ Free Speech, she had ambitions to co-own the paper, and she did.
She was Black Lives Matter way before Black Lives Matter, using her writing to bring light to the brutal racism plaguing America. Wells was an incredible human, who still to this day is being honored. She recently became the first Black person to have a street in Chicago named after them.
Black women are constantly being listed as the first to do this or that because, well, systemic racism.
Fannie Lou Hamer, known for famously uttering that she’s sick and tired of being sick and tired was one of the first Black women to stand in the U.S. Congress when she, Victoria Gray, and Annie Devine unsuccessfully protested the Mississippi House election of 1964.
Hamer wanted more for Black America. She wanted more than pain, violence and poverty for all Black people and her life was a journey towards that.
In this episode of The OverExplainer, we also highlight Black transwoman pioneer, Marsha P. Johnson as well as #MeToo maverick, Tarana Burke. Watch the full video above.