By E. Faye Williams
BlackPress of America
https://blackpressusa.com/
There are many days when we honor men, but only one week to honor women’s contributions. This Women’s History Month, I am sharing with you some of Mayor Johnny Ford’s references to the history of Black women and the work his organization, the World Conference of Mayors, has done to honor women — especially Black women.
I was so pleased by this rarity that I decided to share the resolution with our readers. I pray that you will share it with your families — especially your children. I ask this because it seems increasingly popular for our government to harm my sisters through layoffs, firings and disrespect in many forms.
I share this because of what some of our sisters have endured — and what some are still enduring. Black women go through more hardship than anyone else in our nation. Many have been used and abused precisely because we are leaders. We are among the highest educated and hardest working, and we are the most active in public service within our communities — often neglecting ourselves so that we have more time and resources to help others.
We all know Black women who go without food so their children can eat. It’s not right, but it’s real. So, in case you didn’t know, let’s take a look at a bit of history and the many things Black women are doing — and have done — for the world. We thank Mayor Ford and his members for honoring us.
Please share this article with as many people as you can. Make somebody’s day by showing Black women that you notice their accomplishments and appreciate their sacrifices.
“RESOLUTION HONORING WOMEN DURING WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH BY Tuskegee’s former Mayor Johnny Ford, now Council member and founder of the World Conference of Mayors who chose to honor us: “WHEREAS, March is set aside as Women’s History Month to honor numerous contributions of women to our nation and the world, as women continue to do so;
WHEREAS, our nation honors and celebrates the contributions in our history, culture and society of women; WHEREAS, women’s history is honored throughout the world, we hold special celebrations to acknowledge women here at home; WHEREAS, women’s history is a special and well-deserved opportunity to say thank you since Black women have so often not been given credit for all they do historically and continue to do to prosper our nation; WHEREAS, Fannie Lou Hamer suffered greatly to gain voting rights for Black Americans; WHEREAS Rosa Parks risked her life to gain the right for Black Americans to sit on a bus in any vacant seat;
WHEREAS, Diane Nash, co-founder of SNCC, organized students to travel to the dangerous South on buses for Freedom Rides; WHEREAS, Dr. Patricia Bath, a pioneering ophthalmologist, invented a laser device for cataract treatment; WHEREAS, Dr. Gladys West, a mathematician, whose work in satellite geodesy was fundamental to the development of GPS Technology; WHEREAS, Mae Jemison was an engineer, physician and former astronaut and first African American woman to travel into space; WHEREAS, Dorothy Vaughan, Katherine Johnson and Mary Jackson were human computers at NASA when some of the greatest strides were made in space.
WHEREAS, Sojourner Truth was the first Black person to sue a white man who took her son into slavery, and she won the case; WHEREAS, Harriet Tubman was a renowned abolitionist, and armed scout for the Union Army — known as the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad; WHEREAS, Callie House was a leader of the National Ex-slave Mutual Relief Bounty and Pension Association, one of the first organizations to campaign for reparations, WHEREAS Ketanji Brown Jackson is the first Black woman to become a Supreme Court justice, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT we honor all women who continue to work to make America great for all!”
We thank Mayor Ford and want him to know that we stand together and are up to the challenge.
