It’s been a long uphill climb for women and an especially burdensome one for black women. The beaten that we’ve often taken blazing our own trails has left our self-esteem and self-images quite battered and bruised. Which is why we have celebrated, and continue to celebrate, those famous black female figures that we do so fiercely. They taught their generations, and all those that followed, that black was, and always will be, beautiful.
So in honor of National Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating eight great black women in movies, music, modeling, and social movements, who taught us to love ourselves through their own strength, beauty, and undeniably fabulous styles.
Eartha Kitt
Eartha’s Advice: “Just because you are different does not mean that you have to be rejected.”
Angela Davis
Angela’s Advice: “To understand how any society functions you must understand the relationship between the men and the women.”
Diana Ross
Diana’s Advice: “You can’t just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You’ve got to get out there and make it happen for yourself.”
Grace Jones
Grace’s Advice: “Everyone has to make their own decisions. I still believe in that. You just have to be able to accept the consequences without complaining.”
Pam Grier
Pam On Beauty: “I grew up in a family where we weren’t allowed to talk about beauty or to put any emphasis on physical appearance.”
Beverly Johnson
On Modeling: “I’m not the biggest black model [in the world]. I’m the biggest model.”
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah’s Advice: “Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism.”
Alek Wek
On Beauty: “Beauty is deeper than just what you look at in a picture.”