What’s So Dangerous About an Educated Black Woman?

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The Global Couture t-shirt is black with the words, “Danger, Educated Black Women” on the front.  It has initiated an interesting conversation about what makes an educated Black women so dangerous? Someone even called the shirt racist.  So let’s break it down,shall we?

For hundreds of years Black people in America, were not allowed to be educated.  It wasn’t until after Reconstruction that it was made legal for Black people to receive an education when public schools were created.  Even then, schools for Black children received very little funding from state governments which meant they had fewer books, were housed in worse buildings, and had less qualified teachers than schools for white children.  It wasn’t until 1954 that the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, that the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

All of that discrimination was deliberate.  Many white people inpositions of influence in society, knew that knowledge is power.  In order to render Black people powerless, it was necessary to refuse us access to the ability to read, write, own property, vote, etc. They knew that if we had knowledge, we would be able to challenge many of the injustices Black people faced.  They knew that if we had knowledge, we would be able to challenge white privilege.  In their eyes, it was dangerous for Black people to be educated.

This belief still holds true for many people who don’t want Black people to know the truth about our history, our talents, our worth, our value, and our beauty.  I particularly like the fact that the t-shirt is being worn by a woman with natural hair. Just like how they tried to make us believe that we didn’t deserve to be educated, they don’t want us to know the truth about our beauty.  They don’t want us to know that our natural hair IS beautiful.  They don’t want us to know that our hair is not ugly or shameful or needs to be changed.

Because when you know the truth and are armed with knowledge, you don’t conform to lies.  When you know the truth and are armed with knowledge, you start to challenge old beliefs.  When you know the truth and are armed with knowledge, you begin to be more free and eventually, you have more power. When we know the truth, we are dangerous!

This woman knows her beauty and has embraced her natural hair.  She knows the truth.  So she is a danger to society, and that’s what I love about her!

 What are your thoughts? Comment below. 

Contributor, Jane Lorraine, created Honoring Our HAIRitage as a platform to tell our own story, re-frame the negative messages about natural hair, and spread a more positive view of African American beauty by starting with understanding our history.  


Comments

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