(Angela Davis - Source: mulberrypromenade.deviantart.com)
When I was little, I kept looking for positive and inspiring role models. I remember reading magazines and desperately searching for smart, beautiful and black women and girls that I could refere to as role models. I hardly found them. I remember a few American TV shows, sport events and music videos where black women were represented, but nothing more.
If I focus on the music videos, where you see women used like pieces of meat... These images affect black women, as well as a generation of international young girls and boys who grew up within this misogynic culture. Of course, as soon as you have an interest you discover that the black community have much more to offer like women writers, scientists, politicians, community leaders... A lot of brilliant women that we don't get to see enough.
For the second consecutive year, BET aired the Black Girls Rock show. A TV programme that gives tribute to brilliant and inspiring black women. All year long, this organization provides support to young girls. This is an initiative to follow and applause.
This year, the Awards nominees are...
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The Living Legend Award: Shirley Caesar
Shirley Caesar is a pastor and an eleven-time Grammy-winning gospel singer. Her career in music began in the 1960s with popular gospel group The Caravans, under the tutelage of her mentor Dr. Albertina Walker. Caesar embarked on a solo career in 1966 and has since released over 30 gospel albums. She pastors a church in her native Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. She has received seven Dove Awards between 1981 and 1985 for Black Gospel Album of the Year. The breadth of her career and her continued outreach have earned Caesar the title “First Lady of Gospel.”
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Icon: Angela Davis
Angela Davis is a leading Feminist Studies professor who was a prominent member of the Black Panther and Communist Parties in the 1960s and 1970s. An icon of the Black Power movement, Davis was once placed on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list for kidnapping and murder. She was later found not guilty of either charge. In the 1980s she was a vice presidential candidate on the Communist Party USA ticket. She has since taken her message of social justice to the classroom, as a Professor Emerita of History Consciousness at the University of California Santa Cruz.
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Shot Caller: Laurel Richie
Laurel Richie is a graduate of Dartmouth College who went on to have a successful marketing career. She spent more than 20 years helping to build brands like American Express and Pepperidge Farm, among others, for powerful agency Ogilvy & Mather. Following her time as a marketing executive, she became the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Girl Scouts of the USA, a post she started in 2008. In April 2011, NBA Commissioner David Stern named her president of the WNBA.
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Star Power: Taraji P. Henson
Academy-Award nominated actor Taraji P. Henson made her big-screen debut in the 2001 John Singleton film Baby Boy. Born in Washington D.C., Henson worked two jobs to pay her way through Howard University, graduating with a degree in Theater Arts. She appeared in the 2005 film Hustle & Flow, making her singing debut on the Oscar-winning Three Six Mafia song “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp,” which she performed live at the Academy Awards. She also appeared in the video for Common’s song “Testify,” and had a recurring role on ABC’s Boson Legal. Starring opposite Brad Pitt in the 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Henson was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actress category. She and Terrence Howard hosted BET Centric’s Soul Train Awards in 2009 and 2010.
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Young, Gifted and Black: Tatyana Ali
After moving to Los Angeles from New York City at the age of eleven, Tatyana Ali won the breakthrough role that established her career, playing Will Smith’s spunky cousin Ashley Banks on the hit sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. While filming the show, Ali also made guest appearances on The Cosby Show, The Mickey Mouse Club and Are You Afraid of the Dark? Ali has also found success in the music industry, releasing her single “Daydreamin’” in 1998. Within weeks, the song went gold and rose to number six on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. In 2010, she was the star and executive producer of the BET web series Buppies. Currently, Ali stars in the hit TV One series Love That Girl.
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Trailblazer: Imani Walker and Malika Saada Saar
Along with Malika Saada Saar, Imani Walker is responsible for co-founding the Rebecca Project for Human Rights, a policy and advocacy organization whose mission it is to fight against violence and mistreatment of women and girls in the U.S. and Africa. Walker is also the founder and director of the Rebecca Project's Sacred Authority program. The mother of four is 10 years sober from her own substance abuse problems thanks to a family-centered treatment program.
The source of the biographies is BET's website
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