This past weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing S.H.E. SPITS, a phenomenal performance poetry piece. And it. was. Amazing!

Written and directed by J’Zhanel JZ Cole, S.H.E. SPITS is a bold and refreshing blend of cutting edge spoken word and performance comprised of music, ministry and monologue. Inspired by Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” and Nztozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls,” S.H.E. SPITS debuts an all-female cast of beautiful and exceptionally talented women who perform cutting edge spoken word performances as well as dynamic monologues, promising to deliver the perfect blend of… “Mind Candy & Eye Candy.”

A tribute to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the performance featured five fabulous queens, each donning a different color which represented their characters. They included writer, director and producer of the show, J’Zhanel Cole, QUEEN PINK; co-producer, Anneka LaRobin, QUEEN GREEN; LaToya Morgan, QUEEN YELLOW; Valaira Sa-Ra Smith, QUEEN RED; and Pacey Liz Walker, QUEEN PURPLE. Each piece spoke on relevant topics, from growing up without a father to being the other woman to men treating and approaching women as the queens we are. I love how the performance featured a wide range of women: the queen, the ghetto girl, the other woman, the little girl who grew up without a father and the woman who represented all women. And amazingly, I think we were all able to empathize with each character on some level. The queens also performed in not-a-lot-of clothing, and I really admire their confidence in doing so.

I initally thought that each actress wrote her own piece because they were just that good! They really embodied the characters they were playing, and I could literally feel what they felt as they were speaking. And this was especially true with QUEEN YELLOW’s “My Plea,” in which she spoke about the pain of not having her father around. I grew up with my father in the same household as me, but I could feel the pain and hurt she experienced like it happened to me. Each and every piece had the same effect, and I was captivated by it all.

Overall, the performance was very thought-provoking, beautiful, and one of the best performance poetry pieces I’ve seen. And I left the show feeling so empowered as a woman! If you missed out, no worries! There will be more performances of S.H.E. SPITS and other work from J’Zhanel, so stay tuned!

Jamie Fleming-Dixon

Jamie Fleming-Dixon is the founder and author of ForColoredGurls.com. Her intention is to empower readers, inspire them to live their most fabulous lives and to motivate them to reach for their dreams and goals. This is done through motivational articles and quotes, interviews with women from all walks of life, posts on topics that affect every area of women's lives and more. For more info about Jamie and FCG, email her at info@forcoloredgurls.com.

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Erika Janea Dickerson-Despenza, a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was not happy with the university’s lack of inclusion in their theatrical productions. And she wanted to create a means for women of color to interact with the university’s Campus Women’s Center in a creative way. Ultimately, The For Colored Girls Project was born!

Keep reading to see how Erika and The FCG Project are making a difference.

For Colored Gurls: What is The For Colored Girls Project?
Erika: The For Colored Girls Project is a University of Wisconsin-Madison-based rotating, all women of color theatre ensemble/company aimed at showcasing the medley of theatrical, musical and dance talent of racially and/or ethnically marginalized women-identified persons.

FCG: Why did you create it?
Erika: Well, I did not originally concepetualize The FCG Project as an organization. It was created as a subdivision of the Women in Redzine agenda, a multicultural women’s creative arts magazine I ran as the Publications Coordinator for the Campus Women’s Center (CWC). The Center is not generally used as a resource center by women of color, and the magazine was the only division of the CWC that catered to them. I wanted to provide another outlet for women of color to interact with the CWC in a creative way; we are very expressive women. Ultimately, I resigned from my position at the CWC because I wanted to create a space designed for women of color, by women of color. I envisioned a permanent home for women of color in theatre on UW-Madison’s campus as their needs and special oppression deserved unique attention not afforded them by neither UW Madison’s theatre department or the CWC.

Erika Janea Dickerson-Despenza

FCG: Why did you choose to make it an all women of color ensemble?
Erika: Before becoming an English Secondary Education major (with minors in Gender & Women Studies and Educational Policy), I double majored in Theatre. While I loved advancing my knowledge about directing and the business of theatre, the department was not/is not inclusive. The cast in all of the productions I worked on had all or majority white casts and lead roles were dominated by men. Students of color who were casted were put in insignificant roles that were not race specific or in offfensive, subservient roles. For instance, this past year, one of our graduate members, Lorraine Terry, was casted as the domestic worker in the University Theatre’s (UT) production of You Can’t Take It With You. She was one of two Black people– the other was a Black male playing the maid’s boyfriend– in a cast of over 12 people. UT only produces productions that are written by and for people of color every two to three years under The Lorraine Hansberry Project, a UT requirement. I was simply tired of seeing people of color– women specifically– be treated as unimportant, supportive actors and without regard to our particular histrocity. The history of Black women as domestic workers in America should have been considered when casting Terry as the maid, but it wasn’t. The FCG Project provides the consideration and sense of innate value of women of color that UT and CWC lacks. We have white allies– male and female. Many of them helped with stage crew management. The FCG Project does not seek to exclude whites; we are simply providing a place where women of color are centered and reverenced.

FCG: What do you hope people gain from The Project?
Erika: This is a difficult question because The FCG Project process allows each participant to walk away with different gains. We work from a methodology with four key components: 1. Life & the belief that women of color are inherently valuable and necessary; 2. Sisterhood, Interdependency & Sustainability; 3. Unconventional Arts Ensemble Building; 4. Progressive & Collective Activism & Pro-woman Standpoints. At the very least, each ensemble and company member achieves a greater understanding of these ideas. However, how that manifests varies greatly.

FCG: Why do you think a project like this is important?
Erika: Because we exist and are treated as though we do not. Because UW-Madison is a predominately white university (people of color make up 14 percent of the total population), which means that the needs of women of color are subverted. Because we are the first and only women of color theatre/ensemble company that is not rooted in Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues. Because we are the only theatre group on UW-Madison’s campus that does more than theatre productions; we host workshops, events, volunteer opportunities, collaborative events, etc. The For Colored Girls Project is important because Colored Girls are important.

FCG: What is the goal of The For Colored Girls Project?
Erika: The For Colored Girls Project’s primary objective is to provide women of color the space to respond to the world in their own way, using their own manners, gestures and approach to language while cultivating and encouraging pro-woman/feminist/womanist attitudes, dialogues and lifestyles via performance art. Our mission is to explore, analyze and uncover the often overlooked intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, class, sexual orientation and disability through the mixed-media performance art of women of color.

FCG: What productions has FCG done?
Erika: We are a rapidly growing embryonic organization. In December of 2010, the ensemble produced our namesake piece, Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf in collaboration with the Afro-American Studies Department and the Wisconsin Alumni Association. I directed and co-starred in the performance. We sold out both nights (even in the midst of a blizzard), received critical acclaim by local newspapers, staff and attendees and was highly sought after in Spring 2011 for vignette performances for various organizations. This play will be produced in rotation, bi-annually. December 8, 2011 is opening night for our second production, Rhodessa Jones’ Big Butt Girls, Hard-Headed Women. The piece remembers and humanizes incarcerated women of color and explores the systems of power that alienate them…The production has a four day run with five shows. Fall 2012, I will be directing Shange’s for colored gurls and Keith Antar Mason’s for black boys who have considered homicide when the streets were too much. After our closing show last year, many Black men, specifically the Beta Omicron men of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., were interested in theatre and bombarded me with questions like, “So, can we do a show?” Not only are the two theatre pieces in conversation with each other, but they allow us the opportunity to work with men of color. We hope to collaborate with the Kappa Alpha Psi members since they are the inspiration for the duo production. Collective work and critical conversations between the genders is important to The FCG Project.

FCG: What are some of your future goals with the project?
Erika: I am simply laying the foundation for an organization that I would like younger women of color at UW-Madison to take refuge in and continue. Expansion and building community are certainly goals for the FCG Project. Extensive community and campus outreach are also current short-term and long-term goals for the FCG Project. Women friends from the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois-Champagne have contacted us [to ask] if we could assist them in starting [a project] like ours or a chapter at their respective schools. We’re starting the process of Midwestern regional expansion. I’d also like to see ensemble members write and produce their own material. The future of The Project is being crafted by the ideas of our dynamic executive board. Our Assistant General Production Manager, Jasmine Calvin, is currently drafting a proposal for the initiation of a mentorship program where FCG members would mentor girls of color. Additionally, she is working on developing a three-day FCG Project Camp for young kids interested in theatre arts workshops. Other plans the women are working on include a Summer 2012 Midwestern “women in theatre” conference and a 2011 alternative winter break to travel and do community service together. I won’t give it all away, but the women of The For Colored Girls Project have great plans for the future!

FCG: What is the For Colored Girls Photo Campaign?
Erika: The Anti-corrective Rape Photo Campaign is an FCG Project consciousness-raising initiative aimed at raising awareness of the gendered criminal practice of corrective rape occurences in South Africa and Jamaica. Men in these countries are raping bisexual, lesbian and women of traditional categories of sexual orientation purportedly as a means of “curing” them of their sexual orientation. Thus far, we have begun the photo campaign (which is ongoing and open to the public to join) and written and recorded audio PSAs. We would also like to record a video PSA, widen participation in the photo campaign and join forces with organizations in Jamaica and South Africa that are combating this gendered criminal practice.

FCG: Why did you create it?
Erika: While we are a theatre ensemble/company, all of the work we do deals with the intersection of oppression of women of color. While researching gender relations in South Africa (where I am currently), I chanced upon a new report about corrective rape. I was horrified and alarmed. I immediately brought this news to The For Colored Girls Project’s executive board. We scheduled a photo campaign that day and took the photos the very next day. Additionally, we wrote and recorded PSAs in English and Spanish to inform not only our campus and Madison community but our global community. Activism is a crucial component to the Project, both on and off stage.

Combating corrective rape is important to The For Colored Girls Project for a number of reasons. Firstly, danger to women anywhere is danger to women everywhere. Furthermore, corrective rape is not only a hate crime, but a gendered hate crime that the government has not yet intervened on behalf of the victims. Furthermore, the intersection of race, sex and, in most cases, class, is one that we encounter daily. Corrective rape is just another context we just fight against. Additionally, there are members of the Project who are LGBTQI [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersexed] identified. Also, members were/are concerned about my safety as a woman of color in Cape Town, South Africa–the leader in both corrective and general rape cases. We make it our mission to combat issues that directly affect the identities and safety of our members.

FCG: What do you hope to accomplish with the campaign?
Erika: We seek to globally inform people of what is happening in order to help save our sisters. The government in South Africa has not interfered even though over 10 cases of corrective rape are reported daily. We hope to join forces with organizations in Jamaica and South Africa that are combating this gendered criminal practice. It is important to never undermine the ability of other countries to solve their own problems. The For Colored Girls Project, while deeply invested in our campaign against corrective rape, make it our business to be of assistance in international dilemmas and not take over the issues. Teamwork is important. It is important to get involved globally but do so with caution, respectability and sensitivity.

FCG: Why do you think people should get involved with it?
Erika: People should get involved with the campaign because rape, trans-Atlantically, is becoming an epidemic that has yet to receive the governmental attention it deserves. Moreover, these women could be mothers, daughters, sisters, nieces and friends of anyone. It is also important to remember that these women are being raped because of what their sexual identity appears to be. It is based on outward appearance and ideas of traditional gender performance. Even if one is not in favor of same-sex relations, one should consider the ways in which these rape problematize gender performance and endanger those who do not conform to those norms.

FCG: What are some of your future goals with the For Colored Girls Photo Campaign?
Erika: We hope that we won’t have to continue the Campaign. However, The Project is considering putting together a photo gallery exhibition at UW-Madison and a fundraiser for shelters and organizations in South Africa and Jamaica. An online photo journal where cross/international participants can all post their photos is a part of the plan. How we move forward entirely depends on the status of the situation.

FCG: Is there anything else you want to add?
Erika: Join The For Colored Girls Photo Campaign against corrective rape, and sign the petition! To sign the petition, click here. To listen to The For Colored Girls Project’s audio PSA, click here. For inquiries, suggestions, booking and more information, email thefcgproject [at] gmail [dot] com; for more information regarding the Fall 2011 production, contact Jasmine Calvin, Assistant General Production Director: jcalvin [at] wisc [dot] edu. For our latest happenings, visit our webpage, and follow us on Twitter.

Jamie Fleming-Dixon

Jamie Fleming-Dixon is the founder and author of ForColoredGurls.com. Her intention is to empower readers, inspire them to live their most fabulous lives and to motivate them to reach for their dreams and goals. This is done through motivational articles and quotes, interviews with women from all walks of life, posts on topics that affect every area of women's lives and more. For more info about Jamie and FCG, email her at info@forcoloredgurls.com.

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Photo from: blackpast.org

 

March is Women’s History Month! To observe, FCG is highlighting women– past and present– who have served as inspirations to women everywhere.

This week, it’s all about Sojourner Truth.

Sojouner Truth, whose legal name was Isabella Van Wagener, was born in 1797 in Ulster county, New York. She was an evangelist and reformer who used her religious fervor for the abolitionist and women’s rights movements.

The daughter of slaves, Sojourner spent her childhood as an abused chattel of many masters. She had at least five children between 1820 and 1827 with a fellow slave, Thomas. Right before slavery was abolished in New York state in 1827, Sojourner found shelter with Isaac Van Wagener, who set her free. She pursued a court battle with the help of Quaker friends and recovered her son, who had been sold illegally into slavery in the South. Around 1829, Sojourner went to New York City with her two youngest children and supported herself through domestic employment.

Sojourner had visions and heard voices that she attributed to God, so while she was in New York City, she connected with Elijah Pierson, a zealous missionary. She worked and preached in the streets and joined his Retrenchment Society and ultimately his household.

In 1843, Sojourner left New York City, and that’s when she took the name “Sojourner Truth,” which she used from that moment on. She obeyed a supernatural call to “travel up and down the land” singing, preaching and debating at camp meetings, in churches and on village streets. She urged listeners to accept the biblical message of God’s goodness and the brotherhood of man. The same year, she was introduced to abolitionism at a utopian community in Northhampton, Massachusetts, and from then on, spoke on behalf of the movement throughout the state.

Sojourner traveled throughout the Midwest in 1850; her reputation for personal magnetism was already known and brought in large crowds. She supported herself by selling copies of her book, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth, which she had dictated to Olive Gilbert. Sojourner also encountered the women’s rights movement in the early 1850s. Other women leaders encouraged her (particularly Lucretia Mott), and she continued appearing before suffrage gatherings for the remainder of her life. She gave her most famous speech, Ain’t I a Woman?, in 1851 at a women’s right convention in Ohio.

At the start of the Civil War, Sojourner collected supplies for black volunteer regiments. In 1864, she traveled to Washington, D.C., where she helped integrate streetcars and was received at the White House by President Abraham Lincoln. That same year, she agreed to an appointment with the National Freedmen’s Relief Association, counseling former slaves, especially in matters of resettlement. As late as the 1870s, Sojourner encouraged the freedmen to migrate to Kansas and Missouri. In 1875, she returned to her home in Battle Creek, Michigan, where she remained until her death in 1883.

“If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down, these women together ought to be able to turn it right again.”
- Sojourner Truth

Sources:
Sojourner Truth Biography
Sojourner Truth

Jamie Fleming-Dixon

Jamie Fleming-Dixon is the founder and author of ForColoredGurls.com. Her intention is to empower readers, inspire them to live their most fabulous lives and to motivate them to reach for their dreams and goals. This is done through motivational articles and quotes, interviews with women from all walks of life, posts on topics that affect every area of women's lives and more. For more info about Jamie and FCG, email her at info@forcoloredgurls.com.

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March is Women’s History Month! To observe, FCG is highlighting women– past and present– who have served as inspirations to women everywhere.

This week, it’s all about Kimora Lee Simmons.

Kimora Lee Simmons was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. She was a child who stood out from the crowd: She’s mixed with Asian and Black (which wasn’t common in St. Louis), and by the time she was 10, she towered over her classmates at 5’10. Her mother enrolled her in modeling classes, and when Kimora was 13, her unique beauty caught the attention of agents at a Midwest model search. She ended up going to Paris and promptly earned an exclusive contract with the House of Chanel.

During her career as a model, Kimora appeared on the covers and in the pages of several national and international magazines including Vogue, Elle and Harper’s Bazzar. She also worked with some of the world’s most renowned designers including Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent.

Kimora launched Baby Phat with then-husband Russell Simmons in 1999. Ultimately, it grew into a lifestyle brand with products ranging from jewlery to footwear to handbags and fragrances. While working with Baby Phat, Kimora also launched her junior brands Koture by Kimora and Fabulosity. Her book, Fabulousity: What It Is and How To Get It, was published in 2006, and in 2007, she began starring in the reality TV show, Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane.

In 2010, Kimora parted ways with Baby Phat and started giving her full attention to her KLS Collection, a line of chic and contemporary sportswear designed for the women who’ve evolved with her over the last 10 years. She also created The KLS Design Group, a springboard company for fashion and beauty incubation. This spring, the group, along with skincare company Makari De Suisse, will launch Shinto Clinical, a clinically proven and innovative skincare line.

Kimora is also a philanthropist, advocate for women’s empowerment issues and patron of the arts. She donates her time and support to several charitable organizations such as Dress for Success and the Make A Wish Foundation. Additionally, she established The Kimora Lee Simmons Scholarship Fund at her alma mater in St. Louis.

Home and and family are essential to Kimora; she is married to actor Dijimon Hounsou and has three children: Aoki Lee, Ming Lee and Kenzo Lee.

“Live life on your own path. Everybody’s got something different. You can’t keep up with all those people, so you better keep up with yourself.”
- Kimora Lee Simmons

[Source & Photo Credit]

Jamie Fleming-Dixon

Jamie Fleming-Dixon is the founder and author of ForColoredGurls.com. Her intention is to empower readers, inspire them to live their most fabulous lives and to motivate them to reach for their dreams and goals. This is done through motivational articles and quotes, interviews with women from all walks of life, posts on topics that affect every area of women's lives and more. For more info about Jamie and FCG, email her at info@forcoloredgurls.com.

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Photo from: areusoladylike.blogspot.com

March is Women’s History Month! To observe, FCG is highlighting women– past and present– who have served as inspirations to women everywhere.

This week, it’s all about Marian Anderson.

Opera singer Marian Anderson was born on February 27, 1897 (according to her birth certificate), but throughout her life, she gave her birthdate as February 17, 1902. The oldest of three daughters, Anderson was born in Philadelphia and began her music career early at a local Baptist church. She joined the junior choir when she was six, and when she was eight, her father bought a piano. Since her family couldn’t afford lessons, Anderson taught herself how to play. At 13, she joined the senior choir at church, became well-known and accepted invitations to sing at various places.

She attended William Penn High School where she initially focused on a commercial education course to get a job. When her music vocation developed, she transferred to South Philadelphia High School, concentrating on music and singing often at assemblies. After Anderson graduated, she applied to a local music school but was rejected because she was black. Her singing invitations grew to tours that focused on black colleges and churches in the South; soon she was making $100 per concert. In 1924, Anderson held a concert at New York’s Town Hall; unfortunately, not many people attended, and critics found her voice lacking. She was so discouraged that she thought about deserting her career choice. However, soon after that, she won a singing contest through the Philadelphia Philharmonic Society. In 1925, Anderson entered and won the Lewison Stadium competition, where she gained the attention of Arthur Judson, a significant impresario who put her under contract.

Anderson toured the eastern and southern states in 1926, and she did a solo recital at Carnegie Hall in 1928. Although she was successful, she still mainly performed for black audiences. Throughout her career, Anderson worked primarily in Europe, and by 1938, she was performing about 70 times a year.

During her life, Anderson experienced racism, but the most famous event happened in 1939.  Sol Hurok, who worked with her, tried to rent Washington, D.C.’s Constitutional Hall but was told no dates were available. The real reason they couldn’t use the bulding? Anderson was black. The public was outraged; so much so that famous musicians protested, and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) who owned the hall. Anderson ended up doing a free open-air concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday. She sang before 75,000 people and millions of radio listeners.

Anderson received many rewards throughout her career, including the Springarn Medal, which was given annually to black Americans who “shall have made the highest achievement during the preceding year or years in any honorable field of endeavor,” and in 1980, the U.S. Treasury Department coined a half-ounce gold commemorative medal in her likeness.

She passed on April 8, 1993 at 96-years-old.

“When you stop having dreams and ideals– well, you might as well stop altogether.”
- Marian Anderson

[Source]

Jamie Fleming-Dixon

Jamie Fleming-Dixon is the founder and author of ForColoredGurls.com. Her intention is to empower readers, inspire them to live their most fabulous lives and to motivate them to reach for their dreams and goals. This is done through motivational articles and quotes, interviews with women from all walks of life, posts on topics that affect every area of women's lives and more. For more info about Jamie and FCG, email her at info@forcoloredgurls.com.

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Photo from: ethiopianreview.com

March is Women’s History Month! To observe, FCG is highlighting women– past and present– who have served as inspirations to women everywhere.

This week, it’s all about Liya Kebede.

Supermodel and philanthropist Liya Kebede was born in Addis Alaba, Ethiopia on January 3, 1978. Her family was pretty well-off; her father worked for a national airline company and her mother worked in public relations.

Ultimately, Liya was introduced to a French modeling agent, and after completing her studies, she moved to Paris to work as a model through a Parisian agency. However, Liya was with the agency for just three months.

She moved to New York in 2000 and got her big break the same year when Tom Ford personally selected her for an exclusive contract for his Gucci Fall/Winter 2000 fashion show. From there, her career skyrocketed. Liya has graced the covers of several magazines including U.S. Vogue (twice), Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish Vogue, Essence and South African Elle. In 2003, Liya became the newest and first woman of color to represent Esteè Lauder cosmetics.

In 2005, she was appointed the World Health Organization’s Goodwill Ambassador for Maternal Newborn and Child Health. She works with WHO to increase awareness and improve the health of mothers and children worldwide. Liya’s organization, The Liya Kebede Foundation, is committed to ensuring that every woman, no matter where she lives, has access to life-saving care. The organization works to educate policy makers and support programs that save lives in partnership with governments, non-governmental organizations, corporations and affected communities.

“If you don’t have a dream in life, I don’t know what you have. You have to want something beyond your reach; it’s exciting when it works out.”
- Liya Kebede

Sources:
www.liyakebede.com
Black Supermodel Chronicles

Jamie Fleming-Dixon

Jamie Fleming-Dixon is the founder and author of ForColoredGurls.com. Her intention is to empower readers, inspire them to live their most fabulous lives and to motivate them to reach for their dreams and goals. This is done through motivational articles and quotes, interviews with women from all walks of life, posts on topics that affect every area of women's lives and more. For more info about Jamie and FCG, email her at info@forcoloredgurls.com.

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First up is Michelle Obama.

Photo from: eurthisnthat.com

First lady, Chicago city administrator, lawyer, community outreach worker, mom and wife, Michelle Obama was born January 17, 1964 in Chicago.

She was raised on the South Side of Chicago with her parents and older brother. By the time she was in sixth grade, Michelle was in gifted classes, and she went on to attend the city’s first magnet high school for gifted children. She graduated from Whitney M. Young Magnet High School in 1981 as class salutatorian. Michelle then attended  Princeton University and graduated cum laude in 1985 with a B.A. in Sociology; she went on to receive a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1988.

After law school, Michelle served as an associate in the Chicago branch of the law firm Sidley Austin in the areas of marketing and intellecutal property. And that’s where she met her future spouse, Barack Obama, a summer intern whom she was assigned as an adviser.

Michelle left her job and launched her career in public service, working as an assistant to Mayor Daley and then as the assistant commissioner of planning and development for the City of Chicago. In 1993, Michelle became Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies, a non-profit leadership-training program that helped young adults develop skills for future careers in the public sector. And in 1996, she joined the University of Chicago as associate dean of student services; she also developed the University’s first community service program. Michelle went on to work for the University of Chicago Hospitals beginning in 2002 as executive director of community relations and external affairs. In 2005, she was appointed vice president of community relations and external affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

As our First Lady, Michelle has focused her attention on such issues as the support of military families, assisting working women in balancing career and family and encouraging national service.  She’s also very conscious of her family’s diet and health and has supported the organic food movement. In 2009, Michelle worked with 23 fifth grade students from a local Washington, D.C. school to plant a 1,100 square foot garden of fresh vegetables and put in bee hives on the South Lawn of the White House. In 2010, her efforts to fight childhood obesity neared the top of her agenda.

With all of her work and achievements, Michelle’s top priority is making sure her children are healthy and grounded. 

“One of the lessons that I grew up with was to always stay true to yourself and never let what somebody else says distract you from your goals. And so when I hear negative and false attacks, I really don’t invest any energy in them because I know who I am.”
- Michelle Obama

Jamie Fleming-Dixon

Jamie Fleming-Dixon is the founder and author of ForColoredGurls.com. Her intention is to empower readers, inspire them to live their most fabulous lives and to motivate them to reach for their dreams and goals. This is done through motivational articles and quotes, interviews with women from all walks of life, posts on topics that affect every area of women's lives and more. For more info about Jamie and FCG, email her at info@forcoloredgurls.com.

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Photo from: bet.com

In honor of Black History Month, I’m highlighting some of my favorite black women writers.

This week, it’s all about Toni Morrison.

Born Chloe Anthony Wofford on February 18, 1931 in Lorain, Ohio, Toni Morrison lived in an integrated neighborhood and didn’t become completely aware of racial divisions until she was a teen. She was dedicated to her studes, taking Latin in school and reading several great works of European literature. Morrison graduated with honors from Lorain High School in 1949.

As a student at Howard University, she continued to pursue her interest in literature; she majored in English and minored in the classics. Morrison graduated in 1953, continued her education at Cornell University and earned her Master’s degree in 1955. After moving to Texas to teach English at Texas Southern University, she returned to Howard to teach English in 1957. Morrison married in 1958, and she and her husband had their first child. She joined a writers group she met on Howard’s campus and began working on her first novel.

Morrison and her husband separated and ultimately, she and her two sons moved to New York where she worked for a textbook publisher as a senior editor. She later worked for Random House, editing works for authors like Toni Cade Bambara and Gayl Jones.

In 1989, Morrison became a professor at Princeton University and continued to write. She established a special workshop for writers and performers called the Princeton Atelier in 1994. The purpose of the program was to help students produce original works in a variety of artistic fields. Outside of her academic work, Morrison continued writing new works of fiction. She retired from Princeton in 2006.

An advocate for the arts, Morrison spoke out about censorship in October 2009 after one of her books was banned at a Michigan high school. The same year, she served as editor for Burn this Book, an essay collection on censorship and the power of the written word.

Morrison has written several books including Tar Baby, Beloved, The Bluest Eye, Sula and The Big Box, The Book of Mean People, a children’s book. Awards she has received include:

• Pulitzer Prize for fiction
• Nobel Prize in Literature (the first Black woman to do so)
• Commander of the Arts and Letters, Paris
• National Humanities Medal
• Listed on list of 100 Greatest African-Americans by scholar Molefi Kete Asante

“True, the Black woman did the housework, the drudgery; true, she reared the children, often alone, but she did all of that while occupying a place on the job market, a place her mate could not get or which his pride would not let him accept. And she had nothing to fall back on: not maleness, not whiteness, not ladyhood, not anything. And out of the profound desolation of her reality, she may have very well invented herself.”
- Toni Morrison

[Source]

Jamie Fleming-Dixon

Jamie Fleming-Dixon is the founder and author of ForColoredGurls.com. Her intention is to empower readers, inspire them to live their most fabulous lives and to motivate them to reach for their dreams and goals. This is done through motivational articles and quotes, interviews with women from all walks of life, posts on topics that affect every area of women's lives and more. For more info about Jamie and FCG, email her at info@forcoloredgurls.com.

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Photo from: newsinfo.iu.edu

In honor of Black History Month, I’m highlighting some of my favorite black women writers.

This week, it’s all about Dr. Maya Angelou.

Born Marguerite Annie Johnson, Dr. Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri on April 4, 1928. She was raised in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. Although Dr. Angelou experienced the brutality of racial discrimination as a child in Stamps, she also took in the unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family, community and culture.

Dr. Angelou had a love for the arts and won a scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco’s Labor school. She dropped out at 14 and became San Francisco’s first African-American female cable car conductor. Eventually, Dr. Angelou finished high school and gave birth to her son, Guy, a few weeks after graduating. As a young single mom, she provided for her son by working as a cook and waitress. When she began her career as a nightclub singer, she changed her name to Maya Angelou.

With a passion for music, dance, performance and poetry, Dr. Angelou toured Europe with a production of the opera Porgy and Bess, danced with Alvin Ailey on television variety shows and in 1957, recorded her first album, Calypso Lady. The following year, she moved to New York and embarked on a writing career, joining the Harlem Writers Guild. In 1960, Dr. Angelou moved to Cairo, Egypt, where she worked as editor of the English language weekly, The Arab Observer. She returned to the states in 1964.

Dr. Angelou has written several books including I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Still I Rise, Gather Together In My Name and Great Food, All Day Long. Awards she has received include:

• A Pulitzer Prize nomination for Just Give Me A Cool Drink of Water ‘Fore I Die
• Langston Huges Medal
• NAACP Image Award, Outstanding Literary Work, Nonfiction for Even the Stars Look Lonesome
• Mother Theresa Award
• Inducted in the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site
• Lincoln Medal

As a poet, historian, educator, best-selling author, actresss, playwright, civil rights activist, producer and director, Dr. Angelou still travels the world, sharing her legendary wisdom.

“Each of us have that right, that possibility, to invent ourselves daily. If a person does not invent herself, she will be invented. So, to be bodacious enough to invent ourselves is wise.”
- Dr. Maya Angelou

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Jamie Fleming-Dixon

Jamie Fleming-Dixon is the founder and author of ForColoredGurls.com. Her intention is to empower readers, inspire them to live their most fabulous lives and to motivate them to reach for their dreams and goals. This is done through motivational articles and quotes, interviews with women from all walks of life, posts on topics that affect every area of women's lives and more. For more info about Jamie and FCG, email her at info@forcoloredgurls.com.

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Photo from: nachalooman.wordpress.com

In honor of Black History Month, I’m highlighting some of my favorite black women writers.

This week, it’s all about Rev. Dr. Iyanla Vanzant.

Iyanla Vanzant grew up as a neglected, overweight, sexually abused child who was moved from one family to another. She became a teen mom on welfare and lived in the projects.

But, Vanzant made the decision to take control of her life: She left her second marriage and enrolled at Medgar Evers College in New York and then at the City University of New York Law School. Vanzant moved to Philadelphia with her children and worked as a public defender for three years. She eventually became an ordained minister, committed to a message based on principles of divine power and self-determination.

Ultimately, Vanzant combined her professional skills and life’s lessons to begin a writing and speaking career. Books she’s written include In the Meantime (which was a #1 New York Times bestseller, and it spent 20 weeks on the list), Yesterday I Cried: Celebrating the Lessons of Living and Loving, Acts of Faith: Meditations for People of Color and Faith in the Valley: Lessons for Women on the Journey to Peace. Vanzant has over eight million books in print.

Her awards include:

• An “Oni” by the International Congress of Black Women as one of the nation’s unsung heroes.
• Being listed among the 100 Most Influential African-Americans by Ebony magazine.
• The 31st NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Literary Work, Non-Fiction” for Yesterday I Cried.
• Two honorary Doctorate degrees.
• Being included as one of the “Women of the New Century” by Newsweek magazine.

Vanzant still works with Inner Visions Worldwide, Inc., a network she created that consists of spiritual and holistic practitioners who believe that all individuals must be empowered.

“What I have learned from all the difficulties in my own life is that human beings have very thick skin. I call that skin spirit, our Highest Most Powerful self. Spirit is the key to everything we desire. It is our weather-proofing, our Teflon, our line of credit that assures if we just keep putting one foot in front of the other, one day, there will be a miraculous payoff.”
- Iyanla Vanzant

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Jamie Fleming-Dixon

Jamie Fleming-Dixon is the founder and author of ForColoredGurls.com. Her intention is to empower readers, inspire them to live their most fabulous lives and to motivate them to reach for their dreams and goals. This is done through motivational articles and quotes, interviews with women from all walks of life, posts on topics that affect every area of women's lives and more. For more info about Jamie and FCG, email her at info@forcoloredgurls.com.

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