<Music> Who is the black woman When you can't she can When you don't she does When you don't know She knows or she'll figure it out When you don't want to she has to When you don't care she encourages you to When you don't have time she makes time When you don't have it she has to get it When you break down she can't When everything is falling down around us she stands When you're tired she can't be When they say she's beautiful she's not included When they say it's a good idea they don't mean hers When you can't find the answer she has it when there is no answer she creates it When she creates it they don't believe her When she builds it they say she didn't When she writes it they take her story When she's having a bad day it doesn't matter because the whole world depends on her When they ask who created it they say someone else When she comes through they don't appreciate her When she contributes they put their name on it When she reaches out for help they don't see or hear her When she cries injustice racism and inequality they say it doesn't exist Often referred to as America's invisible population African American women have consistently contributed their talents education and service to America and abroad however, they have struggled to receive recognition for their contributions their struggles have rendered a history of important lessons that teaches about courage faith perseverance creativity and resilience This documentary focuses on the constant disregard and attempted erasure of the contributions of African American women especially those who have made groundbreaking achievements that have advanced our country Looking at the fabric of this country it is without a doubt that African American women have made a significant impact on the consciousness the ingenuity and healing of this nation We didn't ask to be here We are not immigrants by choice okay so that many of those people who were instrumental in in bringing us and the men right along on the through the Middle Passage uh they knew that they were wrong the middle passage uh was a tumultuous dangerous uh period How did people survive laying so close to people not being able to go outside not having the proper nutrition uh not even having a place to use the bathroom that just being where they were Therefore all of the wrongs that they perceived they put them off on the American black woman For example to say that oh she is promiscuous having all those children out of wedlock they never said a word about coming up with the slave laws that the slaves could not get married because they said so So we hear stories of how black women would breastfeed other babies to to a sustain their lives Black women are nurturers by nature and unfortunately they were exploited their motherhood was exploited by America and all those people those women they're dirty they're nasty and nobody wants to be bothered with them Yet who entrusted their children to them from the time the children needed to needed the mother's milk to the time the children needed a mother's love to get them going past their toddler years past their um pre kindergarten years Who was it who did all the work Who was it who calmed them when they needed to be calmed Who wa it who took care of the minor injuries Black women for centuries have not only given life to children that they bared but also children of the enslaved masters and owners We have born this world this country uh literally from our bodies The axiom of the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world Well we were the ones who were rocking all cradles whether the cradles were for white kids black kids brown kids whatever We were the hand that rocked the cradle and we have raised in a lot of ways the oppressor We've raised our own people We've worked outside of the home worked in the home We've worked in our faith communities tirelessly uh often to our own detriment uh and we're constantly giving and giving and giving and that is not always respected in the way it should be uh nor is it recognized Ef they had not been for the black women who nurtured and cared for the family for the men for the children I don't know if America would be where it is today The word matriarch is going to probably move in and out of definitions based upon one's family structure When I think about the word matriarch I think I would be remiss if I didn't bring up how I feel that African American families had to elevate the word and the meaning because of the deterioration of black families that came as a result of um rules regulations and all of these things relative to uh welfare and families and how these things were uh impacting economically disproportionately economic um um low income families in general that hit African American families obviously harder black and brown families and so I have to say that because uh you ultimately are looking at something you don't have and then judging it based upon um that definition are the lack there of when your cup is not full right um and in many respects let's face it women have had to be the leaders in that family Where there may have been an absence of the traditional norm you know male female relationship with men you know not being there so I you know I said a lot relative to my definition and and what I feel America you know has done to tried to deteriorate the black family and I feel like as usual Women have swooped in and said here's who we need to be I keep the everything on the rails and so whatever is good about your families as strong women strong mothers in the next generation you continue that and then we need to unlearn some things too right cause we are now you know you you're sma.. right and so for each generation we need to say what is it that we nee.. and what do we need to let go and I believe that that's part of the job of a.. and we can't worry about uh what other cultures are doing What are you doing to preserve your family culture and not just African American culture your family culture Are you even sitting down at the dinner table Let's just start with the basics right and so matriarch is what you make it contributions the numerous contributions contributions contributions have been of our people It is important to highlight and honor the contributions of African American women not only because their works are part of American history but more importantly because they have successfully impacted the growth of America We find these contributions in all aspects of life including civil rights medicine science astronomy engineering anthropology history and the arts So we absolutely need black women We absolutely benefited from the contributions of the existence of a black woman very very important that we not only talk about um the African American woman's contribution individually and as a group because only so much information may be published perhaps during the presence so that that means not only do we talk about it We dedicate um our informative process during February which during which we highlight Black History Month in particularly in March uh during which we highlight all of the contributions to the fabric of the American society by women black white brown uh red yellow or otherwise often times we might think of Madam CJ Walkers of the world who invented hair care products or the person who invented the hairbrush or even Margaret Garner who escaped slavery in the 1800s and she escaped to Cincinnati and what's interesting about her story is When the oppressors caught up with her um she murdered her own daughter and there are many individuals who don't understand th.. but she said death was better than slavery and I can absolutely relate to that but there have been some significant uh inventions in technology that and inventions that black women um contributed The one I think of is Doctor Shirley .. who invented the technology for the touch tone phone and FAX machines and the fiberoptic cables also um Alice Parker who invented the the heater other inventors uh Doctor Patricia Bath and she invented the process to remove cataracts and um Mary Van Britten Brown the home security system and so these are all inventions that we use in our lives every day and we can honor black women for those contributions Now the ladies who have been impactful to me there are so many I already mentioned Mary McLeod Bethune because I liked the way that she operated and she was an educator and she stuck with it and she devised all kinds of ingenious legal ways of moving the educational needle as far along as she possibly could Shirley Chisholm her being courageous and tenacious enough to run Barbara Jordan a brilliant mind Fanny Lou Hamer and there were numerous women during that era that we don't know because they stayed in the background there were hundreds of others of not thousands across the country I always marvel at the brilliance of an Angela Davis she was mentored by Kathleen Cleaver you know who you don't hear so much about you hear about Eldridge Cleaver but Kathleen Cleaver was the strength behind the party other individuals that come to mind is Michelle Obama and what I love so much about Miss Obama is she was more than the first lady the fact that she was the first African American first lady but she showed up in a way no other first lady had ever shown up She's an attorney Right she was beautiful She had her own thought She was poised She had integrity and she was really the role model of what a first lady should be and there are many who tried to emulate her but no one could be her The other thing that's so interesting is that in the midst of being as amazing as she was there were so many haters people had all kind of things They were just making up things about her but she stood her ground with integrity and stood by her country and served us very well and in my opinion she deserves a round of applause It is imperative that our children are aware that they come from a rich history of innovators Carter G. Woodson said those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history our children need to know that our history did not begin with slavery and that not all African Americans were slaves there's no guarantee in our school system that the contributions made by women of all generations will be specifically uh studied or even alluded to in the textbooks and uh other uh learning activities that we do have therefore we need to talk about it not only in uh our community but in our clubs in our churches and in other uh avenues of being social and we come from a long history of traditional storytelling so things don't get discussed or handed down or even people aren't even aware The next generation isn't even aware if we're not talking about it It's also just how our people have done things historically um I think it's even more critically important nowadays because we have to cut through the noise and so whether you're working at a company and you know you know it's important if your boss talked about it so that's how you realize it's important well it's important if we are talking about it to our children and I can't even tell you how many people have shared with me oh my mom and my dad they don't really talk about their past so I really don't know them and so that's the interest We can start even in our own homes When you think about the importance of um those who are younger than us um being familiar with our contributions why do you think it's important for them to know that because when they know what we've done and what how we've made contributions It can give them encouragement to continue to press forward to make their contribution If they think all the world is all against me Nobody's ever felt like me What when they have examples of other women who have felt like them or been in their place and yet have created they say well maybe I can do that too uh and I think that's why it's important for us to tell the stories of our grandmothers our great grandmothers There are even women in my life unrelated that poured into me and I knew of their pain and how they created and so every once in a while when I get into myself I can think I can do this because I owe it to them I really do We owe it to one another to keep pressing forward and to um keep being the best we can be but specifically relative to gender and black women I think about how we'll talk about more black girl magic right and that whole era I feel like we're finally promoting uh what the contributions have been of our people and we've talked about or I've heard comments over my lifetime around how the black woman carries so much and so I think by black women hiding or holding everything to uh hold it down if you will or to protect our fami.. are even our our our men if you will from from truth uh it to some degree I don't wanna say we watered it down but we made it look too easy right and so by not talking about um the contributions we've made in the past and that we're standing on the backs of those women and then the contributions we're making today We don't allow our young black women to see all the different shades of us both uh specifically literally and then also sides of us figuratively What I would say to young people is to know your history be it to get a book to see a documentary or to talk to a family member and to listen to someone else and learn about what people have done I think it's very easy to think well you know those people they haven't done anything and you know everything is new and we invented sliced bread but honestly if we're looking at it we know uh that we're standing on their shoulders and so if we don't know our history we're doomed to repeat it and we can also learn things from history to avoid or maybe to repeat and so that's why it's so important to touch base with your elders touch base with uh leaders in the community to listen to your mother your grandmother your great grandmother if you're so blessed to have that a.. people in the community learn from them Ask them you know what what would you tell your younger self I think that's a really really powerful question that was a coaching one of my young cousins and young is like 30 something right and I was saying this is the one area I don't do well right because they'll look at me and say oh uh TT Kelly you've done this TT Kelly you've done that Cousin Kelly you've done that um but I have to tell them my testimony prior to that happening you know that I was mopping floors during my college years to make ends meet you know to get through uh so that they see the whole picture No.1 and then No.

2 I think they don't realize that we struggle too and whether you're talking about in your job at church I was a part of a church retreat where young Christian women were saying you know we just thought y'all had it all together you know so I think we have .. uh that it was hard um here's how I got through and that as I even look back on my own life um here's something I could have done differently and the done differently what for me was um I didn't say no I didn't ever put myself first many times it took me you know being over 50 to finally say now I can focus on me and my son, who's grown and this and that, and so I think we don't express that in enough detail to help young women and young girls know that you know it might be a struggle but you'll get through Here's how I got to provide those examples how has America benefited from the work of black women is a huge question and it brings up the concept of reparations uh which has gotten a resurgence with the general population uh and people are talking about it in a way that they haven't in many years and I think what it speaks to is that unpaid labor or that not fully paid labor that has been done for hundreds of years where black women were taking care of their families they were taking care of other people's families uh perhaps they were farming um just constantly giving and giving and giving and that due respect not necessarily being there and even now you see uh in the political arena that if uh politicians want to win elections they come to black women they'll come to black women to win elections but then when it comes time to be reciprocal then no one's there Oh we forgot and we didn't have time We had to take care of these other people But you're seeing now that women are banding together and saying no we're we're not gonna go for that uh What you need to do is show us what you're gonna do now and then we'll determine if we're gonna back you Smartest lady that I have ever known was a lady that was called my mother very very smart always always always for education but she was a loving mother Two women that uh have been instrumental in inspiring me uh that have contributed so much um for me it would be Ida B.

Wells and Oprah Winfrey So I went with kind of the recent history and then um past history if you will and I say Ida B.

Wells Well one, I started my whole career in communications and so I was very much attracted to uh any woman that looked like me um that was speaking for more than herself or her broader community um so I I but I feel strongly that it's not enough I mean I hope everybody does it but it's not enough for me to pick one young lady and and tell her you know give her some career advice or mentor her take her under my wing I mean I that's good but when you look at the trajectory of our people our race I mean we got some making up to do right you know we got a lot of work t.. and so I'm big on a one to many strategy right so mentoring a group of women right and so I think I look at Ida B.

Wells and Oprah Winfrey because they made sure that they were as my first mantra in this work of diversity equity inclusion would say they were the voice for the voiceless Personally, an individual that made an impact on my life is Dr. Jacqueline Greenwood She was my high school principal at Arlington High School in Indianapolis and to this day Dr Greenwood is she's retired now but she is still helping children um she made me see She saw something in me that I didn't see in myself and that was I was a leader that I uh had a voice and she would put me in situations that I didn't believe I deserve to be in but she saw me as a black woman and I will be forever grateful for her believing in me giving me a voice and every single day I'm living to make her proud the one thing in a nutshell I think that kinda encompasses my perspective and thoughts around um how we really you know build the next generation of strong black women or or strong black communities it's still rooted in the basics of pulling up and reaching back and helping someone else from the community you came from I would be remiss if I didn't say to the women that are listening right now uh you are enough you have everything you need to achieve whatever your dreams are um just take it one day at a time uh get a plan get a mentor get a support system read learn your history and follow your passion but even more than that take care of you because you're the only you you have We have to center self preservation We can't continue to put ourselves at the bottom of our to do list we can't continue to work even though we're sick even though we're tired even though we don't have enough of whatever we have to stop and take care of ourselves so we can be the best we can be so what I wanna share with anyone watching this video is um one to eliminate distractions and self hatred There have been some behaviors that our community has adopted from the oppressor that is negatively impacting us and that comes in the way of how we talk about black women negatively how we don't show respect for black women consistently and that needs to stop It needs to stop today we need to stop talking about um black women in rap videos Black women need to show up as the beautiful Queens that we are um the other thing I believe that America owes us is the way that black women have shown up for America It's time for America to show up for us <Music>