Women's History Month intends to honor, inspire, educate, unite and promote women in the face of forces intent on subjugating and silencing them. It is about those who overcame overt and imbedded assumptions and prejudice to be their best selves. RGB said it well:
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.”
DAY 13: MICHELLE OBAMA
(Free image from Wikipedia Commons)
The wife of American President Barack Obama has earned respect as a lawyer and humanitarian. Like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she was dissuaded from applying to college and "setting her sights too high". All that did was strengthen the resolve of this amazing woman.
She overcame racism and classism to graduate from Princeton University in sociology, using cultural and social negativity to fuel her commitment to excellence. By the time she attended Harvard Law School, Michelle was confident she’d earned her place and the right to belong there, knowing that she could be “both brilliant and black”.
She successfully took on roles with nonprofit agencies, while also becoming an associate dean at the University of Chicago. She met Barack when asked to mentor him at a law firm, and four years later, they married. Michelle was extremely active in Barack’s political campaigns, and often wrote her own well-crafted speeches. She also insisted that weekly family time be part of the equation, regardless of what they were engaged in.
Her time in the White House was marked by initiatives and programs that successfully addressed the needs of children, military families, eating right and fitness: Let’s Move!, Reach Higher, Let Girls Learn, and Joining Forces.
Michelle said she and her husband believe "that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond, and you do what you say you're going to do. That you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them." That approach resonates in me.
Michelle has used her platform to advocate for the people and causes dear to her heart, always engaging with style, grace and passion. She remains one of the most popular female figures in the world, was voted Person of the Year by Time magazine, and topped the Gallup Poll as the Most Admired Woman for three years in a row.
#womanshistorymonth
#womenwhoinspireme
#michelleobama
#creativeworkhour
#CWH