Toni Morrison and her Black Women writing group.  In the group are Alice Walker, June Jordan, Lori Sharpe, Audrey Edwards, and Ntozake Shange.

Gone but will never be forgotten

Toni Morrison February 18, 1931 - August 5, 2019 

If you surrendered to the air, you could ride it.

– Toni Morrison (1931–2019)

Rest in Peace, Toni Morrison. Thank you for your words and your wisdom. You taught me what honest, brave writing looks like.

—

Toni Morrison, Tar Baby, 1981

A beautiful soul has let go of this world.  Rest in Peace.

Toni Morrison, a Nobel Laurete, an icon of the literary world, and an elder in the womanisn movement has died at the age of 88. Born Chloe Ardelia Wofford, Morrison was an unfailing leader in the push for Black women narratives and wrote such classics as Song of Solomon, Sula, and Beloved, the latter of which earned her a Pulitzer Prize. Much can be said about the transformative power of her works, but I’d rather leave you with her own words right now:

Rest in Power, Toni Morrison. Thank you for the gift of your words and the beauty of your life.

Toni Morrison

"I tell my students, ‘When you get these jobs that you have been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else."

Rest in Power.

Rare Photos of Black Rosie the Riveters

During World War II, 600,000 African-American women entered the wartime workforce. Previously, black women’s work in the United States was largely limited to domestic service and agricultural work, and wartime industries meant new and better-paying opportunities – if they made it through the hiring process, that is. White women were the targets of the U.S. government’s propaganda efforts, as embodied in the lasting and lauded image of Rosie the Riveter.Though largely ignored in America’s popular history of World War II, black women’s important contributions in World War II factories, which weren’t always so welcoming, are stunningly captured in these comparably rare snapshots of black Rosie the Riveters.

Reblogging because I’ve never seen these before, and I bet a lot of people haven’t. 

My great grandma was a bomb builder in Cleveland. There’s a restaurant in the city, near the airport, called 101st Bombardiers (I think) that we went to after her funeral. We got into a conversation with the owner about how she specifically wanted us all to go there, and the owner called up the previous owner, her mother, who showed up and told us tales about my grandmother from back when they worked together. I don’t know if there were any women of color they worked with, but knowing my grandmother they would have been fast friends.

— Jiddu Krishnamurti

The Omu of Okpanam, whose name was not recorded, photographed by Northcote Thomas in 1912. Okpanam is an Enuani Igbo town near Asaba in Delta State, Nigeria today. The Omu [awe-mu] are titled women who control markets and are spiritual protectors to the Obi, the king, in Igbo communities west of the Niger River, typically among the Enuani, and in the past in Onicha (Onitsha) and Osomari on the east bank of the Niger River. There is one Omu in each community with the institution. The Omu work closely with diviners performing rites for the community and are the authorities over the opening of markets and resolving disputes within the market. The Omu depending on the community and period take titles typically reserved for men and also dress like men, as a consequence women who are post-menopausal are preferred for the role because such women in Igbo society could achieve the same status as men. As is custom in most communities, the Omu was not allowed to be married to a man, Omu were known to marry wives to assist them and have children for them. Colonialism greatly reduced the power of the Omu in the market and over society in general due to gender bias in the indirect rule system, colonialism was also partly the cause of the disappearance of the institution in some Igbo communities. Today there are many Omu who are still active in their roles.

Ijeoma Umebinyuo, you have been running around in circles (via theijeoma)

Igbo girl with clay edeala patterns. Photo by Herbert Cole, 1966.

People from Ugwu Eke village wearing Igbo masks, near Alayi. Photo by G. I. Jones, 1930s.

Gustaf Bolinder, 1930-31

Titled Igbo men shot by Gustaf Bolinder, 1930-31.

Young Igbo girl from the early 20th century. Photo by G. T. Basden.