Teens Become Women Who Make Herstory
It never ceases to amaze me—the power of a teenage girl. When a teenage girl has strong role models and sees herself reflected in women in positions of power, even more is possible. Michelle Obama says, “There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish.”
It’s fitting that I also quote Michelle’s husband, our former President, Barack Obama. When talking about Women’s History Month in 2016, he said about the strong women who have gone before us, “In the face of discrimination and undue hardship, they have never given up on the promise of America: that with hard work and determination, nothing is out of reach. During Women’s History Month, we remember the trailblazers of the past, including the women who are not recorded in our history books, and we honor their legacies by carrying forward the valuable lessons learned from the powerful examples they set.”
When Michelle Obama was a teen in the 1970s, she watched and learned about role models like Frankye Adams, who became involved in the NAACP Youth Council and participated in lunch counter sit-ins at age 17, and Grace Lee Boggs, who took part in the Great Walk to Freedom in Detroit with Martin Luther King and fought for equality in education through an organization called Save Our Sons and Daughters. Miriam Makeba spoke out against apartheid in South Africa and used her music for activism, and Mae Mallory advocated for civil rights and integration in schools.
While watching and listening, Michelle woke up at five o’clock in the morning to begin her across-town bus ride to Chicago’s first magnet high school, Whitney M. Young, named after a civil rights activist. She constantly wondered, “Am I good enough? . . . What if I’m just the best of the worst? . . . Not enough. Not enough.” She returned home at the end of her long school days at six or seven in the evening, ate, and went straight to homework. But she did well in school and gained confidence.
She hung out with the daughter of Rev. Jesse Jackson and marched for causes he championed. When she was applying to colleges, a counselor told her, “I’m not sure you’re Princeton material.” The comments only made her more determined to reach her goals. She says of that time, “Had I decided to believe her, her pronouncement would have toppled my confidence all over again, reviving the old thrum of not enough, not enough.” She had three years of fierce competition, long bus rides, and non-stop studying behind her. “I wasn’t going to let one person’s opinion dislodge everything I thought I knew about myself.”
Today’s teens have an ever-growing list of role models, including Michelle Obama, Kamala Harris, Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, Stacy Abrams, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett (Moderna vaccine), Sydney Barber (first Black, female brigade commander, US Naval Academy), Misty Copeland (first Black woman principal dancer in the American Ballet Theatre), and many, many more.
They also have other teens to bolster their confidence and their resolve. Teens like:
Mari Copeny, who at eight years old became known as “Little Miss Flint” after she wrote a letter to President Obama discussing the water crisis in her home town of Flint, Michigan. Mari went on to establish “Pack Your Back Challenge,” where she donated over 1000 backpacks and school supplies to Flint students. She also worked with the United Nations’ Girl Up Initiative and is the youngest Women’s March Youth Ambassador.
Marley Dias started #1000 Black Girl Books Campaign when she was 11. Her goal was to find 1,000 books with black girls as protagonists. She told Forbes, “I am working to create a space where it feels easy to include and imagine black girls like me as the main characters of our lives.”
Grace Dolan, when she was in the 8th grade, walked into her school “dressed to express the way she felt on the inside: as a girl.” She wrote about the experience: “Everyone was looking. They were laughing, making jokes, and pointing–but I kept walking.” Her list of accomplishments? She co-founded Youth Blackout D.C., served as Ambassador to the White House Initiative on Education Excellence for African Americans, and helped create the Obama administration’s federal guidance for protecting trans students from discrimination.
Yari Shahidi, at 17, played a role in ABC’s Blackish and then in Grownish. She advocates for diversity in Hollywood and girl’s education. She partnered with Young Women’s Leadership Network, launched a mentoring initiative called Yara’s Club, and worked with Michelle Obama on the Let Girls Learn initiative.
Amanda Gorman is a published author (The One for Whom Food is Not Enough) and the first ever Youth Poet Laureate of any color. She pitched her idea, Generation Empathy to Ozy Genius Awards and won. Her long-term goal? To be President of the United States in 2036.