What Shall I Tell Our Daughters?
By Marian E. Perkins-Phillips JD
Presented by Omni-University
What shall I tell our daughters of the darker hue?
What shall I tell our daughters
of Mother Africa and the diaspora
who live in the United States,
Canada, Brazil, and beyond?
What shall I tell our daughters
of their mothers, grandmothers,
great-grandmothers
and great-great grandmothers
who have been treated as chattel,
overlooked, underappreciated,
mocked, and unjustly maligned,
both in and by, American society
and throughout the world?
What shall I tell our daughters
who are seeking to understand
the present and to prepare for a future
in a world that did not originally,
and does not now,
regard them as free
and free-thinking human beings.
I shall tell our daughters
to read great novels
by our outstanding women authors
such as: Toni Morrison, Audre Lourde,
Octavia Butler, Alice Walker,
Maya Angelou, Zora Neale Hurston
and innumerable others.
The stories of the trials and triumphs of:
Marion Stamps, Dr. Barbara Sizemore,
Queen Mother Helen Sinclair,
Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells,
Fannie Lou Hamer,
Mary McCleod Bethune,
Angela Davis, Asata Shakur,
Betty Shabazz, Coretta Scott King,
and others should be staples
in the library and folklore
of every Black home.
Legends like these
will bolster their courage
and passion for justice.
I shall tell our daughters
to seek out the music of Black Artists
such as: Miriam Makeba, Billie Holiday,
The Clark Sisters, The Staple Singers,
Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin,
Nina Simone, and others
too numerous to mention.
This music will serve as
a"bridge over troubled waters"
and bring them peace and joy.
I shall tell our daughters
to view the transformative artwork of
Dr. Margaret Burroughs,
Elizabeth Catlett, Augusta Savage,
Marva Jolly, Samella Lewis,
and others like them.
I shall tell them that to see themselves
portrayed by artists like these
who love the community
and our people,
will embolden their spirits
and will help them
to see themselves
and the world
in a new and better light.
I shall tell our daughters
to study the scientists
from our community like
the ”Hidden Figures” mathematicians
and “human” computers,
Dorothy Vaughn, Christine Darden,
Katherine Johnson, and Mary Jackson.
They worked for NASA,
and provided expertise
to the first Americans
who flew to the moon,
and took our imaginations
to higher heights.
I shall tell our daughters
to commune with the women
in their own families and communities
and ask to hear and record, if possible,
the testimonies of our mothers,
"aunties", grandmothers,
“play” mothers, church mothers,
sisters, and neighbors .
I shall tell our daughters
of the lasting benefits
to be derived from
learning their life stories:
of working, protesting,
mating, child-rearing,
and learning- to braid hair,
cook greens,
make gumbo (with okra),
sew quilts, garden,
save( for rainy days), etc.
as they honored our God.
For this, as well as all of the above,
is part and parcel of how
“we made a way out of no way”
and “how we got over”
in this land.
I shall tell our daughters
that we have come too far
to stop fighting for our freedom
and for a just and fair society.
I will tell our daughters
that there is a place for them
in our communities, nation,
and the world:
that the time is now
for them to carry forward
the torch that has been lit
and passed on to them
by our elders and our ancestors.
Below, please enjoy, "MotherWit: What Shall We Tell Our Daughters" an episode of "Omni-U Presents: The H3O/Art of Life" television show, with Omni-University Faculty members, Marian Perkins-Phillips JD, and Dr. Asantewaa Oppong Wadie.