07/23/2026
For our Black women—matriarchs of the home, leaders of the movement, heavy is the head that wears the crown pioneers, and to the fire sparking souls of the trailblazers.
It ain’t easy, but it’s necessary. It’s not pretty, but the dark paths trekked, make way for our future generations. There’s moonlight nights that hugs our tears, and rain filled skies that washes away our fears, for we rise at the peaking of the sun-to continue-with all battles won and triumphed.
And, through it all, crafting, waiting, resting-our heads on the laps of our trusted sisters holding us, we rise.
Today, hold yourself deeply, with this poem written by Maya Angelou-because despite it all, we rise!
🌿Still I Rise by Maya Angelou🌿
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
📸: Ray
🎬: Fede Cortez
🎨: 𝐏𝐀𝐏𝐄 𝙽𝙳𝙸𝙰𝚈𝙴 ✪ African _Muse•|Dark Skin| Formose Mendy 🌴 M L S T 🌴 .usman Pe-inda🌹 Blaack Amina Madicke Seck ASENSIO JR 21 Nadisha Quen'Tell Ndour
