When I was growing up, Mary Poppins, along with the likes of The Sound of Music and West Side Story, was a household favourite. But there were certain numbers in each show that really seemed to strike a chord with my young heart. In Mary Poppins, it was the ‘Sister Suffragette’ song. I would don a homemade sash and march around the house shouting with great gusto, ‘Votes for Women!’ much to the delight of the rest of my family I’m sure. At that time I didn’t fully comprehend the complexities of the fight, but I resonated with this understanding that there had been a great injustice and it was pertinent to my life that it had been rectified - at least in the ability to vote. Even now when I hear these lyrics, my heart leaps a little and I want to jump to my feet and sing along with Mrs Banks:
‘Our daughters’ daughters will adore us,
And they’ll sing in grateful chorus
“Well done, Sister Suffragette!”’
This week, America, and the rest of the world, witnessed a moment in history as the first woman ever was sworn into the second highest office in the land, that of Vice President. Not only has Kamala Harris broken that glass ceiling, but she has also paved the way for women of color as the first African American and South Asian woman to take that role. Whichever way you lean politically, you can’t deny that history has been made!
As a family we sat and watched the inauguration ceremony - as we try to do with each new term - and we were all struck by the beautiful display and honoring of people from a variety of backgrounds and cultures. What has stayed with me since though, is how many women were celebrated that day. Not least of these was a beautiful black woman, and the youngest inaugural poet in US history, Amanda Gorman, who delivered her piece, ‘The Hill We Climb’ with the clarity, authority and grace of a biblical prophet. I am still moved to tears as I listen to her words and the prayer for unity that is laced within them.
“And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us,
but what stands before us.
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside.
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another.
We seek harm to none and harmony for all.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true,
that even as we grieved, we grew,
that even as we hurt, we hoped,
that even as we tired, we tried,
that we'll forever be tied together, victorious.”
All week I have found myself thinking a lot about the journey women have made throughout history, and the space that we now find ourselves in, which is not without hindrances or barriers to overcome, but considerably freer than we have ever been before. I have been moved by the stories I have soaked in of fearless women who have gone before me, and in some cases literally given their lives, to the cause of freedom for others. Mary Ann Shadd Cary, Mary McLeod Bethune, Antoinette Blackwell, Shirley Chisholm, Susan B. Anthony to name but a few.
Not one of us is where we are today simply by our own effort, intelligence, wit or design. We inhabit the spaces in our communities, with the privileges that we have, because of those that have gone before us. And we will continue to pass on those same, or increased legacies, to the generations which follow. So this week I celebrate my sisters and their victories, both those who have stepped in time before me, and those to whom the history books are writing about today. There is much for us to still journey on in and to grow from, but I will close with some more poignant and true words from this year’s National Youth Poet Laureate:
“We the successors of a country and a time
where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one.”
P.S The graphic I used for this blog was created by Ana Hard and I absolutely love it! Check out her site for more of her amazing work.
