Celebrating Our “Women Of Steel” — BDN Introduction

Reflecting the urgency of the moment, BDN expands the conversation from our “International Women’s Day 2021” commemoration of March 8 and bookends this year’s Women’s History Month with three iterations celebrating grit, determination, strength, and grace of our ‘Women of Steel.’

We begin with Simone Dalton’s “Making Meaning From Memory,” a spirited and deft review of Kim Johnson’s The Illustrated Story of Pan, underscoring the ingenuity that spawned pan’s creation and the integral role women played in sustaining pan’s movements.

Second, in “Kamala Harris: From Howard U. To Vice President,” Kanene Holder maps the course of the VP’s rise to the second-highest office in the land, underlining the pivotal role of Howard University in engendering the Black imagination and success.

Fittingly, we conclude with Martin Felix’s “Raising Malcolm X: Louise Langdon Norton, Malcolm’s Grenadian Mom” which, invokes/unearths the often-neglected story of the revolutionary spirit that forged this central player who continues to inspire the black liberation struggles beyond the 20^thcentury.

Read on, engage the authors, and join our community in conversation…

From BDN Editors…