From the very roots of humanity in Africa, the Black woman has stood at the threshold of human evolution, resilience, and power. Our lineage reaches back nearly three million years, to "Homo habilis," and then forward to "Homo sapiens," our own species, which emerged some 300,000 years ago... also in Africa. The story of human evolution is not linear but interwoven. Early humans, like "Homo sapiens," lived alongside and interbred with other hominins, forming a genetic mosaic that is still being unraveled. Africa, the cradle of civilization, bore not only the bones of our ancestors but the soul of future nations.
One of the most profound archaeological discoveries, the fossilized remains of "Lucy" (Australopithecus afarensis), found by Donald Johanson in 1974 in Hadar, Ethiopia, further confirmed Africa as the genesis of human life. Lucy and her kind thrived for nearly a million years... long before the rise and fall of empires. Her presence reminds us that Black Women did not merely emerge into history; they shaped it from the very beginning.
And shape it they did. The pages of antiquity hold the names of regal Black Queens who ruled with grace, strategy, and strength. Queen Nefertiti of Egypt, known for her beauty and power, co-ruled a kingdom that helped redefine religion and art. Queen Hatshepsut, one of the few female pharaohs, led Egypt into a period of peace and prosperity unmatched in its time. Queen Makeda, known as the Queen of Sheba, not only held dominion over a wealthy and sophisticated kingdom but also engaged in diplomatic relations with King Solomon. Queen Amina of Zaria expanded her territory with military brilliance in 16th-century Nigeria. And Queen Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba, with indomitable will, resisted Portuguese colonization for decades, using both diplomacy and warfare.
These were not mere symbolic figures. They were architects of nations, defenders of sovereignty, and torchbearers for future generations. Their legacies are not myths; they are historical blueprints... lessons in leadership, resistance, and vision.
Today, as America faces moral decay, systemic inequality, and political instability, it is again the Black Woman who rises. A new Moses, akin to Harriet Tubman, will lead this nation out of its centuries-old moral and spiritual wilderness. We already see her reflection in the courage and clarity of women like Sojourner Truth, Fannie Lou Hamer, Madam C.J. Walker, Shirley Chisholm, Kamala Harris, and Michelle Obama. In the entrepreneurial fire of Oprah Winfrey. In the fierce intellect of Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. In the 94 Black women who have served or are currently serving as mayors across the United States... governing with dignity, conviction, and a deep sense of justice.
These modern-day Queens are doing the work... undaunted by tepid support from their male counterparts. While many African American men remain hesitant, these women advance the cause with boldness. They are not waiting for saviors. They are building futures.
But if we are to match their vision, we must dismantle the economic habits that sabotage our progress. For too long, the Black community has funneled between $7 to $9 billion a month into the church... resources that see no return, no reinvestment into our schools, health systems, housing, or infrastructure. This tithing tradition, rooted in centuries of religious manipulation and exploitation, has become a form of financial servitude. God does not demand payments. The Church, as it stands today, is not financing liberation... it is financing our delay and decay.
We’ve invested in a theological stock that has yielded no dividends. Not a single struggling Black neighborhood has been revitalized by these offerings. No generational wealth has been built. And yet, the donations continue. Would any sane investor keep pouring money into a bankrupt institution? The time has come to divest from spiritual fantasy and reinvest in tangible, earthly transformation.
We must redirect those billions into our own communities, into the hands of our Black Female leaders who know how to build, nurture, and defend. These women are our new financial warriors, our political Amazons, our economic Valkyries. With strategic funding, we can protect our neighborhoods, our culture, and our children from the same forces that burned down Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921, razed Rosewood in Florida in 1923, and displaced Black families from Manhattan Beach, California in 1924.
Those acts of state-sanctioned terror were meant to destroy Black wealth before it could root...
But if we choose to stop financing the machinery of our own oppression, if we turn inward with purpose, Black communities will become resilient enough to resist and outlast even the most violent opposition.
And leading that charge will be the Black Woman... no longer waiting for liberation but delivering it. In finance, in governance, in education, and in spirit, she is rising again, as she always has. Not a relic of history, but the future of it.
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