Growing up in the 90’s, I hardly remember being represented in the media. Whenever I would see a black girl on TV or in my monthly Seventeen magazine my interest would always pique, wondering what made her special. Not knowing she was just a token- the token black girl that came to the rescue to fill me with hope and black girl magic.
Actually, when I really think about it, all I remember is Oprah Winfrey and Tyra Banks- two of America’s most influential black women at the time. Oprah, a million dollar talk show host, and Tyra, America’s Next Top Model. I also remember having posters of Beyonce and Raven Symone in my room and while growing up these, women were inspirational but not quite enough. What if I didn’t want to have my own talk show or strut down the runway? Or if I did, I feel I would have to be lucky. I would have to be that one lucky token they decided to flip to make themselves look good, and “diversified.”
But what did I expect? I hardly had enough black teachers teaching me in school, let alone in the media. I gained a lot of my “black knowledge” growing up by reading the mini-bios off the black history calendar my mom had in the kitchen, their faces constantly catching my attention. Sure, I knew who Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. were, but where was I? A little girl with dreams of being an adventurer, a storyteller, a princess, a doctor? When watching the news, where were the black reporters, and anchors? I found myself searching, tuning into TV channels like BET that showcased black power and talents versus the more than common negative depictions.
Representation matters to women like me who grew up feeling left out of the American Girl doll collection, until they finally decided to add their token number five; Addy Walker a child born into slavery. My white peers had various characters made in their likeness and I had a slave. Can’t get more American than that! My soul couldn’t have been the only one searching, and hoping to see something other than Pocahontas as their “closest” Disney princess. I knew there had to be more. And I did once I saw what my ancestors could only dream about, President Barack Obama and his amazing wife Michelle Obama. True beacons of light that showcased “Yes We Can” in full effect. Representation is important because what we see registers not only to the mind but to the soul. Representation matters when you don’t feel good enough due to the pigment of your skin. Representation matters when you can’t “play like a girl” to win.
My soul yearned for more and more. I fed it until I became that woman my younger self-dreamed about. Going to college, traveling the world, and helping people along the way is only part of a dream that was passed down to me from the back of my ancestors. I still have far to go, but I continue to #Represent the best I can through the lens of a young American black woman.
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