That an American celebrity considered it lucrative to not only market a skin lightening brand abroad, but also travel all the way to Nigeria to promote it, says a lot about the socio-economic influence skin lightening products have in West Africa.
Siblings Hannah and Charlie Lucas, who are 16 and 13 respectively, decided to use technology to do something about the teen suicide epidemic: They created the notOK app, which aims to help those in need of mental health assistance by summoning family, friends, and a network of peers for users in need of support.
Priscila Gama, a 34-year-old Brazilian architect and entrepreneur from wanted to do something to help women in the face of pervasive violence. In 2016, she and a team launched the Malalai app, which enables women to let pre-authorized friends follow their routes when moving around the city by any means, whether by foot, car, or public transportation.
While it’s frustrating that Williams has to find herself navigating distractions like these instead of focusing on her 23 Grand Slam championships, Williams is nothing if not persistent.
Inspired by the late Marielle Franco, more women, especially black women, are feeling encouraged to participate in politics.
Monáe’s new album navigates the myriad emotions involved in being socially deviant and outcast for that deviance.
The day after his “Saturday Night Live” performance, Childish Gambino released a new song titled “This Is America.” The complicated imagery of the song’s accompanying music video powerfully highlights the provocative symbolism of his lyrics, which make political statements about the role of blackness in America.
In contrast to the hypersexualized attire donned by the majority of female characters in fantasy/action movies, Ruth E. Carter’s designs are "feminine, masculine, beautiful, and strong," and challenge the conception that femininity and strength are mutually exclusive.
Especially during Black History Month, it’s important to not only consider, but prioritize, those who exist at the intersection of marginalized identities.
Finally, audiences — many for the first time ever — get to see a complex black superhero supported by a majority black cast, who thrive in positions of royalty and power based on their society’s technological advancement, in an Afrocentric environment.
In early January, H&M came under fire for an ad campaign that many people considered racist and this incident is hardly the first example of a company marketing racist products.
Black women are supposed to relate to and admire these two-dimensional characters, but in reality their lives are multi-dimensional: they’re real people who face obstacles outside of combating racism. Most black girls have gained enough life experience by adolescence to understand that “black girls are pretty, too” and “racism is wrong.” What we’re still grappling with is that being a black girl is still really hard because while we may believe those messages, the people we interact with on a daily basis don’t necessarily understand or believe those messages. And, of course, we are dealing with that racism at the same time that we deal with the everyday problems any other complicated person does.
