She was actually a trained protester who knew exactly what she was doing in the front of that bus. Rosa has received many awards including: the NAACP awarded Rosa Parks the Spingarn Medal, their highest honor In 1979, the NAACP awarded Rosa Parks the Martin Luther King Jr. Award in 1980, and she was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1983.
Toni Morrison was born on February 18, 1931 and is my one of my favorite artists. She is an editor, writer, playwright, and literary critic. Her words have expressed the true experience of life as a black person and created multi-dimensional black protagonists, which was extremely rare for her time. Toni earned many awards: Nobel Prize in Literature (1993); National Book Critics Circle Award (1977); American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award (1977); Honorary degree, Barnard College (1979); Pulitzer Prize (1988); and American Book Award (1988)
“I'll tell you what freedom is to me...No fear. I had a couple times on stage where I really felt free. And that was something else.” -Nina Simone.
Nina Simone was born to a poor family in North Carolina, but beat her fate of hereditary oppression with her tremendous musical talent. With the support of those around her, she was able to attend the prestigious Juilliard School of Music. I will always remember Nina Simone for her powerful voice on stage and off. Those words came from her following the Civil Rights movement in 1968. She was known as the voice of the Civil Rights movement, after writing her iconic song “Mississippi Goddamn” and working alongside Martin Luther King. She gained successful and prolific fans like Langston Hughes, Lorraine Hansberry, and James Baldwin.
All of these women stand together under the month of love and spread the awareness for the causes they support. They dedicated their lives and careers to making the world a better place for those around them in unique ways.
Janay' D. Lee