She has become an acclaimed author, poet, and filmmaker. He has overcome many obstacles in life to reach his status today. She was a black woman, single mother in a time when neither was predictable. He faced hardships that many of us today cannot handle. In her poem “And Still I Rise,” she talks about being a woman in those times. With the words: "You can shoot me with your words, you can cut me with your eyes, you can kill me with your hate, but still, like the air, I will rise." Oh yes, Ms. Maya, I feel the struggle you speak of! Throughout her life she had to deal with men and women of not only her race and ethnicity, but also other races watching her as she walked down the street, but she still managed to achieve what she was told was unattainable. . For years I grew up hearing that Black women are strong women, the pillars of their community, not to mention the ties that hold their families together. Studies have shown that Black women are the most likely to be able to keep a family together without the help of a male provider. Then you model yourself after these women and you grow up and become what you were told you should be, a young black woman with these wealthy ancestors and then you get involved in a relationship and you're told, "you need to stop acting like a man," or " a lesbian would love you” and my favorite, “you have to learn to stay in your place.” This counter works