“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” – Proverbs 3:5-6
My heart raced, and my eyes teared when I heard I had been selected for this year's Women’s History Month. It is a humbling honor, and I thought, “Who wants to hear from a brown-skinned, shy, soft-spoken dreamer who pumped her legs hard to soar higher and higher on the swing that hung above the asphalt playground where she grew up in the 60s in Bedford Stuyvesant Brooklyn?”
I owe that passion to my fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Jardiniere, who was born and raised in Africa. I despised her constant writing assignments and endless critiques. When she called my name to come up front to get the medal for the best writer award, I was terrified to move.
I knew I must have heard her wrong, yet she encouraged me to come forward in a voice that, for the first time, held a softness to it. She said, “You know why I pick on you so much? Because you are a girl, a black girl, and much in this world is not expected of you. I see potential; with a mind that is creative and expressive, you will make an impact in this life. God has something very special in mind for you, Ms. Gwendolyn.
I admire women like Angela Davis, who spoke of black power, the lyrical storytelling of Maya Angelou, and the challenging thoughts of Ntozake Shange and Audrey Loude. These black female voices taught me that this brown-skinned girl must take ownership of her narrative, for my voice mattered.
Another woman who inspired me is my sister, Jennifer Barbour. Jenny had been in remission for years before going to hospice. I watched her in the days before she passed and noted a steady calm. The night that Jenny passed, I angrily said to her, “How can you be so calm? Don’t you want to fight?” She smiled gently and said, “You know why; the Lord is with me, the Lord has stayed in me, and now the Lord calls me home.”
Decades later, Jenny’s gentle voice of calm resilience and trust in God encouraged me. This brown-skinned, shy dreamer developed strength and resilience from Jenny’s blessed assurance that God is moving through me and from me as I engage people with words of hope, healing, strength, and love as the foundation of service within my dual ministry of prayer and community outreach.
Thank you, Ms. Jardiniere, for sparking my passion for words, and thank you, Jenny, for teaching me the power of Godly resilience that this brown-skinned woman’s words can offer others as I work to expand the narrative of women, particularly the black women’s voice, that reflects the diverse image of God and the power of women crafting their narratives.