INTRODUCTION
During the third week of March, in 1965, three thousand people began a march for Civil Rights in Selma, Alabama, that grew to 25,000 people by the time they arrived in Montgomery, Alabama. I would like to share two short poems, about two African American women whose rights were denied during their lifetimes. These women created their own success in spite of being denied their basic rights in America. Even the march itself was inspired by a woman, Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man.
Some of you have given up trying to be successful in school. I see it in your attitudes. You think your circumstances are so hard that you will not be able to be successful. But Madam C. J. Walker was born of parents who were slaves until the Civil War freed them, and they died of yellow fever when she was seven. She married at 14, but her husband died by the time she was twenty. Still she managed to succeed. She invented and sold hair products for black women, eventually becoming the first female African American millionaire.
POEM
THE MILLIONAIRE
By Carole Boston Weatherford
All Girls She left the parched fields of the South
Girl 1 but still she lived from hand to mouth,
Girl 2 worked at a scrub board in blazing heat,
washing laundry to make ends meet.
All Girls Till dreams bid her to brew her potions,
Girl 3 Madam’s line of oils and lotions.
Girl 4 She filled glass jars on the kitchen floor
and sold her wares from door to door.
All Girls Her factory ran round the clock,
Girl 1 filling orders for beauty shops:
All Girls creams for skin and oils for hair.
Girl 2 Call her Madam—Millionaire.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2002. REMEMBER THE BRIDGE: POEMS OF A PEOPLE. New York: Philomel Books. ISBN 0399237267
EXTENSION
After reading this poem aloud, assign parts and read it again as a group before starting a discussion.
What if you lived during this time when neither women nor African Americans had many rights? Make a list of the things that are obstacles to you. List the reasons why you believe you are have not been more successful. What gets in your way? Can you think of anything you can do to help to solve one of your problems? Write them down to use as ideas for additional writing at another time.
During the third week of March, in 1965, three thousand people began a march for Civil Rights in Selma, Alabama, that grew to 25,000 people by the time they arrived in Montgomery, Alabama. I would like to share two short poems, about two African American women whose rights were denied during their lifetimes. These women created their own success in spite of being denied their basic rights in America. Even the march itself was inspired by a woman, Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man.
Some of you have given up trying to be successful in school. I see it in your attitudes. You think your circumstances are so hard that you will not be able to be successful. But Madam C. J. Walker was born of parents who were slaves until the Civil War freed them, and they died of yellow fever when she was seven. She married at 14, but her husband died by the time she was twenty. Still she managed to succeed. She invented and sold hair products for black women, eventually becoming the first female African American millionaire.
POEM
THE MILLIONAIRE
By Carole Boston Weatherford
All Girls She left the parched fields of the South
Girl 1 but still she lived from hand to mouth,
Girl 2 worked at a scrub board in blazing heat,
washing laundry to make ends meet.
All Girls Till dreams bid her to brew her potions,
Girl 3 Madam’s line of oils and lotions.
Girl 4 She filled glass jars on the kitchen floor
and sold her wares from door to door.
All Girls Her factory ran round the clock,
Girl 1 filling orders for beauty shops:
All Girls creams for skin and oils for hair.
Girl 2 Call her Madam—Millionaire.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2002. REMEMBER THE BRIDGE: POEMS OF A PEOPLE. New York: Philomel Books. ISBN 0399237267
EXTENSION
After reading this poem aloud, assign parts and read it again as a group before starting a discussion.
What if you lived during this time when neither women nor African Americans had many rights? Make a list of the things that are obstacles to you. List the reasons why you believe you are have not been more successful. What gets in your way? Can you think of anything you can do to help to solve one of your problems? Write them down to use as ideas for additional writing at another time.
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