"Both of my parents gave us to believe that they had the whole world in the palms of their hands for the most part, and if we three girls acted correctly- meaning working hard and doing as we were told- we could have the whole world in the palms of our hands also" (498).
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde
From The Norton Book of Woman's Lives by Phyllis Ross
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| Audre Lorde |
Reading about Audre Lorde was very inspiring and empowering. Being a black, lesbian feminist, Audre was very unique to what the societal standard was in the late 1900s. Being a black woman was difficult enough due to the cruel racism and unequal gender roles, and adding different sexuality to the mix was also not accepted as it is today, making it seem even more difficult to be heard. Audre proved to the people of her community that gender, sexuality, and race does NOT matter. She spoke up and raised her voice for the people that dealt with injustice on a daily basis and spoke to normalize these differences. She highlighted the beauty in this world. I am so glad Audre's parents encouraged her and her sisters to get the education they needed and raised them to that "working hard and doing as [they were] told' (498) will get you anywhere you wanted to go because that was true for Audre.
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