Beah Richards (Beulah Elizabeth Richardson) was an actor, poet, playwright and activist.
Her poem, A BLACK WOMAN SPEAKS...OF WHITE WOMANHOOD, OF WHITE SUPREMACY, OF PEACE, was first performed at the Women's Workshop of the American People's Congress for Peace in 1951.
She was met with a standing ovation from the audience of 500 mostly white, married women.
This prompted J. Edgar Hoover to put her on the FBI surveillance list, where she remained until approximately 1975.
The poem is as haunting and powerful today as when it was first performed.
And sadly, every bit as relevant.
MY STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
I have been grappling with the fact that, no matter what I hear myself say, my life as an actor is much more than a means by which I might attain "fame and fortune."
Believe me, I am not opposed to fortune or fame. But at the core of my passion lies the desire to enlighten. To share with my fellow humans the woman I am, the women I know, the women I imagine and the women I have yet to meet.
They are the brown-skinned women upon whose backs this United States of America was built. They are the brown-skinned women whose love of God and self have allowed them to lead full, rich lives...even when they don't have a man. They are brown-skinned women whose voices sing life. They are brown-skinned wives, mothers and daughters. They are brown-skinned revolutionaries, health care providers, magnates and keepers of the peace.
They are brown-skinned mystical, sensual, intellectual, round-bottomed, radiant women whose expectations of R-E-S-P-E-C-T and justice are outweighed only by their dignity and grace. They are my heroines. Bedazzling brown-skinned heroines who deserve our attentions and our affection.
