“A Woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong she is until she gets into hot water.” Eleanor Roosevelt (Quoted from Inspirational Vitamins, Dr. Robin L. Smith)

Where would I be and Who would I be without you….? Yes, you, Dr. Katherine Dunham, who was one of the first African Americans to earn her bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in anthropology from the University of Chicago. Shortly before Dr. Dunham died, I was blessed to meet her at the New York screening of Oprah’s “Legends” premiere. Not knowing her, but “knowing” her, I saw a regal, dignified woman sitting in what was her wheelchair, but to me it looked like the throne of a queen garbed in her royal colors. I knelt down at the foot of her wheel chair; she took my hand into her strong, soft and distinguished hand. I looked up at this queen of the world, I looked into her eyes as she lovingly penetrated me with her gaze…and then, I felt the transfer of her rugged and brilliant life deposit into me “food,” soul food that I would need to make my journey. Dr. Dunham died shortly after this encounter…it was the first and last time that I would see her and yet to this day, this moment captured in a photograph which hangs on my wall reminds me of who I am in seasons of delight as well as in times of spiritual drought and adversity. I speak her name and I feel her power and covering. Like Dr. Dunham, in my own family lineage, my maternal grandmother, the daughter of a freed slave who is 106 years old, my mother who is 88 years of age, my Aunt who is 90 years old and my Godmother, a young 68 years of age are women who have profoundly shaped me both by word and deed…they each survived the unsurvivable.

I would not be the woman and person that I am without my personal intimate village of women friends whose love keeps me swimming when I feel like I’m drowning and who are my memory of my own God given dignity when pain has made me drop it like it’s hot.