Meditations with Mary March 14, 2023
Last week we watched “My Fair Lady” (Released in 1964). I’ve seen it many times, but the music is so wonderful that it is worth watching again and again. For those not familiar with the movie, it is based on George Bernard Shaw’s play, Pygmalion, written in 1913. The story is about how Professor Henry Higgins, who is a language expert, teaches Eliza Doolittle, a cockney, how to speak better so that she may pass as a lady. The movie focuses on Eliza’s transformation from a grimy lower-class woman with a harsh cockney accent to a beautifully turned-out lady with high-class speech and manners. She falls in love with Henry, and Henry “growing accustomed to her face” falls in love with her for a happy ending.
I couldn’t help reflecting afterwards that there is another important theme in the story. It was brought out when Henry persuaded Eliza to let him train her by telling her that with her new high-class speech, she could get a better job and look forward to a better position in life. Eliza is attracted to the idea of working in a flower shop rather than just selling flowers on the street, so she agrees to work with Henry. In the end of course, she doesn’t go to work; she gets married. But the point I am making is that with education more opportunities will be open for the disadvantaged.
Up until only a few decades ago, black women and men were denied equitable educational opportunities. It was assumed for so long that they weren’t intelligent enough or capable enough to attend schools of higher learning. Thankfully, that has begun to change. We still have a long way to go to provide complete equal opportunity for African Americans especially women or poor.
That is why I have been writing for the last 14 months about “Black Women in America”, focusing on black American female “firsts”. We have talked about outstanding black women in education, artists, scientists, inventors, doctors and nurses, and extraordinary black athletes. Brave African American women withstood the humiliation of stereotyping in the entertainment industry so that white Americans could see that black Americans are not fundamentally different from them.
These last several months we have covered the stories of African American activists including Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Rosa Parks, and Reverend Addie Wyatt. Last week we discovered that even an eighty-year-old woman can have a huge impact on the world! What a remarkable woman Mary Church Terrell was. In the next few weeks we will cover the stories of more black female activists. Along the way I will send you book and movie reviews that you will enjoy as well.
Many of these women have been forgotten. I am happy to bring the stories of their lives back for us to appreciate. Why do you suppose so many of these women have been overlooked or completely forgotten? Please join in the discussion with comments on the stories on the website. Thank you for reading my meditations and God bless you.
Meditation on Equal Opportunity
Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.
Meditations with Mary March 14, 2023
Last week we watched “My Fair Lady” (Released in 1964). I’ve seen it many times, but the music is so wonderful that it is worth watching again and again. For those not familiar with the movie, it is based on George Bernard Shaw’s play, Pygmalion, written in 1913. The story is about how Professor Henry Higgins, who is a language expert, teaches Eliza Doolittle, a cockney, how to speak better so that she may pass as a lady. The movie focuses on Eliza’s transformation from a grimy lower-class woman with a harsh cockney accent to a beautifully turned-out lady with high-class speech and manners. She falls in love with Henry, and Henry “growing accustomed to her face” falls in love with her for a happy ending.
I couldn’t help reflecting afterwards that there is another important theme in the story. It was brought out when Henry persuaded Eliza to let him train her by telling her that with her new high-class speech, she could get a better job and look forward to a better position in life. Eliza is attracted to the idea of working in a flower shop rather than just selling flowers on the street, so she agrees to work with Henry. In the end of course, she doesn’t go to work; she gets married. But the point I am making is that with education more opportunities will be open for the disadvantaged.
Up until only a few decades ago, black women and men were denied equitable educational opportunities. It was assumed for so long that they weren’t intelligent enough or capable enough to attend schools of higher learning. Thankfully, that has begun to change. We still have a long way to go to provide complete equal opportunity for African Americans especially women or poor.
That is why I have been writing for the last 14 months about “Black Women in America”, focusing on black American female “firsts”. We have talked about outstanding black women in education, artists, scientists, inventors, doctors and nurses, and extraordinary black athletes. Brave African American women withstood the humiliation of stereotyping in the entertainment industry so that white Americans could see that black Americans are not fundamentally different from them.
These last several months we have covered the stories of African American activists including Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Rosa Parks, and Reverend Addie Wyatt. Last week we discovered that even an eighty-year-old woman can have a huge impact on the world! What a remarkable woman Mary Church Terrell was. In the next few weeks we will cover the stories of more black female activists. Along the way I will send you book and movie reviews that you will enjoy as well.
Many of these women have been forgotten. I am happy to bring the stories of their lives back for us to appreciate. Why do you suppose so many of these women have been overlooked or completely forgotten? Please join in the discussion with comments on the stories on the website. Thank you for reading my meditations and God bless you.
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