Black women have always taken the reins in fighting back. When it comes to reproductive rights and exposing predators, that's no different. Together Black women have helped countless women gain and maintain control over their painful secrets.
During the slave trade and under slavery, many Black women faced a harrowing dilemma: to bear children who could be taken away from them, or refuse. Many women, terrified for the future of their children, chose to end their pregnancies or kill their infants rather than allow them to live under the horror of slavery.
Black women were the first to break their silence around sexual violence after the Memphis riots of 1866. A courageous group stepped forward to testify before Congress, shedding light on the brutal sexual assaults they had endured. They defied the system that wanted them to stay silent.
In 1994, 12 visionary Black women coined the term "reproductive justice." They recognized how little bodily control Black women around the world possessed under the law and advocated for more sayo.
Black women have led the charge to transform their pain into powerful resistance through the ages. It hasn't always been easy, but it has always been a way for us to reclaim our power.