Bernice A. King and Ilyasah Shabazz on the Legacy That Drives Them
During GirlTrek’s #DaughtersOf discussion, these powerful Black women take stock of their heritage
This is a story about royalty, but not the monarchies across the pond. Black royalty. The queens and kings in our nation and world, latter-day and ancestral, who wear real and invisible crowns of courage, pride, and purpose. They often need no introduction. We know their names.
Bernice A. King and Ilyasah Shabazz are part of this unique club. The women are scions of parents who championed civil and human rights: Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. And El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, aka Malcolm X, and Betty Shabazz. Today, May 19, marks what would have been the 95th birthday of Malcolm X.
Last week, the “sister friends” united for their first virtual public conversation courtesy of the nonprofit GirlTrek, a national health movement for Black women and girls. Its latest initiative, #DaughtersOf, promotes well-being and healing through matrilineal traditions.
“Now more than ever, we need the knowledge and wisdom of the women who came before us,” said GirlTrek COO Vanessa Garrison, who co-founded the organization with T. Morgan Dixon, now CEO, in 2010. “They can provide lessons to help us…
