ZORA and The Blackness present Moonrakers 2020

How Michelle Obama Left A Permanent Stamp on Our Consciousness

The former first lady has left a permanent stamp on the role and our collective consciousness

Joy Reid
ZORA
Published in
6 min readOct 8, 2019

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Illustration: Sheeba Maya

EEvery first lady has left her mark on the White House in one way or another, but only a handful have emerged as icons. Michelle Obama is, without question, an icon.

Beyond the historical neutron bomb that it meant for a Black family to preside over the White House — a living museum built by enslaved men and women like those from whom Michelle Obama descended — she was definitional. Whether it was her clothes, her cultivation of music and the arts, her featuring and celebrating Black culture in the White House, or her focus on military families and children’s health and nutrition, Michelle Obama redefined what it meant to be a first lady.

For Black families, Michelle Obama made the White House our house. We felt like we knew her — as if a favorite cousin had married the president. For all Americans, she updated the notion of what the partner of a powerful man looked…

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ZORA
ZORA

Published in ZORA

A publication from Medium that centers the stories, poetry, essays and thoughts of women of color.

Joy Reid
Joy Reid

Written by Joy Reid

AM Joy host, Fracture author, professional pragmatist. Still not for your candidate, or for your candidate's opponent. Love #reiders.

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