COMMUNITY The 19 newly-elected judges are Sandra Peake, Judge Ramona Franklin, Judge Maria Jackson, Germaine Tanner, Angela Graves-Harrington, Cassandra Holleman, Tonya Jones, Dedra Davis, LaShawn Williams, Latosha Lewis Payne, Linda Dunson, Toria Finch, Erica Hughes, Lucia Bates, Ronnisha Bowman, Michelle Moore, Sharon Burney, Shannon Baldwin, and Lori Chambers Gray. on the ballots are significant contributions, that should not overshadow the millions of Black women who continue to observe political inequality but continuously show up at the polls to represent the interest of their families and communities. The political legacy of Black women using the electoral process to achieve progress is often overlooked, misrepresented, or sometime omitted all together. The economic stability Black women have provided to the Black community is both historical and comprehensive. It has been said “educate women and their community will prosper.” No where is this more apparent than in the Black community. While it is true that men make more than women for doing the same job, it is also true that women dominated fields tend to pay less on average than fields dominated by men. While White women make about 87 cents for every dollar a man makes, for Black women that number is significantly less about 68 cents for every dollar. Consider that nearly 63% of Black children live-in single-family homes head by the mom. When you combine that most black children live-in singlefamily homes with their moms, Black women make less on the dollar than both White and Asian women, the economic legacy begins to take shape on those facts alone. Certainly, it must be acknowledged that there are systemic forces that have significantly contributed to this reality. Factors such as the criminal justice system, educational inequality, social pressures related to racism, and underemployment/ unemployment of Black men are not insignificant as we try to understand the economic legacy of Black women. They spread less resources around for more people. Despite the economic challenges faced by Black women they find ways to make a way out of no way. While there have always been economic moguls like Madam CJ Walker, Clara Brown, Annie Malone, Maggie Lean Walker; but it is the Black women who have had the least who have made the most significant contribution to the economic stability of the Black community. Those Black women whose names history did not record but their lives paved the way for everyone who followed. In almost every way possible Black women have helped lay the foundation for a spiritual legacy in the Black community. While Black women have often been prohibited both by custom and regulation from leadership positions in church hierarchy that has not prevented them from filling the pews every week. The number of Black women who attend a weekly faith based gathering significantly out numbers the number of Black men who claim similar habits. The Urban Experience 9
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