I refuse to buy into the idea that I need to start developing a strategy of either dating outside my race (not that there’s anything wrong with that), losing my seemingly innately bitchy attitude or becoming more submissive in order to be valued and deemed worthy of marriage.

A beautiful poem reflecting on the essence of being a Strong Black Woman.

Their fears of being single forever are being sparked by such startling statistics as “42% Of Black Successful Women are single”, a claim purported by ABC News Nightline’s popular piece “Black women Unmarried”..a segment that has gone viral since it first aired at the beginning of 2010. Other statistics like “72 percent of black children are born out of wedlock”(New York Daily News, Nov 8/2010), are also terribly unnerving for single black women to read and hear about as their biological clocks continue to tick.

In honour of Sway’s All-Woman Issue, on newsstands right now, swaymag.ca takes a look at black women of influence – past and present. Who is this woman?

In honour of Sway’s All-Woman Issue, on newsstands right now, swaymag.ca takes a look at black women of influence – past and present. Who is this woman? [Updated]

The Coloured Women’s Club (CWC) gave the wives of Black railroad workers an opportunity to be self-sufficient, despite being excluded by the overtly racist general public. By 1904, its partnership with the oldest Black congregation in Montreal created a powerful group of activists in this isolated, but vibrant, Black community. When they were banned from worshipping at St. George’s Anglican Church, the CWC helped form the Union United Church.

The fact that not one of the Top 10 finalists was Black did not surprise me. Let’s be honest, this is not the first time that excellence in the Black community has been overlooked. However, the realization that in the eyes of Canada’s public there was not a single woman whose contribution to our society was deemed worthy of recognition left me dumbfounded.

In honour of the special Women’s Issue, hitting stands October 2, swaymag.ca takes a look at black women of influence – past and present. Do you know your history? Who is this woman? [Updated]

In honour of the special Women’s Issue, which hits stands October 2, swaymag.ca takes a look at black women of influence – past and present. Do you know your history? [Updated]

Young black women today are caught between two varying ideals about body image. While culturally and historically there is an appreciation of full figured women within the black community, young black women are also bombarded by countless images of smaller, thinner women, glorified in today’s dominant mainstream culture.