by Ashley Abercrombie
I had the opportunity to go on a pilgrimage with Freedom Road, alongside the most incredible group of women, diverse in our ethnicities and cultures, our careers and seasons of life, united in our pursuit of freedom for all. We learned together the history of the Women’s Suffrage Movement, and traced back through the beginning of women earning the right to vote in Seneca Falls, NY, down through Manhattan, Atlantic City, and into Washington D.C., where we can keep using our voices and our votes.
We stood where Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Frederick Douglass spoke and preached. We listened to the wisdom of Activist Ruby Sales on the night of the midterm election. We sat in a beautiful church whose founders owned slaves, that is now led by Reverend Jackie Lewis, a powerhouse, full of love, African American woman with locks. I wondered and wrestled with my own lineage. We learned how to move power, by meeting with every day women, who decided to run for office, against the odds (and WON).
We sometimes forget the power of our ordinary moments, the seemingly insignificant chunks of time, where we are just doing what we do, and being who we are.
Friend, right now, we are writing our story.
Again, and again, I was struck by men and women who were otherwise ordinary, but had the courage to stand up, to speak up every time it was necessary, without having any idea they were writing history. That’s you. You are making a difference, right where you are, right now.
