I learned nothing about women’s history—"herstory”—growing up, in spite of being an excellent student due to the push of my mother. Indeed, my ma was the first leader and teacher I ever met, expecting me to excel, to be somebody, in spite of her own limited education. Similarly, I saw my aunts, Catherine and Birdie, single mothers of only children too, create miracles from nothing; and there was our matriarch, my grandmother Lottie, who could not read or write, yet was our family’s spiritual