I have known-been blessed to have known many wondrous women in my life-women of color- ordinary women by most standards-born to humble circumstances-who achieved extraordinary things given the obstacles of race, gender, class, and male chauvinism they faced as women of color in an often hostile society. Those written of here are generally of the same age group, and although of different backgrounds, the similarities in their heritage binds them together. Their longevity was in itself, a testimony to their will. I would also argue that their struggles to make ends meet, and the contributions of the men (for good or bad) in their lives, are analogous to most people I have known in my lifetime. History supports, that these women, are also representative of people of color since they first made contact with persons of European descent. As individuals and as a people still under duress, from within and without, we need to take to heart the gift these women have given us by their willingness to open up, to share their lives with us so that we may learn from them, as they have learned from others who came before them.
