Voices of Protest: Black Women Won’t Be Silenced 

(WIB) – Through the ages, Black women have been told to quiet down; to shut their mouths or soften their tone. And an equally long and unbroken tradition has reigned: Black women refusing to be silenced.

In every generation, there are those who push against the tide — not just for the sake of rebellion, but because silence has never been safe. It is an unworthy shield that hides, never fortifies. And so they speak.

Black women have raised their voices even when it cost them everything. And today, they are still speaking.

Amy Sherald — known for her portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama and for centering the sacred ordinariness of Black life — recently withdrew from an exhibition at the Smithsonian after the institution attempted to censor her work. Rather than allow her depiction of Bla