She is from strength and beauty

She is from Brooklyn, New York

She traveled to start her own life in Philadelphia

She is from balancing her first born and still going to school

She is the child of Ruth and Robert Watson

She is from wise people

Who believe in Christian Faith and know that god is forgiving and we are thankful

She is from the projects where you had to be aware of your surroundings

She has traveled many places and faced many hardships

To now be a mother of two and married with a PhD

She is from power, love, care, dedication, and intelligence

She is from compassion, and beauty.

She is from the sweet, familiar streets of North Philly.

She is from teaching, and long grueling nights at St. Joe’s, while she was raising a family.

She is from love and life and respect

From Nelia and Roland Thompson.

She is from the strong and honorable .

From the kitchen of 1952 and the boudoir of injustice.

She is from the Christian faith. Trusting in a fair and forgiving God. One that sees all his children as equals.

She is from easy streets of Logan , where people cared and looked after one another.

From the hard working black family that strived for nothing less than success, the family that valued education for all it’s children. Willing to sacrifice to help one another succeed.

She is from love, devotion, intelligence and strength.

My Grandmother, who I call Granna

Grew up Virginia, and has many brothers

She had a lot responisiblity as young girl

She was a single mother, and raised my mom and uncle

To my surprise, she has not experienced sexism

She also doesn’t know people who really dealt with serious sexism

Very interesting opinions she has about gender

She believes that boys and girls should be raised equally

That they should not be raised based on stereotypes

She believes women have gained a lot, but have more to gain

Like equal pay

She accepts the LGBT community

Including transgender and gender non-conforming people

She has lived a great life

And raised 2 wonderful children

And has 4 grandchildren

She believes in God, but has no particular religion

She is very against inequality

This is my Granna

She wonders if she will ever have the same rights/ opportunities as men

She hears the laughter of men and women constantly throw themselves at them

She sees the world constantly changing around her

She wants for her husband to still be here with her, so she won’t feel so alone

She is my nurturing, amazing grandmother

She pretends to be a basketball star, but knows it won’t happen because she’s supposed to be a “lady”

She feels like wearing sweatpants, but doesn’t because she knows her mom would give her hell

She touches her rough, gray hair and wishes it was longer

She worries about if her daughter, my aunt, will have to struggle how she did

She cries when she she finds out her son got divorced, it was never in the plan

She is my nurturing, amazing grandmother

She understands that women and men will never be equal

She says things like “If women were to listen to men, I bet you more marriages would last”

She dreams about her entire family being together again

She tries to make her grandchildren have the same views that she does, but it just won’t ever happen

She hopes that men will continue to be superior, which I will never understand

She is my nurturing, amazing grandmother

My mom is Myracherisse, born to Peggy King. In Philadelphia, with 2 brothers and one sister. She’s the baby of the family and was born in the 60s. Sagittarius is her zodiac and she always felt a bit of a drawback.

Being an African-American female, her life was never a fairytale. The impact of race always brought her into a debate but being a girl she felt like it was necessary to always have a ponytail.

Wearing light colors and skirts never could she ever go and play in the dirt. Keeping a job was something she said was difficult so she tried to stay biblical.

The same could apply for education, hand and hand it was highly complicated. Her opinion on treatment between genders aren’t like my generation. She thinks it’s so much unnecessary, extra complication.

Her views are common old stereotypes but I guess that’s because they never went out of the box. She’s understanding and still insightful.

She just doesn't know anything about these titles. The definitions of gender and sex and how they are more in-depth. All she knows is boy and girl -- nothing less. Nothing more until I taught her about them, them their and theirs. Her eyes opened wide as if she saw THE light.

She said okay that should be in a book, I shook my head and agreed with a look.

“There’s different strokes for different folks...”

A piece that she can never forget.

Her world, different from ours

From discrimination to segregation

From a time where 2 genders existed

Her life, one who’s expected to know how to care

While the other side knew to protect

Her eyes seized what the world threw at her

Her eyes gasping at what she found

Bodies paving the streets,

Screams swallowing her mind,

Her sisters crying for help,

But not all could be satisfied.

It was her world

She learned to live through it the best way that she could

She learned to toughen up to take what she could

Just anything else,

That was the job of her family