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Kerry Washington has been paying homage to various iconic Black heroines by dressing up as them for February 2022 and posting photos to social media with the tag #BlackHERstory. The latest person whom the Scandal actress has chosen to honor is “The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,” Rosa Parks.
Parks is remembered for refusing to move to the back of a segregated Montgomery, AL bus in 1955, and her defiance sparked the boycott that eventually led the U.S. Supreme Court to desegregate the Montgomery Bus Line one year later. “But she lived a life of activism long before that,” Washington noted in her caption. “Fighting, boycotting, marching, and even working as an investigator for the NAACP, advocating against sexual assaults on Black women. It was Rosa Park’s [sic] act of civil disobedience on that bus that sparked a revolution.”
“She took that seat in order to take a stand,” Washington added. And she concluded her tribute by saying, “Do whatever you can and however you can. Rosa taught us that. And we are forever grateful. It was an honor to honor her.”
Washington first kicked off the HerSTORY series two weeks ago with Beverly Johnson two weeks ago. “She was the first Black woman to be on the cover of Vogue Magazine in 1974,” the Emmy Award winning actress wrote. “She showed little Black girls, the fashion industry, and the WORLD that Black is beautiful and powerful. Forever grateful to Ms. Beverly and to all of the Black models of this era that changed the game.
Anansa Sims, Johnson’s daughter, was thrilled to see her mother being appreciated. “Love it!! 😍🔥🔥🔥🔥 Look Mom,” she commented.
And Johnson herself was appreciative of the moment, too. “You are so flawless in every way .. Flawless in your performances.. A Flawless Beauty,” she wrote to Washington. Thank you for honoring me. Happy Black HerStory !!🖤
One week later, Washington posed as Olympic champion and the once-proclaimed “fastest woman on Earth,” Wilma Rudolph. The 20th of 22 children, she was born to a poor family from St. Bethlehem, Tennessee, and her the story of her childhood belies the great athletic achievements that were in her future.
Rudolph suffered a variety of afflictions before she was 9 years old, including double pneumonia, whooping cough, measles, and even lost use of her left leg. But after working through her sicknesses and regaining use of her leg, Rudolph emerged as a stellar multisport athlete in high school and college. And she became an international superstar at the 1960 Summer Games by capturing three gold medals.
“She wasn’t the first Black athlete or the first female athlete to win three gold medals,” Washington wrote, “she was the first ATHLETE. Wilma ran (literally!) so that Black athletes and Olympians could run too.”
Washington has always shown a deliberateness for portraying strong female personas, and she even took that same care in choosing her role of Natalie Certain for Cars 3. “[My character] teaches us a lot about this disposable society that we are in right now,” Washington told GlobalGrind five years ago. “We tend to gravitate towards what’s new and flashy and shiny as opposed to valuing what’s tried and true. Valuing the members who have accomplished a great deal, our wise members of society.”
