Hey y’all, Happy Women’s History Month!
This month we are not just celebrating women. We are honoring a lineage. A lineage of women whose shoulders we stand on. Do you hear me? We stand on their shoulders.
Because when EPiC talks about education advocacy, parent voice, and equity in schools, we are walking in work that Black women have been doing for generations. Long before there were committees. Long before there were strategic plans. Long before there were equity statements. There were Black women who simply decided one thing. Our children deserve better.
Let me tell you the story of five women. One of them was a six year old girl.
Once upon a time there was a woman named Ella Baker. In many ways she represents the foundation of the work we do today. We stand firmly in her shadow, but what do we really know about her? Have you heard of the Greensboro Four? Or maybe you know them as the A&T Four. Guess who was behind them?
You got it. Ella Baker.
What often gets left out of the story is that Ella Baker helped bring together those young people from NC A&T (Aggie Pride!) and Shaw University (Let’s Go Bears!) to help shape what would become one of the most powerful youth-led organizing bodies in the Civil Rights Movement. Ella Baker believed in developing leaders, not followers. She trusted young people to think, to plan, and to act. That belief lives in our work every time EPiC creates space for parent leadership.
Around that same time, a six year old girl named Ruby Bridges walked into a newly desegregated school. She walked past anger, hatred, and resistance just to get an education. Her parents made a decision rooted in vision, even when it came with real consequences. That courage reminds us that educational access has always required protection, preparation, and community.
Then there was Pauli Murray, a Black queer woman who studied law and had the language to name things other people could feel but could not yet explain. Pauli Murray understood that race and gender discrimination were connected long before the word intersectionality ever entered the conversation.Did you know she was a co-founder of NOW, the National Organization for Women? I did not know that either the first time I learned about her.
Pauli Murray taught us something important. Policy language matters. Legal strategy matters. Understanding systems matters. That lesson shows up every time EPiC helps parents understand how school boards operate, how funding moves through schools, and how discipline policies get written.
Now our story moves a little closer to home. Right here in the Bull City.
Ann Atwater, a mother and community organizer, was out here in Durham negotiating desegregation between Durham City Schools and Durham County Schools. If you are new to Durham, that is what Durham Public Schools was called before 1992. For real y’all, that was not that long ago. Ann Atwater did not wait for an invitation. She showed up prepared. She showed up informed. And she showed up representing families. If you have not seen it yet, go watch The Best of Enemies or read the book.
Ann Atwater’s spirit is not just history for us. It is home. It is the reason we do what we do here at EPiC.
Now let me fast forward the story to the present. To EPiC. To our fearless leader, Jovonia Lewis.
Back in 2016 she looked around her school community and realized that someone needed to pick up the mantle that Ann Atwater left behind. Standing on Ann Atwater’s shoulders, she could see clearly that even though progress had been made, our children were still being left behind. Left out of advanced academic opportunities that open doors. Sitting in classrooms where the curriculum did not reflect their culture, their history, or their brilliance. Being over disciplined instead of supported and nurtured. Parents of children in special education still having to fight just to feel seen, heard, and respected when advocating for their child’s needs. Too many of our children still walking into classrooms where they do not see themselves reflected in the teachers standing at the front of the room.
She understood something very clearly. The work was not finished.
And the next generation of advocates would have to keep pushing so that every child feels valued, supported, and able to thrive in their school community. That realization became the foundation of PAAC, Parents of African American Children. Hey PAAC family! Standing in the gap became part of Durham’s legacy. We made changes in our schools. Private, public, charter. We built a community where our kids came first and we were unapologetic about it. We sat down. We stood up. Sometimes we pulled up a chair and told people in authority to pump your brakes. And we meant it.
Under that leadership we have taught our children, through both our words and our actions, how to advocate for themselves. And some of those PAAC babies are now in college, in high school, working, growing up, feeling safe, seen, and supported. If you ask them why, many of them will say the same thing. Because my mom (don’t worry dad/father figures, I got you in June).
Here is what I know:
There are women in our community right now making quiet changes every single day. Some of them are doing it alone. Some of them have a community behind them. They are in your family right now. The grandmother who marched into a school office and did not leave until she got answers. The auntie who helped every child in the neighborhood with reading. The mom who worked a long day and still showed up to every meeting. The church mother who made sure every child had a bookbag and school supplies when school started. The list goes on and on.
Now some of you might be thinking, “Mavreen, I don’t have someone like that in my family.”
Let me tell you something. That person… is you.
You are the woman asking the questions. You are the woman learning how the system works. You are the woman advocating in rooms that were never built with you in mind. You are making history. Women’s History Month reminds us that Black women have always organized around education. In kitchens. In churches. In living rooms, in courtrooms, in school auditoriums, at negotiation tables. We are not starting something new. We are continuing something sacred. So this month I want you to reflect on a few things.
Who advocated for you? What risks did someone take so you could sit where you sit today? And years from now, what will our children say about us? Because advocacy is not always loud. Sometimes it looks like a parent asking questions at a meeting. Sometimes it looks like organizing neighbors. Sometimes it looks like learning the policy before walking into the room. Sometimes it simply looks like refusing to accept less for our children.
That is Women’s History. That is Black History.
So thank you to all the women out there who continue to make our communities stronger every single day.
As always,
Be Excellent. Be Well. Be EPiC.