You may have heard it said:âBlack women are the most educated group in America.â And while that phrase is often used to uplift and celebrate, it dese
You may have heard it said:
âBlack women are the most educated group in America.â
And while that phrase is often used to uplift and celebrate, it deserves contextânot to diminish the brilliance of Black women, but to tell the whole truth of what weâve overcome.
Because the truth is:
đ Black women donât start from the front of the line.
đ We donât inherit systems built with us in mind.
đ We didnât start at the front of any line.
đ We were never handed keys, only locks.
đ We didnât inherit systems that were built with us in mind. We inherited broken promises, stolen childhoods, and bruised bodies.
đ And too often, we have to work twice as hard just to be seen as halfway capable. (for a lifetime)
Before we ever saw a college classroom, many of us were:
Surviving abuse in homes that told us to be quiet and get over it
Protecting our siblings from predators that no one dared name
Learning to smile through pain, because the adults were hurting too
Being told by systems, âYouâre fast,â âYouâre angry,â âYouâre too much,â
while white girls were called âgiftedâ and âspiritedâ and âfull of potentialâ
And when we cried out?
The abuse-to-prison pipeline was waiting.
Zero-tolerance in schools. No grace. No care.
Just handcuffs, suspensions, expulsions, and the long shadow of criminalization.
But even then, we found ways to fight.
So when you say weâre âthe most educated,â know what youâre really saying:
You’re talking about a people who earned degrees while healing trauma no one helped them name.
Who wrote thesis papers after working double shifts and tucking their babies in at night.
Who paid tuition while helping pay Mamaâs rent.
Who showed up in spaces that didnât want us thereâand made those spaces reckon with us.
đ° And do not weaponize student loan debt against us.
Thatâs not a âgotcha.â Thatâs a record of everything we werenât given.
We borrowed because we had no inheritance.
We signed those papers because we believed in a future weâd never seen.
We invested in ourselves because no one else would.
Thatâs not failure. Thatâs faith.
So donât you dare mock Black women for the costânot when you never paid the price.
We are not just âthe most educated.â
We are the most underestimated and still undefeated.
We didnât arrive here by chanceâwe built here.
Brick by bloody brick.
With borrowed books, baby bottles, and back pain.
With borrowed time, trauma, and testimonies.
So whether she has a Ph.D., a license, a certification, or wisdom forged in fireâ
a Black womanâs knowledge is earned. Every. Single. Time.
We are the storm they prayed wouldnât come.
We are the dream and the warning.
đđ„ Black women are not just rising. We are reclaiming what was always ours.
Honor it. Or move.
You Mock the Debt but Ignore the Climb: Respect Black Womenâs Education Journey
You Donât Have to Prove Your Worth: Reclaiming Womenâs Right to Safety, Dignity, and Respect