Some years ago I read a book that seemed to suggest that the strong black woman was inevitable because black women have always had to take the lead, starting in West Africa. In The Black Woman, edited by La Frances Rodgers-Rose, the editor says that the mostly polygamous marriages in the Motherland required each woman to take care of her children. After she was pregnant she would leave her husband and co-wives’ to live with her parents until she weaned her child. This may be up to three years. When she returned to her husband’s compound she would more than likely have her own home, and she, not the husband, made sure that her home had everything that was needed. Her job of buying and trading the goods she made enabled her to take care of her children and home. “The raising of children was more important than the role of wife,” Rodgers-Rose says. She continues to say that though black women were first socialized in Africa to take care of themselves, the circumstances of slavery forced them to do so. And we know that phenomenon has continued since slavery for various reasons, including absent men (be they shiftless, drug-addicted, work-addicted, incarcerated or affection-less) and rebellious women.

As a Christian woman, what circumstances in your life may have caused you to rebel against the biblical standard of the man being the leader in the home? Focus on the standard because some of you are not married, but you have already rebelled against the standard of a man being the leader in your home. And some married women are rebelling against that standard in their marriages. If you haven’t answered the question from my last post, check it out. The question here and the one from the last post should really have you examine your evolution to being a strong black woman, even if she only has guest appearances in your life. I would love to hear from you.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith