SPOILER WARNING: Black Girls Are Magic.
For Cultural Heroes Day, 8-year-old Ella-Lorraine Brown decided to tap into our forever first lady Michelle Obamaβs formative years as a freshman at Princeton University. And weβre all better for it.
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βShe was really in awe of the idea that with hard work you could become anything,β Ella-Lorraineβs mother Karlyn Johnson Brown told Makers. Karlyn is also a Princeton alum.
The decision to portray Obama as a college student was deliberate as well. Which Ella-Lorraine insisted upon.
βI loved it because by choosing to portray her hero as a college student, the focus was on Michelleβs accomplishments as an individual, not just as an attachment,β Karyln continued. βElla-Lorraine has never known a time when Black women werenβt publicly honored and βBlack girl magicβ wasnβt a highly celebrated thing. Thatβs awesome.β
Ella-Lorraineβs father, Eugene Brown, added, βWe try to surround Ella-Lorraine with women who are go-getters like Michelle, women who are independent and smart, level-headed and loving. We make sure she knows about those who have gone before and have passed on.β
But youβre in for a rude awakening if you believe this is the only time Ella-Lorraine has served up melanin magic.
As sheβs previously reintroduced trailblazers such as civil aviator Bessie Coleman and Ruby Bridgesβwho was the first black child to desegregate an elementary school in the Southβto a new generation.
But for the Brown family, the goal is to raise their children to empower others.
βElla-Lorraine (whoβs named after the iconic Ella Fitzgerald) has been taught from an early age about the women for whom sheβs named and how they used their voices,β says Brown. βShe knows that folks came before her that allowed her to be where and who she is today, and weβve encouraged her to not back away from embracing that history.β
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