Black Girl Magic
In 2013, the phrase “Black girls are magic” was coined by CaShawn Thompson, a 38-year-old preschool teacher who wanted to combat the negative messages Black girls and women receive through the media. Black Girls Are Magic was later shortened to #BlackGirlMagic because of social media character limit requirements.
Prior to using it on her social media, CaShawn used the phrase to describe her family. As a young girl, she saw the girls and women in her family navigate Black culture in their city and do black hairstyles like cornrows. To be able to effortlessly manipulate curls, coils, and kinks into braids, twists, pressed hair, and other styles does have a sort of magic about it. To CaShawn, literal magic was real at the time, and her knowledge of womanhood depicted Black women as being magical beyond understanding.
The phrase appreciates Black excellence, specifically that of girls and women. There was concern that the phrase helped push the “strong Black woman” narrative. CaShawn addressed this by saying “I want… it to be that all Black girls know that they are [Black Girl Magic], not that they have [Black Girl Magic]. The legacy to me is that there’s some kind of way that the A-R-E fits back in it, so Black girls everywhere … understand it’s not about what you can achieve, it’s not about what you can acquire, it’s not about what someone bestows upon you, it’s not about what someone tries to take away from you.”
Why focus on Black women specifically?
We live in a society that honors and claims that the European beauty standards are how you should represent yourself. Negative imagery of Black women is being seen in the media twice as frequently as positive, and non-Hispanic white women cite negative stereotypes portrayed in the media as being more accurate than narratives depicting Black women as characters such as real beauties, modern matriarchs, successful businesswomen, etc. The impact is blatant and disheartening. Younger generations of Black women are most likely to be aware of negative stereotypes and more likely to believe that Eurocentric features like lighter skin and straight hair are the most beautiful.
With the USA going to the lengths of saying black women are more scientifically unattractive than other women, phrases like “Black Girls are Magic” are a necessary restorative reminder. For those who feel upset by the phrase, I’d like to reference PoshandCandleCO in saying “Celebrating your Blackness doesn't mean that you're anti-other races. If you’re offended, you should ask yourself why ‘Black Girl Magic’ makes you feel anything less of yourself or resentment towards those who own it.” Black princesses and queens, rest in your #BlackGirlMagic, and remember that celebrating your unique beauty, melanin, and strengths isn’t a bad thing.
Samone Long is a freelance writer and contributing writer for HOPE Magazine and Triad Voice Magazine. She has a passion for writing about human rights, and social reform. One of her main goals is to inspire minorities to advocate for themselves, educate themselves, and uplift one another.