“You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies you may trod me in the very dirt. But still, like dust, I’ll rise.”- Still I Rise, Maya Angelou. For example, the War on Drugs took place in the 1970s, Black women were called welfare queens, and many more brutal names have since continued. Black women in America today are challenged because we have to deal with society, media, laws, stereotypes, and inequalities. As a maturing young black woman, I continue to see the actual world that my mother has taught me. Early in my youth, I was able to see what it meant to be a Black woman in America today. On May 29th, on my 18th birthday, I felt so much weight on my shoulders. I never experienced this pressure before. I was expected to hang out with the right type of people. Everything changed, becoming more precise, becoming more aware of my surroundings. High school parties became an opportunity to get pregnant and being there at the wrong time. Going out with friends, wearing cute clothes for myself, and wearing lip gloss, society already had my stereotype. Society made being young and carefree taboo, looking for the kids behind me and the drama to follow. Not looking for the high school diploma or college aspirations but an image depicted of me. Being a Black woman in America today has been noticed on social media, in-person, and through other Black women. We are brutally maligned more than any other race. We are considered poor, angry, poor, and never satisfied. Going to a predominantly white institute (PWI), I began being more contained. Many of the Black men would go for white women and model to their image to become desirable. Concerned they were talking behind my back was petrifying. Defeated calling my mother telling her, I felt out of place. Her response was the beginning of a new transformation, “you got this; don’t be afraid of who you are. You come from a long line of a phenomenal woman.” As she said, phenomenal women, I began to hear the phenomenal women poem by Maya Angelou. Recognizing that my mother was right, I started to be the Aaliyah I always wanted to be. This conversation has inspired me to be the black woman I aspire to be. I was now walking with my head held high with my crown of glory swaying behind me. As Maya Angelou once said, “ Now you understand Just why my head’s never bowed” in her poem Phenomenal Woman. In this fight for social activism, I use my knowledge, experience, and voice against this fight. I am uplifting black women by letting them know we may not have walked in the same shoes, but I understand. My motto is that other black women should support and build other black women up, and my mother has always said it takes a village. I would want to be part of a village.