Black History Month Feature: Stacey Abrams
Stacey Abrams is the definition of a change maker. She is known for her efforts exerted to help prevent voter suppression, specifically in Georgia this past fall; however, her work extends beyond this. Abrams, along with other grassroots organizations, were responsible for registering 800,000 new voters. She founded both Fair Fight and New Georgia Project, which are both successful voter drive organizations.
Fair Fight was started by Abrams the same year that she lost her campaign for governor of Georgia in 2018. She was only 55,000 votes shy from becoming governor and was the first African-American female major-party gubernatorial nominee in the United States . Through this campaign, Abrams witnessed voter suppression first hand and she did not stay silent about it.
Watch her speech here:
Abrams was born in Wisconsin but raised in Georgia and Mississippi. She is the daughter of two Methodist ministers and one of six children. On her website, she shares how when growing up her parents taught their children three principles: go to school, go to church, and take care of each other.
After high school, she attended Spelman, where she graduated magna cum laude. Afterwards, she attended the University of Texas at Austin's LBJ School of Public Affairs and after this, earned her law degree at Yale. Her educational based successes were only preludes to the history changing work she would continue to accomplish. Fun fact: she is a New York Times bestselling author, yes, this woman does it all and does it well!
Give tribute to a woman breaking barriers and building a better world with some PPG #merch!
In 2010, she became the first woman to lead either party in the Georgia General Assembly and the first African American to lead in the House of Representatives. Abrams became the first African American woman to deliver a response to a presidential State of the Union address. In February of 2019, only a short two years ago, she was the first African American to run for governor in Georgia.
She is a woman of many firsts and joins other woman, such as Kamala Harris, who have also paved the way to “firsts.”
Her passions extend beyond politics and she is a woman of many traits. According to Time, Abrams started a water bottle company and a payment company. She is also the co-founder of The Southern Economic Advancement Project, which serves as a partner and resource in respect to helping address the economic disparities in the southern region by supporting the amplification of, “the efforts of existing organizations.”
"[My parents'] commitment to assuring that we served people other than ourselves ran pretty deep,"
—Stacey Abrams, South Fulton Lifestyle magazine
This month, Stacey Abrams was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in respect to her intentional and influential work. Lars Haltbrekken, a Socialist Party politician in Norway’s Parliament, said that, “Abrams’ work follows in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s footsteps in the fight for equality before the law and for civil rights.” Dr. King was a past recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize Award in 1964. The last U.S. winner of the prize was former President Barak Obama in 2009.
The passion and purpose of Stacey Abram extends beyond politics. She is an example of the possibility and the potential for all, and she is paving a way of “firsts,” which is recreating a world for a future where dreams are reality and there are no limits.
Thank You, Stacey Abrams.