It’s safe to say that 2016 was a challenging year in more ways than one. While the country, and in some ways the world, reels from a year that was nothing short of stressful, it sometimes helps to look back on the good that happened. Even while racism and sexism ran rampant, black women still dominated. Whether it was entertainment, athletics, or politics, there was no shortage of black girl magic in 2016. Here’s a countdown of some of the best this year had to offer.
11. Rock The Vote
With all of the stress happening around the 2016, it’s easy to forget that a number of black women came out on top, despite unexpected results. There was still plenty to be proud of. Jefferson County, Alabama elected nine black women as judges to the district and circuit courts.
Ilhan Omar will represent Minnesota which is currently home to the largest Somali population in America
In Minnesota, IIhan Omar became the first Somali-American lawmaker when she was elected to the House of Representatives. It was just days earlier that President-elect Trump criticized Somali immigration as a threat to the Minnesota which is home to the countries largest Somali population.
Kamala Harris is the first African American woman to represent the state of California in the Senate
More black girl magic came out of California when Kamala Harris was elected the second black woman ever elected to the United States Senate. The newly elected democrat was California's attorney general before she was elected to office.
10. Sweet Success
Sometimes small sparks of inspiration can lead to big ideas. That’s what happened for pre-teen entrepreneur Mikaila Ulmer. She started her business in 2009 and later appeared on Shark Tank where she secured a $60,000 investment. This year, she signed a multi-million dollar deal with Whole Foods to stock her lemonade products. Talk about a sweet deal.
9. The Rise of Issa Rae
Issa Rae started out as the star of the YouTube series Awkward Black Girl, which she created. A lot of hard work, and a few million subscribers later, HBO picked up the pilot for her show Insecure which premiered in the fall. Throughout the season, she had viewers glued to their screens as while Issa and her friend navigated the complex and sometimes tumultuous black, female experience. She also recently earned a Golden Globe nomination for the series. And just because she’s awesome, Issa Rae gave everyone the code to watch the show for free!
8. Deshauna Barber
Deshauna Barber’s win is a big deal for a number of reasons. Anytime a woman of color wins a major beauty title, it opens up opportunities to redefine what has previously been the standard of beauty. Barber, is the sixth African American to hold the title in the pageant’s 64 year history. More importantly, Barber is the first active member of the military to hold the title of Miss USA and actively uses her platform to bring attention to the needs of US veterans.
7. Serena Williams Wins at Wimbledon
For a while, doubters speculated that Serena Williams was no longer focused when she consistently came just short of winning what would have been her 22nd grand slam title. But Williams silenced all her skeptics when she won her 22nd grand slam title and her 7th Wimbledon championship in July. She also displayed some serious moves when she appeared in Beyoncé’s video “Sorry” when the album Lemonade dropped in April.
6. Ava DuVernay Dominated
Ava DuVernay has been very vocal about telling the stories of people of color with clarity and accuracy for years, long before her film Selma garnered her critical acclaim. This year, she did her part this year with the release of the film 13th on Netflix and the premier of Queen Sugar on OWN. 13th is an in depth look at America's prison system and the way in which it uses the 13th amendment to further disenfranchise American minorities. Based on the novel by Natalie Basile, Queen Sugar chronicles the journey of three siblings trying to maintain their family legacy in the wake of a recent tragedy.
5. Taraji on Top
2016 was a busy year for Taraji P. Henson, but her hustle paid off. She started off the year winning Golden Globe for her performance as Cookie Lion on Empire. In September, she launched her own collection with MAC cosmetics. Finally, in October, she released her memoir, Around The Way Girl in which she talks about everything from life, love, success, failure and survival. To top it all off, she filmed Hidden Figures, a movie about the brilliant African American women who helped NASA and the US win the space race.
4. Michelle Obama the Flawless FLOTUS
Always a class act, Michelle Obama has certainly been a fabulous first lady. Throughout 2016, she definitely gave us some incredible moments to remember her by.
Her carpool karaoke with James Corden and Missy Elliot was pretty Epic
And despite racist comments about her looks she stunned in some amazing gowns while making her final appearances as First Lady, like the rose gold, Atelier Versace gown she wore to a state dinner with the Italian prime minister and his wife.
3. Solange gave us A Seat At the Table
Solange solidified herself in the an artists with the release of her latest album, A Seat At The Table. It was the first full album release since 2008’s Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams. She gave a first glimpse of the album in 2015 with a performance of the song “Rise”, inspired by events in Ferguson and Baltimore. A Seat at the Table encompasses all of that and more, addressing the complex emotions tied to the black experience like distress, anger, and empowerment
2. The Golden Girls of Team USA
Simone Biles is the most decorated gymnast in Olympic history and is one of only four gymnasts to bring home four medals at a single Olympics game
Despite the sexist commentary displayed by news outlets during the games, black girl magic was still rampant throughout the Rio Olympics. Regardless of the sport, black women showed they were a force to be reckoned with and helped keep team USA at the top of the medal-count leaderboard. The star of team USA was Simone Biles who helped her team win another gold. She is also the all-around Olympic floor and vault champion.
Simone Manuel won gold when she tied for first in the 100m freestyle and is the first African American woman to bring home multiple medals in swimming
In the pool, the black girl magic continued as Ashleigh Johnson and Simone Manuel helped bring in more gold. As the goalie for the USA water polo team, Johnson not helped helped her team secure a win she's the first African American woman to play for Team USA. Manuel was the first African American woman to win a gold medal in an individual swimming event.
In the ring, middleweight champ Claressa Shield became the first American to win consecutive gold medals. She also won in 2012 at the Olympic Games in London
After winning her medal, Dalilah Muhammad “I’m proud to be part of the Muslim community, so it’s definitely amazing. Muslims out there representing for the United States.”
Amidst all the controversy over Islam in America during the election, Dalilah Muhammad, showed that her faith was a point of pride when she earned gold in the women's 400-meter hurdles. She and her teammates dominated the hurdles and she joined Ibtihaj Muhammad in showing the the many ways in which the Muslim community has brought glory to the United States.
Carter is the first athlete, of any race or gender, to win gold in shot put for Team USA
Michelle Carter's Olympic gold is historic for a number of reasons. Aside from being the first African American to win gold in shot put, Carter also secured Team USA's first win in the sport. She and her dad are also the first daddy-daughter duo to medal at the Olympics, her father won silver in the sport at the Los Angeles games in 1984
1. Beyonce served us some Lemonade
It started when Beyoncé dropped a video for the single "Formation". Later she stunned everyone with a jaw-dropping Super Bowl half-time show performance, and momentarily made everyone forget that Coldplay and Bruno Mars were performing. That same night, she kicked off the Formation World Tour. Just a few months later, in April, she premiered the visual album on HBO and Tidal. She later nabbed four Emmy nominations and nine Grammy nods.
Even globally, while everything else seemed to implode, black women held it down. From music, to sports, politics and even business, black women proved that there are few, if any realms they can't conquer.
