--- title: America’s Progress Hinges on Liberating Black Women description: 'Denying Black women’s worth robs not just their families but the nation,' write Arndrea Waters King and Jennifer Jones Austin canonical: https://time.com/6307505/march-on-washington-black-women-essay/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-08-24T11:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:44:44.244Z article:section: Ideas og:title: America’s Progress Hinges on Liberating Black Women og:description: "Denying Black women’s worth robs not just their families but the nation." og:url: https://time.com/6307505/march-on-washington-black-women-essay/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e33918693bec871/698a3fc2e6e84a51122b067e/March-On-Washington-Women-1963.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: March-On-Washington-Women-1963. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: America’s Progress Hinges on Liberating Black Women twitter:description: "Denying Black women’s worth robs not just their families but the nation." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1e33918693bec871/698a3fc2e6e84a51122b067e/March-On-Washington-Women-1963.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- # 60 Years After March on Washington, America’s Progress Hinges on Liberating Black Women > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=887c7090-9a84-4db1-bda8-419312eb7a23&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Dr. Bernice A. King Reflects on Her Father’s ‘Blueprint’ for Change [Watch (HLS stream): Dr. Bernice A. King Reflects on Her Father’s ‘Blueprint’ for Change](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/AXddzz9Q.m3u8) (3:44)  _Published 2023-08-11. Dr. Bernice A. King, the youngest child of King and CEO of nonprofit The King Center, noted these descriptions during her speech at the TIME event in partnership with American Family Insurance commemorating the 60-year anniversary of her father’s historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom._ Aug 24, 2023 11:00 AM UTC  A Black woman stands in a crowd and yells, "Freedom!" when asked to yell so loud it will be heard all over the world at the March on Washington in Washington, DC on August 28, 1963. A Black woman stands in a crowd and yells, "Freedom!" when asked to yell so loud it will be heard all over the world at the March on Washington in Washington, DC on August 28, 1963. Express Newspapers—Archive Photos/Getty Images by [Arndrea Waters King](https://time.com/author/arndrea-waters-king/) and [Jennifer Jones Austin](https://time.com/author/jennifer-jones-austin/) Aug 24, 2023 11:00 AM UTC In her 1892 masterpiece, _A Voice from the South: By a Black Woman of the South_, scholar Anna Julia Cooper wrote, “Only the Black woman can say when and where I enter, in the quiet, undisputed dignity of my womanhood, without violence and without suing or special patronage, then and there the whole Negro race enters with me.” Just a generation removed from slavery, Cooper—who is often called “the Mother of Black Feminism”—understood that the progress of African Americans, and of American civilization, is impossible without Black women. Only when Black women are no longer denigrated and diminished, but rather are truly elevated by all in society to their rightful status of equal dignity and divinity—and lives freely and fully as all men and women—can the Black race (and all human race) flourish to its fullest potential. For as long as Black women are devalued and delegitimized, so too will humanity. Cooper’s words still ring true today. 131 years ago, President Abraham Lincoln promised all Black Americans the right to live peacefully and be justly paid for their labor. In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other civil rights leaders marched hundreds of thousands of Americans to the nation’s Capitol, demanding America make good on that promise. Yet 60 years later, Black women remain disproportionately undervalued and mistreated by persisting racism and sexism—their families bearing the heaviest burdens. In the 1960s, the historic practice of discounting women’s contributions to the workplace was perpetuated by a predominantly male labor force that especially undercounted work performed by non-white women. Work opportunities for women of color were scarce. The only jobs available to them were domestic labor-related, the [lowest paid occupation type in 1963](https://www.fpwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/March-on-Washington-2023.pdf). **_Read More:_**[_Experience The March on Washington in Virtual Reality_](https://time.com/the-march/) Today, while no longer restricted solely to domestic labor, Black and Brown women remain significantly segregated in the labor force: severely underrepresented in professions that typically pay more and overly represented in occupations with lower average salaries. The latter of these jobs—roles such as childcare workers, social workers, and substance abuse counselors—are critical to a healthy and functioning society, yet their wages don’t even begin to cover basic living expenses. According to the[ July 2023 Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA) report,](https://www.fpwa.org/resource-center/in-the-news/new-fpwa-report-reveals-alarming-decline-in-federal-state-funding-for-city-agencies/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CFPWA's%20new%202023%20Human%20Services,multiple%20crises%20facing%20our%20city.) Black women’s work garners an average wage of just $30,789; for Latinas, a measly $23,196\. In New York City, one of the most expensive cities in the world, [over 44,000 women of color](http://www.centernyc.org/reports-briefs/the-case-for-ending-poverty-wages-for-new-york-citys-human-services-workers) are contracted full-time human services workers. Roughly two-thirds of these workers earned below the city’s near-poverty threshold in 2019 and made 20-35% less in median annual wages and benefits than workers in comparable positions in the public and private sector. ### More From TIME These disparities extend to education. Even with comparable or identical college degrees, a Black person makes an average 20% less in wages each year than a white person. For Black women, the pay gap is even more stark. As noted in a report by compensation data and software company [PayScale](https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/compensation/pages/racial-wage-gaps-persistence-poses-challenge.aspx), Black women are the highest educated group, yet only with a master’s degree does she begin to earn more than a white man with an associate degree. It’s a tragic fact that Black woman must earn three times as many degrees as a white man to earn the same pay, let alone aim for slightly more. While earning her degrees, a Black woman also often incurs more debt. Systemic racism has restricted Black families’ ability to grow assets and pass on generational wealth, leaving the average Black student to graduate with $25,000 more student loan debt than the typical white student. Pay inequities upon entering the workforce exacerbate this inequality. [Recent 2023 data](https://www.fpwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/March-on-Washington-2023.pdf) from the FPWA shows that four years after graduation, 48% of Black students owe an average of 12.5% more than they borrowed. On the other hand, 83% of White students owe 12% less than they borrowed. Occupation segregation, wage deprivation, and debt accumulation hit the Black community hard. Coupled with enduring discriminatory laws, policies, and practices that all but ensure the over-policing and mass incarceration of Black men, the absence of these men and their potential earnings from the household is keenly felt by their families and communities. Today, over half of all Black children live in households, where Black women are the sole breadwinners, compared to less than 17% of white children. These Black children often depend on only one income, which is frequently insufficient to cover all household expenses. As if on autopilot, the cycle of poverty repeats itself: lower wages and student loan debt plus the higher likelihood of living on a single income result in persisting income and wealth inequity, reinforcing poverty from childhood until the end of life. We see this devastating loop play out among today’s youth: One in three Black children live in poverty, in contrast to less than one in ten white children. Despite centuries of having their worth diminished, Black women have boldly and unapologetically led and contributed to the development and progress of America. From reformers like Mary Ann Shadd Cary and Mary Church Terrell leading the early universal suffrage movement, advocating for the 15th and 19th Amendments, all the while being excluded from both Black men’s and white women’s suffrage movements, to Black women today such as Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, whose work as a immunologist led to the development of the vaccine to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and end the global pandemic. Denying Black women’s worth robs not just their families but the nation. Decades-long practices of devaluing Black women, their work, and their worth reveal both the intent and the impact of structural and institutional racism exacted upon them. This pattern signifies the ever-growing threat to the Black community. Further, it signals the urgency to continue marching and taking actions to demand fairness and justice. If Black women were awarded the value they deserve, the entire nation would take an instrumental step forward in realizing its fullest potential. ## Transcript [00:08] Good evening. [00:10] 10 years ago, in honor of the 50th anniversary of my father's. [00:14] I Have a Dream speech time published the special edition [00:18] with an image of him. [00:20] On the cover, I think you've seen it over there. [00:22] I was particularly captivated by both the caption and the sub [00:27] caption, which Associated my father with time. [00:30] She did not live in the caption read pounding Father which [00:35] is two centuries before. [00:36] My father was born in the sub caption read architect of the 21st Century [00:42] Century, which he was thirty-two years shy of living [00:48] in due to him being assassinated. [00:50] Of course, I was intrigued by this identification [00:54] of my father because it affirm that his message and teachings [00:59] around human dignity, freedom, justice, and equality of transcendent. [01:04] The vision strategy and values that he espoused a Timeless [01:09] and speak to generations of people who help for and work toward [01:14] a day when we truly live together as brothers and sisters [01:18] in this world is galvanizing words are instructive and continue [01:23] to give us whole sixty years later as Injustice and inequality, [01:26] continue to persist causing the marginalization of many communities. [01:32] Especially the black community is evident in the numerous [01:36] racial disparities this hope is essential because in spite [01:42] of the progress we've made since the March on Washington. [01:45] I have a dream, the Civil Rights Voting Rights and Fair Housing, [01:50] Act. We still face deeply entrenched racism. [01:54] As evidenced by the continual attacks on a quality in voting [01:58] and housing income banking law enforcement, criminal justice, [02:02] the environment. [02:04] And the recent attacks around education related to affirmative [02:09] action and crrt. [02:12] My mother reminds us though. [02:14] That struggle is a never-ending process. [02:17] Freedom is never really one. [02:21] You earned it and you win it in every generation. [02:24] Hope my brothers and sisters is what fuels? [02:28] The struggle. And with this hope it is, [02:32] imperative that we keep, the struggle for genuinely koala baby [02:36] alive. So that my father's dream, a true brother and Sisterhood [02:41] becomes our reality. [02:44] But as he instructed and I have a dream, [02:48] we must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity [02:54] and discipline. And so, as the architect of this 21st century, [03:01] my father's message, not only gives us hope but it's nonviolent [03:06] teachings. Provide the blueprint for building the Beloved [03:11] Community where in Justice thesis and love prevails the fierce [03:16] urgency of now is upon each and every one of us. [03:21] So join me on the journey is I seek to infuse a new generation [03:27] of changemakers with love and the power of non-violence [03:32] to transform our current climate of chaos into the Beloved [03:38] Community. 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