Zora Neale Hurston and International Women's Day

In her novel, "Their Eyes Were Watching God," Zora Neale Hurston writes that "Black women are the mules of the earth." The image is a striking one. Able to carry more than 20-30% of their body weight, mules are among the strongest, most enduring creatures on the planet; even stronger and more enduring than their horse and donkey parents. However, mules are typically infertile. Due to chromosomal mismatches of their parents, mules rarely reproduce.

From a glass half-full perspective, I guess you could say that mules are truly one of a kind. But, I think that Hurston was speaking to the ways in which Black women have been worn and othered to the point of not even being recognized as a species. When I think about the state of our democracy and the role that black women have played to keep it, the glass doesn't feel very full at all. Many Black women and women of color can relate to carrying more than our share for longer than we ever imagined; to carrying a vision of freedom that we've yet to see reproduced structurally in these United States.

For years I looked at Hurston's analogy as someone who is burdened, and I felt hopeless and resigned to carrying more than I should without end. This year, I learned that, in their natural, unburdened state, mules aren't just strong and enduring, but they're sensitive, highly intelligent beings with common sense, a penchant for recognizing and avoiding danger, and they are not prone to panic but instead choose calm whenever available making them consummate healers. Black women are still othered and dehumanized, but what if we didn't carry the weight of this crumbling democracy anymore? What if it takes an unburdened ass to defeat some assholes and be free?

I've probably taken the mule analogy far enough, but suffice it to say that 2025 is the year I unburden myself and embrace my natural intelligence. I will maintain my immense strength, and I refuse to carry what is not mine. I reject the notion of long suffering, and I commit to staying aware of the danger we are all in, but not giving into it. I promise to move with a calm, enduring joy that inspires healing.

In her poem, "Revolutionary Dreams," Nikki Giovanni wrote of dreams where she used her Black-woman strength to overthrow systems and negotiate an intractable peace. But then she woke up, and realized that just being her natural self, would be nothing short of revolution.

At Esq. Apprentice we are committed to a natural workforce that centers women of color: a WOCforce. We centralize the notion that work should build you up–not wear you down. And, because we are led by and work for revolutionary lawyers, we aspire to create a world where the law works for and not against low-income communities and where legal advocates more accurately and equitably reflect all of us.

At Esq. Apprentice, we aspire to change the legal system as we know it. Your donation contributes to the creation of a new legal system full of more lawyers fighting for our freedoms in the communities from which they hail and unburdened by debt. In this time, when our legal system is collapsing all around us, we need more access to legal education and creative lawyering now more than ever. Donate today to support a new WOCforce, and "that would be a revolution."