Despite the fact that more than three decades have passed since that day, the memory of my first time seeing Queen Latifah on TV still stands out in my mind vividly. I was nine years old, cross-legged in my living room one evening watching BET when the video for “Ladies First” came on. The video opens with snapshots of Harriet Tubman, Angela Davis, Winnie Mandela, Madame C.J. Walker and the abolitionist Sojourner Truth. Immediately following these archival images, Latifah appears, dressed in paramilitary gear and flanked by her two dancers, the Safari Sisters. Despite being very young, the message was clear to me: by visually appropriating the images of these women, Queen Latifah was positioning herself as the latest step in a long line of Black women revolutionaries. Backed by…
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The American Poetry Review (Digital) - 1 Issue, March/April 2022