A message from our founder: The Cost of Black Brilliance

Sasha Legette
Feb 18
3 min read

For 100 years, our communities have paused to observe what began as Negro History Week, a deliberate effort to ensure Black history would not be erased, minimized, or misunderstood.

Black History Month has always been about more than looking back. It has been about correcting the record as it is being made.

One hundred years into formally observing Black history, we are still writing it. And while progress is rarely without consequence, for Black women in leadership those consequences are often distinct.

In recent years, we have watched Black women step into positions of visible leadership in unprecedented numbers, in courtrooms, classrooms, city halls, and boardrooms. These moments matter not simply because they break barriers, but because they redefine what authority looks like and who is trusted to wield it. What we talk about less is what follows.

We have seen versions of this play out again and again. From the way Kamala Harris has been scrutinized at every turn since stepping into national leadership, where her laugh was dissected as if it were a governing philosophy, to the quiet sidelining of Black journalists whose voices once shaped major conversations, to the sustained attacks directed at women like Letitia James and Fani Willis for carrying out the duties they were elected to perform. Different roles. Different headlines. A familiar pattern.

The scrutiny is rarely neutral. It is often personal, amplified, and detached from performance. Visibility invites examination. Leadership invites pressure. But for Black women, authority is frequently treated as provisional, something to be tested, second-guessed, and re-litigated in ways that extend far beyond the role itself. The applause fades quickly. The weight does not. And too often, that weight is carried quietly.

Black History Month invites us to hold two truths at once: the pride of what was achieved and the reality of what it takes to sustain it.

At Black Girl Caucus, we believe honoring Black history requires telling the full story, not only how Black women gain influence, but what it demands to keep it. Leadership is not a moment. It is sustained labor. It is strategy. It is endurance.

It also means remembering that Black women are not abstractions. We are leaders operating within real institutions, accountable to real constituencies, navigating scrutiny that carries professional and personal consequences. Our work does not exist in theory. It exists within systems that do not automatically extend grace.

This month, in the centennial year of Black history observance, we are creating space to listen to Black women who are living this history now. To learn from their experiences. To ask better questions about support, solidarity, and protection beyond celebration.

Later this month, Black Girl Caucus will convene our inaugural InfluenceHER Speaker Series conversation, Brilliance Under Fire: When Black History Meets Backlash. The event will bring together Black women judges who were part of Harris County’s historic wave of elections and who have navigated the scrutiny that followed. Together, they will reflect on what comes after the win: the backlash, the narrative battles, and the resilience required to continue serving.