Cicely Tyson climbed her final mountain on Thursday, January 28th 2021. Ms. Tyson was an iconic Black actress that climbed many mountains during her career and planted the flag of equality.

Her passing is a loss; yet her memory is a legacy that every challenge has a solution and does not mean defeat. When I think of Ms Tyson, I remember her in the role of Ms. Jane Pitman, a fictional story of a woman who was born during slavery and bears witness to the racial injustice of the post-civil war through the civil rights movement. That scene where she slowly walks to drink from the “Whites only” fountain had my whole family sitting in my grandmother’s den cheering! It was a moment that said, yes I am human and I belong.

That is the legacy Ms. Tyson leaves behind. We as a nation still have many more mountains to climb; this is not a movie. This is our reality and the climb continues and yes even with a first woman and woman of color serving as Vice President. Keep climbing, keep climbing for every woman and girl that still remains afraid in their own homes, unable to provide for themselves and their children due to underpaid jobs, and all the barriers that still remain for women of color and women of all backgrounds.