Black Women in Education
Eritrean-American Woman Became 1st Blind, Deaf Graduate of Harvard Law School

America makes it hard enough for a black woman to succeed at the same rate and pace as other people, and when you add to the mix being born blind and deaf to African immigrants, it would seem that the odds for success become nearly impossible. But Haben Girma beat those odds and then some to become the first deaf-and-blind graduate of Harvard Law School.
Girma was born in Oakland, Calif., in 1988 to an Ethiopian father and a mother who fled Eritrea in 1983 at the height of the country’s independence war, according to a profile on Face2Face Africa.
Growing up in California, Girma was able to benefit from a U.S. school system that recognizes the rights of people with disabilities, as well as modern technology, including a digital Braille device, which she believes contributed greatly to her success story.
Girma’s older brother, who was born in Eritrea, is also blind and deaf, but he was not able to benefit from access to the opportunities that she was afforded.
In a speech at the White House marking the 25th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act…
I am a future butterfly at the stage of growth when I am turning into an adult. I am enclosed in a hard case shell formed by love, family, and friends. It is the hardest stage of becoming a black butterfly. You will encounter many hardships only to come out stronger and better than what you went in. At this stage, you are finding out who you truly are and how to love yourself.
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The image of the butterfly has come to define the many expressions of the feminine black consciousness and for a good reason. The butterfly is the perfect articulation of the exquisite beauty of nature. Whether tiny or large, brightly colored or more subdued, the butterfly’s allure is undeniable. Each one displays its own unique patterns and hues, and no one species outshines any other.
Similarly, there is no one ideal image of a black woman -- each is gorgeous in her right. All African-Americans share a glorious history of struggle and perseverance that has funneled into the modern black renaissance. And, like the graceful butterfly, the awakened black woman exemplifies the dazzling beauty of that cultural evolution.