ALICIA JAMISON
Alicia Jamison grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona where she did not see many faces that looked like hers. She was one of five black people in her graduating class. Naturally, she faced adversity on a regular basis. She wrote “Black Girl Magic”, a spoken word poem, when she moved to New York and began to understand the sorcery of her melanin. Today Alicia is a proud black woman who loves her skin. She now is working to help other women of color find love for their skin as well as an understanding of the power they hold.
WHAT IS YOUR BREAKTHROUGH VOICE?
Alicia Jamison: I think my voice is always changing. As we develop, we learn more things about ourselves and that comes through our art. When I wrote “Black Girl Magic,” I was getting more comfortable with being a Black woman. I grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona, so I didn’t have a lot of Black women around me, or Black people in general. So I didn’t understand my identity. I didn’t know what my role was in society. So when I wrote “Black Girl Magic,” I felt more confident in who I am.
But I wrote that a year ago, and I’m in college now. They say that these are the years that you find yourself, or at least start to. At that point I was comfortable being a Black woman, but now today I’m more comfortable being Alicia. Alicia is, yes, a Black woman, but also a student, also pre-med, also a trainer. She’s a lot more beyond her race and identity.
It’s really cool to be able to look back at what that piece meant to me then and what it means to me now.
