#erycdivas

8-year-old Amelia Meyer could have wished for anything, all she had to do was ask.

Most kids picked by the Make-A-Wish Foundation - who are in the business of making dreams come true for children with life-threatening illnesses- choose to meet celebrities or to go Disney World.  But Amelia, who is fighting brain cancer, told the foundation that her wish was to “take care of the world” for a day, so they helped her do just that.

This past Saturday, Amelia, her family and friends were joined by hundreds of others as they cleaned up their neighborhood park.  The movement spread to other neighborhoods in Kansas City and other towns in the state.  Kansas City Mayor Sly James was even there to proclaim it “Take Care of the World Day” in Amelia’s honor.

Before Rosa there was Claudette.

Claudette Colvin was 15 years old when she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. It was 1955 and a good nine months before Rosa Parks' historic act of defiance.

Colvin was riding home from school on a city bus when the driver told her to give up her seat. She refused, saying, "It's my constitutional right to sit here as much as that lady. I paid my fare, it's my constitutional right."

Negro history month, as it was then known, had just ended and at her segregated school Colvin and her classmates had been learning about black leaders. Colvin, emboldened by this, felt compelled to stand her ground. "I felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman was pushing down on the other—saying, 'Sit down girl!' I was glued to my seat," she would later say.

Colvin was arrested and spent several tearful hours in jail before her mother and her minister could bail her out.  The NAACP was on the lookout for a case to challenge Montgomery's segregation laws and Colvin’s case was briefly considered. They worried about her age and maturity but when she became pregnant around the time of her arrest, the decision was made for them. They feared that an unwed mother would attract too much negative attention in a public legal battle.  Ultimately Rosa Parks, a 42 year-old seamstress with a spotless reputation was chosen to be the face of the boycott and the rest as they say is history.

Who can say whether, Colvin would have held up to the scrutiny Rosa Parks would go on to endure as the public face of the boycotts.  But there can be no doubt that Colvin’s act of defiance was just as brave and just as bold.

To call Marley Dias an up-and-comer would be a disservice to everything she has already accomplished... at the age of 11.

Frustrated with her assigned reading at school, Marley complained to her mom that she was “sick of reading about white boys and dogs”.  Challenged by her mom to do something about it, Marley began her #1000BlackGirlBooks drive.

The goal was to collect 1000 books where a black girl was more than just a background character but the actual protagonist of the story.  Marley hit her mark and has already begun sharing her books and list with low-resource schools so that other black girls might be able to read a book and see a bit of themselves in it.

Watch Marley interviewed on TV - so composed, so bright and so confident-  and you know that this is only the beginning for one very special #ERYCDiva.

Often times being an #ERYCDiva can be about being a pioneer: ahead of the curve and ahead of the times.  Here’s Shirley Chisolm, who never met a trail that didn’t need a little blazing.

In 1968, Shirley Chisholm left her career in education to become the first African-American woman elected to Congress. A year later, she was one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus. By 1972, she was making history again by becoming the first African-American woman of a major party to run for a presidential nomination.

There were at least two things that made Lilly Ledbetter different from the other Area Managers working for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in her day. The first was that she was a woman, the second was that she was paid significantly less than her male counterparts.

A new season of Yacht Club dodgeball is here and with it comes a new season's theme.

ERYC: Divas is a celebration of all the fabulous ladies at the tops of their games, no matter what those games might be. Musical divas? You bet. Science divas?! Heck yes! Historical? Of course! And you know that inevitable black-robed Ruth Bader Catchburg team is sure to be a winner.