By Anita Kopacz, author of Shallow Waters and The Wind on Her Tongue
Throughout history, Black excellence has often been erased, leaving many unaware of the rich legacies of wealth, power, and influence that our ancestors cultivated. This erasure is particularly glaring when examining figures like Marie Laveau and Mary Ellen Pleasant—two formidable Black women whose impact shaped America but they remain largely absent from mainstream narratives.
In my novel The Wind on Her Tongue, the second standalone installment of the Daughter of Three Waters trilogy after my debut, Shallow Waters, I reimagine the Yoruba Orisha, Oya, as a young woman grappling with her place in a tumultuous 19th-century America. Along her journey, she encounters Laveau and Pleasant, who embody the power and resilience of Black aristocracy.
Marie Laveau, the famed Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, was more than a mystic. She was a shrewd businesswoman, community leader, and powerbroker who commanded respect from both Black and white communities. Similarly, Mary Ellen Pleasant, often called the “Mother of Civil Rights in California,” was a financier and abolitionist who used her wealth to fund the Underground Railroad and challenge discriminatory laws. Despite both Laveau’s and Pleasant’s immense contributions, their legacies have been diminished.
Why are such stories consistently left out of mainstream narratives? The answer lies in a historical pattern of erasure and misrepresentation.
Excluding Black affluence from history serves to uphold myths of Black inferiority and justify systemic inequalities. This narrative paints economic and social mobility as recent rather than longstanding aspects of Black existence.
Historical figures like Laveau and Pleasant are often framed as villains or mystics rather than leaders and strategists. Laveau is reduced to a sinister voodoo priestess, while Pleasant is labeled a schemer rather than a brilliant financier. These distortions sever Black people from our history of power and self-sufficiency.
In The Wind on Her Tongue, I reclaim these narratives, giving these women the complexity they deserve. Through Oya’s eyes, they are not myths or footnotes but dynamic forces shaping their world.
A passage from my novel underscores this theft of history and the necessity of reclaiming it:
“All of the things that we think of as ‘civilized’ or ‘the white man’ are actually stolen from different parts of Africa. The Africans they brought over as slaves were architects, doctors, artists, agriculturists, teachers. The Greeks and Romans would study in Africa for years, then return home as kings of philosophy or science. It is maddening knowing this truth and seeing it actively stripped from the Africans here.”
This erasure isn’t just a historical injustice—it has contemporary consequences. When Black children grow up unaware of figures like Laveau and Pleasant, they are denied the opportunity to see themselves reflected in history’s triumphs. Success is presented as an anomaly rather than part of their lineage.
Fiction has the power to reclaim and reimagine history. By weaving Laveau and Pleasant into Oya’s journey, The Wind on Her Tongue honors their legacies and challenges the notion that Black power and prosperity are anomalies. Their presence in the novel affirms that Black excellence has always existed.
It’s time we resurrect these stories, ensuring that names like Marie Laveau and Mary Ellen Pleasant are spoken with the same reverence as other historical powerhouses. Their lives were testaments to Black ingenuity and brilliance—truths that must no longer remain in the shadows.
Anita Kopacz is an award-winning writer and spiritual advisor. She is the former editor in chief of Heart & Soul Magazine and managing editor of BeautyCents Magazine. When she is not writing, you can find her on the dance floor or traveling the world with her children. Anita lives in New York City with her family. She is the author of Shallow Waters and The Wind on Her Tongue.
