Lost in the white pages of “Econ101”,
in lecture theatres and honorary libraries,
is Sadie Alexander, the economist.
Pigeon-holed as another civil rights activist,
she is nowhere to be found in economics.
Yet, absent in the minds of countless generations
is the recognition of the tragic irony
of the woman who fought tirelessly
for the fair standards of the living
being treated so unfairly in both life and death.
Missing is the outrage of the first African-American
woman in history to achieve a PhD in Economics
being punished out of the profession
for not being born a ‘Karl’, ‘John’ or ‘Adam’.
All the collective disgust and frustration we should feel for her indefensible mistreatment
goes unfelt.
This, in itself, is an outrage.
For how many more Sadies need to suffer?
Smothered into silence by the cruel, decisive hands of History;
of textbook writers that seem to have an appetite for an army of wealthy, white wig-wearers
dictating the theory taught to Sadies across the globe.
How much more brilliance will go untouched,
collecting dust alongside painfully pointless PhD diplomas?
That is why her name and her economic contributions must be said.
Written. Read. Heard. Spoken. Learned
Her name must be the title of not only this poem but many more.
May it branch out into the plaques under park monuments.
May it be written in black, bold contrast to the pale pages of economics this far.
May names like Sadie’s be interwoven into teaching year-round,
not solely plucked out in October, fleeting ,then quickly disposed of alongside Halloween decorations.
May the next generation of possible Sadies
Free themselves not from her ambition, but from her fate.