Phenomenal Girls

Via Kimberly Foster at For Harriet, this video of black girls reciting the first verse of Maya Angelou's "Phenomenal Woman" for Nickelodeon, in celebration of Black History Month, is 100% THE BEST:


Video Description: Piano music. A male voiceover, over text onscreen saying the same thing, says: "Nickelodeon celebrates Black History Month. Presenting "Because of Them We Can." Honoring Maya Angelou, poet."

A young black girl with two long braids, dressed (as are almost all the girls) in a white t-shirt, hoop earrings, and a string of pearls, looks directly into the camera and says: "Pretty women wonder—" then over video of a young black girl wearing a black and red headwrap, peeking from behind a black-and-white journal notebook "—where my secret lies."

We see a tiny black girl, shot from above so we see the top of her head, standing next to a black woman, who's cut off at the waist in the shot, and another young black girl says in voiceover: "I'm not cute—" the tiny girl looks up at her mom (?) with big brown eyes, playing with the pearls she's also wearing "—or built to suit a fashion model's size."

Cut the the young black girl who was speaking, who is now speaking directly to the camera: "But when I start to tell them—" She's then seen bending over and whispering into the tiny girl's ear, and the tiny girl makes a scandalized face! "—they think I'm telling lies."

Cut to one of the girls stretching out her arms, one arm toward the camera: "I say: It's in the reach of my arms!"

Cut to one of the girls spinning with her hands on her hips, her pearls swinging: "The span of my hips!"

Cut to one of the girls marching: "The stride of my step!"

Cut to one of the girls pursing her lips, then breaking into a smile: "The curl of my lips!"

Cut to a slightly older black girl wearing a multicolored headwrap, looking directly in the camera and smiling: "I'm a woman."

Cut to a tiny black girl, who stands with her hands on her hips, looking directly into the camera: "Phenobamally!"

Cut to a teenage black girl with braces, wearing an orange and white headwrap, looking directly into the camera: "Phenomenal woman."

Cut back to the girl with the braids: "That's us!" A sequence of four of the younger girls pointing at themselves. Then: A young girl in a blue and green headwrap looks up from writing something and smiling. In voiceover, one of the girls says: "Because of them, we can."

Male voiceover: For more information on Maya Angelou, visit Nick-dot-com-slash-thanks.