More than just a former First Lady

A new paperback anthology The Meaning of Michelle gives a sparkling range of views on the former First Lady of America, with 16 writers outlining how her journey has inspired them. Many of the contributors are – like their subject Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama – also African-American women and they record what this has meant to them to have her in the White House. Veronica Chambers, an author best known for her memoir Mama’s Girl and who writes often about her own Afro-Latina heritage, has edited the collection. To most South Africans, Michelle Obama is famous, mainly thanks to her partnership with her husband Barack Obama, United States president from 2008 to 2016. However, this collection shows how and why she is a force in her own right as well. And, while commentators often have delved into Obama’s fashion appeal – including her gorgeously toned arms – and attributes as a role model, far fewer have looked at the meaning she has had for black American culture.

The preface to The Meaning of Michelle by Ava DuVernay sums up her appeal in this respect: “Even after eight years of watching them daily in the press, the fact that the most powerful man in the world is a black man is still breathtaking to me. “The fact that he goes home to a tight-knit, loving family headed by a black woman is soul-stirring. That woman is Michelle. Michelle. “That name now carries a whole world of meaning.” However, “Mrs O” was much more than a black icon, mom-in-chief and stylish “sista” – she defied numerous stereotypes and brought not only grace and class but also a fierce intelligence to her position as First Lady of the United States. As another of the writers Chirlane McCray notes, “we all benefit when our elected leaders are blessed with equally strong partners” – and there is a message for South Africa there.

• The Meaning of Michelle is published by Picador and retails for about R300.