A ‘little leader’: Charlotte mom and daughter celebrate Black history in photos, costumes
Riley Johnson is often told she has lots of personality, and there was no shortage of it last Friday night at her house north of Charlotte.
With the soundtrack to Disney’s “Encanto” movie playing in the background, 5-year-old Riley runs into the living room to show off her Wonder Woman costume, flexing her muscles and bouncing around the room.
It’s part of a daily game of dress up that Riley and her mom play every February for Black History Month.
First, they pick a prominent Black woman to dress up as and recreate an outfit with clothes from Riley’s closet. They snap a few pictures and post the results on Instagram, side-by-side with the original. Friday’s pick was “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts, who in one picture happens to be dressed as — you guessed it — Wonder Woman.
“She loves to dress up, she loves to be somebody else,” Sasha Bonner, 36, said of her daughter. “When it comes to people who look like her, she’s excited about it... She loves to see herself in these people.”
Riley and her mom have posted a new photo every day in February for the past three years. The pictures pay homage to all kinds of Black women, from musicians to members of Congress.
Their annual project as a pair has attracted some famous followers, like actress Viola Davis, and was even featured on NBC’s “Today” show’s website. But it started with a much simpler mission.
“When I was growing up, I didn’t see anyone that looked like me that was my inspiration,” Bonner said. “I want to teach her that she can do anything.”
Finding lots of inspiration
Bonner has always tried to teach Riley to have confidence in herself, she said. They read books together with titles like “Hair Love,” about celebrating their natural hair, and “I am Enough,” one of Riley’s favorites.
Their annual dress up tradition started when Riley was 2. They were working their way through another book at bedtime, called “Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History,” when Bonner had her own learning moment.
“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I didn’t even know a lot of these things about a lot of these people. She needs to know all of this,’ ” Bonner said.
They started snapping photos in 2019: Riley posed as prominent Black women like politician Stacey Abrams, political activist Angela Davis and ballet dancer Misty Copeland.
Since then, the pair have found dozens of other well-known women for Riley to copy on camera. Some of her favorites have been Beyoncé and Janet Jackson, but they’ve also picked scientists, entrepreneurs, athletes and even fictional characters.
That first year, the annual month of dress-up was Bonner’s idea. Since then, she’s left it up to Riley, who has opted to keep snapping the pictures every February.
“I joke that she’s going to be 17 and going to high school dressed like Harriet Tubman,” Bonner said. “Saying, ‘Hey, it’s February again guys!’ ”
‘It’s good to know where you came from’
It’s been a learning experience for mother and daughter, as they both discovered new stories about Black women who made an impact.
Some — like Henrietta Lacks, the 31-year old young mother whose cells, obtained without her knowledge, helped develop the polio vaccine — Bonner had never heard of before. Others faced difficult odds but still found success in business, science or politics.
“Everybody on that list had (at least) one or two knocks against them, and they persevered,” Bonner said. “It’s good to know where you came from, know your history.”
This year, she’s letting Riley pick each person she dresses up as. So far, they’ve done actress Issa Rae, social media star Tabitha Brown and even Adrienne Threatt, the executive director of local nonprofit Hope Vibes, which serves the homeless population in the Charlotte area.
Since they started, their annual tradition has become inseparable from Black History Month for Riley. What is Black History Month? “A time when Black women dress up as other Black women,” she responded, grinning.
Their annual tradition has reached thousands of people on social media.
Bonner gets messages from all over the world from followers saying Riley’s photos have inspired them.
“(They) have messaged me and told me ‘I’m learning with you. Your daughter is teaching my daughter from 5,000 miles away,’ ” Bonner said.
She hopes the annual tradition will keep building her daughter’s confidence for years to come.
And if Riley’s enormous gap-toothed grin in every photo is any indication: “Whatever I’m doing is working,” she laughed.
This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
