The perfect woman in back history?

The month of February every year is designated as the “Black History Month” in the US while March is celebrated world-wide as the “International Women’s Month”. Three issues emphasized during the celebration of Women’s Month are “women’s rights”, “equality” and “empowerment”. I would like to take the opportunity to combine these two occasions to pay my tribute to a black woman who is an embodiment of these three concepts and the perfect woman in black history in my view.

In my definition, a perfect woman must be beautiful in physical appearance, must have an intelligent mind, documented by strong academic credentials and a pleasant personality. She must excel in her profession and be proud and confident in being who she is. Finally, she must have strong moral and family values.

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As an artist, whenever I look at a woman, I immediately evaluate her looks. I examine the shape of her face as well as facial features (eyes, nose, lips, forehead, hair etc.), in addition to the usual “hour-glass statistics” related to a female figure.

Being born in India and being familiar with all shades of gray in people’s complexion, skin color is less important to me. My mother was relatively dark and of course, we worshipped goddess Kali. Many black women have caught my attention over the years for their beauty in addition to their achievements.

My first black female of fascination was Jayne Kennedy in the seventies. A former Miss USA, she succeeded Phyllis George as the anchor of CBS’s Sunday news hour on sport, “NFL Today”. She was gorgeous and successful in her career; I adored her. Other beautiful black celebrities of that period included singers Diana Ross and Dione Warwick. Being a Michael Jackson (MJ) fan, I got to see many stunning black beauties in his music videos, especially Naomi Campbell who is sensational. MJ’s own sister Janet is a beautiful woman. Nigeria-born singer Sade has a unique exotic beauty displayed in her music videos. However, they all appeared to be deficient in the area of intellect, quantifiable by a good college education.

If we ignore the visual appeal and rank black women by their achievements and/or contributions to society many names surface from Hariette Tubman to Oprah Winfrey. I admire them but would not call anyone a perfect woman.

Many popular good-looking celebrity black women did not make any lasting impression on me, including Beyonce, Hally Berry and Rihanna; perhaps because they appear to be somewhat stuck-up in their personality.

While watching the Paris Olympics in 2024, I finally identified who my perfect black woman is. Her name is Gabrielle (Gabby) Thomas, the US track and field athlete who won an individual gold medal in 200-meter race and two more gold in relay races. There is something about her looks that instantly captivated me. It is her facial features, her bright smile and perhaps some resemblance to Indian actresses of my youth (Waheeda Rehman? Supriya Choudhuri?) or my beloved aunt “Chhoto Masi”. Of course, being a runner, she has a great figure. Judging by all her interviews that I have seen on TV she has a warm and pleasant personality. She is articulate and knows how to express herself.

However, it is her academic credentials that floored me. She went to Harvard University for her undergraduate studies majoring in neurobiology and minoring in global health. She received a master’s degree in public health specializing in epidemiology from the University of Texas. I am a strong advocate for higher education since my own drive for higher education brought me to the US and gave me professional success. My daughter went to Stanford and is a medical doctor. As far as Gabby is concerned, I never heard accounts of such dual excellence in both academics and sports from one person, male or female and of any race. Gabby is the only athlete in the world who went to Harvard and won an Olympic gold.

Her education was not just for getting a degree in the medical field for earning money or participating in college sports. She is passionate about fighting the disparity in health care in our society. Currently she volunteers for a clinic in Austin. Her ambition is to enter the health care administration as a profession and someday run a hospital free of any discrimination. I have no doubt that she will achieve it.

I admire Gabby’s focus and determination in achieving her goals. She won an individual bronze model and a silver medal in relay in the Tokyo Olympics but really wanted to win individual gold. She prepared for three years, practicing every single day and decided to compete only in the 200 m race to concentrate all her efforts on it, which paid off. She commented after winning that she knew she would win because “she envisioned herself winning that race over and over again the entire time she was in Paris”.

My most joyful image of Gabby was her photo wrapped in an American flag after winning the 200 m race in Paris. She said in an interview, “There is nothing like getting that flag after you cross the finish line …..and America is watching”. This was in such a contrast to those football players a few years ago who were taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem showing utter disrespect to their country and flag. Gabby loves her country and loves God. She had a health scare just before the Olympics but believes that it is her faith that pulled her through. She did not tweet any political message on social media nor played the race card showing a “victim mentality”; even Simone Biles could not resist declaring “I love my black job” in a social media post.

Unlike her male counterpart, Noah Lyles, Gabby is modest and acknowledges inspirations she received from the female Olympian Allyson Felix, her high school math teacher/track coach Martha McCullagh and most importantly her mother Jeniffer Randall, a professor and PhD holder, who raised Gabby and her brother as a single mother in extremely difficult situation. Gabby always seems to be a happy and positive person, a perfect role model for the younger generation.

The key to Gabby’s success is her balanced approach to all her interests –from academics to sports to professional ambition as well as her personal life. She was in a steady and healthy relationship with Spencer McManes, an athlete himself, who was there in Paris to cheer her on; they finally got engaged in March of 2025. My admiration for Gabby is paternal and I will not hesitate even for a second to adopt her as my second daughter.

After only a six-week downtime following the Paris Olympics Gabby started her preparations for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. She participated in the ATHLOS NYC tournament in the fall of 2024.

Unfortunately, she has recently suffered an achilles injury which forced her to withdraw from the World Athletic Championship in Tokyo. I pray to God that she heals quickly. I look forward to seeing her compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The writer, a physicist who worked in academia and industry, is a Bengali settled in America.