If you have a U.S. passport, you’re carrying a powerful quote by a formerly enslaved woman and may not even realize it. In this episode, Lesley shares the history hiding inside your passport and why the path to freedom—and doing the thing you say you want to do—is rarely a straight line. From taking eight months to finally volunteer to learning how to keep going when schedules don’t align, this episode is a reminder that obstacles don’t mean you should quit.

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In this episode you will learn about:

The hidden history inside every single American passport.
How education became Anna Julia Cooper’s path to ultimate freedom.
Finding patience and self-love during a Pilates reformer practice.
Why volunteering at the SPCA took eight months to schedule.
The importance of volunteering and donating to animal shelters.

Episode References/Links:

Anna Julia Cooper at HerStory - https://beitpod.com/annajuliacooper
@cordeliamadetomove - https://www.instagram.com/cordeliamadetomove
Nevada SPCA - https://nevadaspca.org
ASPCA - https://www.aspca.org/about-us
Submit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questions

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Resources:

Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-g
Lesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/
Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/
Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/
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Profitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/

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Episode Transcript:

Lesley Logan 0:00

It's Fuck Yeah Friday.

Brad Crowell 0:01

Fuck yeah.

Lesley Logan 0:02

Get ready for some wins. Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.

Lesley Logan 0:47

Hey, Be It babe. How are you? Okay. Now, now that I've done one, I think I'm gonna be much more organized on this one. That's my win this week. My win is that I'm more organized for my FYF episodes. No, I'm not. I'm just kidding. This means nothing to you if you missed last week's episode. So if you missed last week's episode, go back and listen anytime. The wins are appropriate to listen to whenever you want. And it's really about really reminding us all that we're actually really fucking amazing. We're doing great things. And if we can't do that on Fridays, when can we do it? Right? I mean, ideally, every day, but let's be real, like life is busy. There's a lot going on. It's really easy just to focus on all the ish that's out there in the world. And what I've come to, like, realize and enjoy is like, I can actually go, Okay, if we take what's going on the world out, like, just put it over on just like, over here, I can actually say I'm doing really freaking great. If we bring it back in, then I'm kind of meh. I'm like, in the whelmed state, overwhelmed sometimes by all that I'm feeling, and then, like, underwhelmed a bit about, like, people's reactions and support. And then we have to go back and do the thing, right? We have to go back and do the thing. So anyways, I'm recording this in February for March. My wins are really gonna be fun for you. I think hopefully you'll see, like, oh, wins can happen in all places. And I got wins from you guys that I want to share and I can't wait, but for that, we have to do something that's quite inspiring about what some woman did, a way back when that we all should be thankful for. and know. Okay, so this is from her story. Feminism. I really like this account, by the way, they come up a lot. I have tried to get them on the show, but that is not going to happen, and that's not because they're not cool. They're really cool. So anyways, did you know the woman quoted in every US passport was born enslaved, and most people don't even know her name. Meet Anna Julia Cooper. Anna Julia Cooper was born into slavery in 1858 in North Carolina. Her mother was enslaved. Her father was almost certainly her mother's enslaver, a reality many black women endured under slavery. After emancipation, she earned a scholarship to St Augustine's Normal School. She fought to take classes reserved for men, because she knew education was her way to freedom. In 1882 she wrote A Voice From The South, one of the major works of black feminist thought, arguing that the progress of an entire nation depends on on the uplift of black women. Couldn't agree more. She became one of the first black women in US history to earn a PhD that was in Sorbonne, 1924 she spent her life educating, advocating for black women and children, becoming a teacher, principal and lifelong activist. Her words, the cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class. It is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity. That quote appears in every American passport today, but most Americans have no idea they're reading the words of a formerly enslaved black woman. I'm just gonna read that again. The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class. It is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity. And I just think that's most beautiful thing. I think we have so much work to do, but I think in learning history and learning what women b...