From Lucy to Leadership, Part 1: We Are All Africans

Issue 251 — February 5, 2024

What is more fascinating to us humans than ourselves?

Don’t we check how we look when we pass a mirror? Didn’t we invent psychology, sociology, and anthropology because we are obsessed with understanding who we are and why we behave as we do? Don’t we love seeing our names mentioned, or being tagged on Instagram? Come on, admit it.

My iPad drew a small crowd of adults and children alike as I stepped out of my tent with it on the banks of the Omo River in Ethiopia. We were camping in the home of the Mursi people. They laughed and pointed as they recognized themselves on the screen when I turned the camera in their direction.

I was on quite the special trip, marking the 50th anniversary of when the hominid “Lucy” fossil was found at Hadar in 1974, by paleoanthropologist Dr. Donald Johanson. Johanson, founder of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University, led this trip, along with the current director of the Institute, Yohannes Haile-Selassie.

Johanson has a knack for making scientific information both fascinating and understandable to non-scientists as well as scientists.

The study of human origins isn’t my usual jam. But I decided to go as an homage to my late husband Alex Barbanell, who was on the board of the Institute for over a decade.

I had two missions. One was accomplished: to go to the spot where Lucy was found to honor Alex. He would have loved this trip. Except for the Phoenix-in-August heat which he would have complained about loudly! His spirit was palpably, constantly with me.

The second wasn’t fully accomplished: to understand how gender dimorphism, in which too often women are dominated or considered of lesser value, became the cultural norm. Sexual dimorphism, that human males and females are of different sizes with different physical attributes, I understand. From earliest fossil hominids, males have been significantly larger than females. Johanson believes vegetarian females like Lucy are smaller because they had to conserve their food energy for pregnancy, birth, and suckling. And because we have higher quality food today, there is less divergence between males and females.

But gender dimorphism has to be culturally constructed and learned. How does this happen? Why is it allowed to happen when women, and only women, can do the one thing — birthing children — that ensures survival of the species?

Gender bias is everywhere, even in the supposedly objective study of science, and this is a question that doesn’t get the attention that it deserves, IMO. Leonard Shlain MD (a physician, not a paleoanthropologist) in his book Sex, Time, and Power suggests that we modern humans should be called gyno sapiens rather than homo sapiens.

We found Lucy everywhere!

Before we went camping, the first stop was Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Lucy had obviously captivated the culture. From taxis to insurance companies to restaurants to candy bars and clothing, Lucy’s name was everywhere.

The Ethiopian name for the famous fossil is Dinkenish, meaning “you are wonderful.” But “Lucy,” from the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” that happened to be playing in the camp when she was found, is the name that has stuck.

Perhaps because it’s so simple and relatable, “Lucy” has a life of its own. It’s compact, easy to remember yet conjures the overarching metaphor of the human female, progenitor of us all. It speaks to the individual, yet is bigger than any one of us. It’s simple yet holds space for the most complex scientific explorations.

Most importantly, once you name something, you have created meaning for it. Lucy holds a story within her. That meaning, that story, is evolving just as we humans do. There is room for new discoveries that enrich the meaning of Lucy but cannot diminish her importance. For the little three-foot-tall hominid is vividly imprinted in our minds.

In 1978, the Lucy species was officially named Australopithecus Afarensis. Lucy became recognized as the precursor to two species; as such, she occupies a pivotal place in the human tree.

“Africa is not just in our blood, it’s in our bones.”

Speaking of biases in science, Johanson pointed out that Europeans thought the apex of human evolution and civilization was the white male. Actually, it’s in Africa. The bow and arrow, the spear, so many things were created there. There is a huge amount of diversity of culture. No matter what we look like now, we all came from Africa. And Ethiopia is the cradle of humanity.

This video I took of Don Johanson speaking to the media (which appeared everywhere we went because of how much he is revered and how significant Lucy is in the national psyche) at the National Museum of Ethiopia is especially relevant now, during Black History Month.

Lucy’s presence raises the question of what it means to be human.

Scientifically, modern humans are unique in our complex brain development, language, and problem-solving abilities. Metaphorically, humanity is a canvas of consciousness, storytellers who make meaning and technology as well as discovering, building, and interpreting it. As Don Johanson put it, “Man makes tools and tools make man.” In leadership terms, being human enables us to be agents of change and stewards of potential, shaping the future for good or ill.

Lucy represents a key chapter in our evolutionary story, reminding us of our origins and the journey through time. For me, being at the source of her existence was both a release for having done what I went to Hadar to do and a summons to learn more.

Perhaps our fascination with ourselves is a blend of survival instinct, social necessity, existential inquiry, and consciousness. Our challenge today is to use our inherent powers to shape a more equitable and empathetic world. More about that in future posts.

Next up: From Lucy to Leadership: In Search of Origins. If you have questions or observations, please drop them in the comments.

GLORIA FELDT is the Cofounder and President of Take The Lead, a motivational speaker, a global expert in women’s leadership development and DEI for individuals and companies that want to build gender balance. She is a bestselling author of five books, most recently Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take The Lead for (Everyone’s) Good. Honored as Forbes 50 Over 50, and Former President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, she is a frequent media commentator. Learn more at www.gloriafeldt.com and www.taketheleadwomen.com. Find her @GloriaFeldt on all social media.