Dr. Niara Sudarkasa, although having just passed in May, this year (2019 AD), I regard her life in the anthropological present: She is an authority on the subject of African & African American women, as she answers the question, once posed to me, by Dr. Mary Agnes Lewis: " What's wrong with the mother being the center of activity in the home?" My logical response: "nothing is wrong with that."
I regard both of these women to be constant models and allies--and ,yes, friends.