"We will not die trying to stand up: we will live that way: standing up" (361), states June Jordan in "Many Rivers to Cross." Addressing women, this excerpt shows the feminist point of view of Jordan's essay. This is the theme of the entire essay, which she revolves around her mother. She explains in the end that the essay "honors" women, all women: Mrs. Hazel Griffin, her cousin Valerie, herself and all the women she loves. She uses the metaphor of "crossing rivers" as a way of stating her new purpose in life: "I am working never to be late again." She was too late to save her mother, and she vows never to be late when another striving woman needs her again.
             Struggling for self-respect, self-love, and maybe even the respect of the men and women around her, her story reaches out to all the diverse groups of society. The first river that she mentions is that of her mother. The first sentence, ["When my mother killed herself..."] (355), catches the readers attention because she doesn't refer to it until further on in the essay, one would believe that its significance is limited, when in actuality, its meaning is the basis of the essay.
             The second river that brings up was moving (due to the fact that the husband left her, yet another river). She's embarrassed to move, she tries to hold on to the little pride that she has left. She explains how she has to try to move out without letting her neighbors know. That in it self is a project of its own.
             Then she has to deal with another river all together...her father. After being evicted from her house, she goes to the only other place she knows, home. Her mother, who is sick had her arms open. Her father on the other hand, stands, watching her carry the boxes in, purposefully staring in disgust without offering a finger. It was only when he needs her th
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