Everyone Was Shocked When They Saw Where Teen Put Image of Michelle Obama's Face

Prom is an exciting time for most teens getting ready to graduate from high school. It's the last big 'hurrah' with their classmates, and usually a time to cut loose and have some fun. Most teen girls are busy thinking about how they're going to do their hair, their make-up, and what color dress would perfectly complement their skin tone.

The cut, the style, the length and the way it looks when you're on the dance floor is usually what most girls are thinking about when they're out shopping for the perfect attire, but one teen in Memphis, Tennessee had more profound thoughts on her mind.

Skyler Branch, a 17-year-old girl of White Station High School, had just suffered a sad loss. Her great-grandmother had passed away. She and her great-grandmother were very close, and she wanted to somehow honor the woman on her big night. She started brainstorming about how she could do that on her prom night, and she came up with an incredible idea: she would turn her dress into a tribute.

Not only did Branch want to pay tribute to her great-grandmother, but to a number of African-American women who inspired her.

"Mom, there’s been so many extraordinary African-American women who have done so much for me. I want to show them some respect so that they know that not just the older adults but the younger adults appreciate who paved the way," she told her mother, Dayna.

The mom shared the story with Yahoo Lifestyle, telling the website, “And she found different pictures of all of the people who she wanted on the dress.”

Branch included women like former First Lady Michelle Obama, media mogul Oprah Winfrey, poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou, and someone especially meaningful to the young girl: Alfreda J. Webb.

You might not have heard of Alfreda J. Webb, as the name isn't as well known as some of the other women featured on the dress. But she holds a special place in Branch's heart. She's the first African-American woman to become a veteranarian. Branch hopes to become a veteranarian herself one day.

Dayna found a seamstress named Shannon Pierce who helped make her daughter's dress inspiration a reality.

“I called Shannon up and told her what concepts Skyler wanted, and what we wanted the dress to look like,” Dayna says

. “We sat down with her, we went over the print and where we wanted everyone to be. She has her great-great grandmothers on there, she has her great grandmothers on there, as well as her grandmothers. She has all of her aunts from Memphis to Houston. Everybody’s on there.”

The mother and daughter chose photos of the most inspiring women, and had it printed out on fabric. Pierce designed the dress, making sure to feature each and every face perfectly on the gorgeous garment.

Branch and her date went around to her family, including a visit to her other great-grandmother, to show it off. As she made the rounds, the reaction to the dress was priceless. When she arrived at the prom, it got even more excitement. No one had seen anything like it before.

"I decided I wanted to take all the black queens that made a difference in my life to prom w me I think I accomplished just that [love]," she wrote, posting photos of the dress on Instagram. It quickly went viral.

It wouldn’t be surprising if, some day in the future, another young girl added Branch to the ranks of women who inspire her.

Source: Yahoo
Photos: Twitter, DOD, Gage Skidmore