Anne Moody was a writer and civil rights activist best known for her memoir, Coming of Age in Mississippi (1968). In the early 1960s, while a student at Tougaloo College, she worked with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Student … Read MoreAnne Moody (1940-2015)
Katherine Carper Sawyer is one of the nearly-forgotten plaintiffs in the famous Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954. While most attention was focused on Linda Brown’s central role in the most important school desegregation case in the nation’s history, Carper in … Read MoreKatherine Carper Sawyer (1942- )
McKinley Langford Burnett was a little-known but significant figure in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case that theoretically desegregated public schools across the United States. Burnett was born in Oskaloosa, Kansas, a racially integrated small town, in 1897 to parents who … Read MoreMcKinley Langford Burnett (1897-1968)
“Val” Demings was the first female Chief of Police for the Orlando Police Department and now a member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing for Florida’s 10th District. Butler was born on March 12, 1957, in Jacksonville, Florida. Her father James worked as a … Read MoreValdez Venita (Butler) Demings (1957- )
Stacey Abrams is a lawyer, politician, author, the first African American female major-party gubernatorial nominee, and the first African American woman to deliver a response to the State of the Union Address. Abrams was born on December 9, 1973 to Reverend Robert (former dockworker) and … Read MoreStacey Yvonne Abrams (1973- )
The Searchlight Club was a service-based group organized in 1904 for African American women in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was the first women’s club in Cheyenne specifically for African American women. The Black Women’s Club Movement spread across the nation beginning in the 1890s paving the … Read MoreThe Searchlight Club (1904- ?)
Carmen Best, a veteran police officer, became the first African American woman police chief of the Seattle Police Department. Born and raised in Tacoma, Washington, Best graduated from Lincoln High School in 1983. After high school, she attended Eastern Washington University where she ran track. … Read MoreCarmen Best (1965- )
Ada Belle Huff Evans was the first African American elected mayor in Colorado. She was born on June 9, 1932 in Langley, South Carolina, a small town located in Aiken County. Much is unknown of her parents and earlier life. However, in 1951, she graduated … Read MoreAda Belle Evans (1932-2011)
Pauline Elizabeth Short Robinson, a long-time educator, was the first black librarian to be hired in Denver, Colorado. Born on January 31, 1915 in Gay, Oklahoma, Robinson’s family emphasized the importance of education at a young age. Her grandfather taught her how to read before … Read MorePauline Short Robinson (1915-1997)
Debra Jean Entenman, a public servant and community activist, became one of five African American women elected as a representative in the Washington State legislature. She was born on November 27, 1961 in Seattle, Washington to Gertrude Rivers, a school teacher in the Seattle Public … Read MoreDebra J. Entenman (1961- )