Mary Virginia Wood is best known as the mother of poet, diarist, and abolitionist Charlotte Forten, but she was also an abolitionist in her own right. Born enslaved in Hertford, Perquimans County, North Carolina, Mary was the eldest of the four daughters of wealthy planter … Read MoreMary Virginia Wood (Forten) (1815-1840)
Rochester, August 29, 1868 Dear Harriet: I am glad to know that the story of your eventful life has been written by a kind lady, and that the same is soon to be published. You ask for what you do not need when you call … Read More(1868) Letter from Frederick Douglass to Harriet Tubman
Marie Louise Anderson Greenwood was the first African American teacher to obtain tenure in the state of Colorado. Greenwood was born in Los Angeles, California on November 24, 1912 to Joseph Anderson who worked as a railroad chef, and Sarah Garrett Anderson, a laundress. At … Read MoreMarie Louise Greenwood (1912- )
Jahana Hayes rose to national attention in 2016 when President Barack Obama named her National Teacher of the Year. A former history teacher, she is the first African American woman and African American Democrat to represent Connecticut in the United States Congress. Hayes was born … Read MoreJahana Hayes (1973- )
Memphis Minnie, known as the “Queen of the Blues,” was a singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Her title stems from her legacy of successfully recording music across four decades as well as being the lone female voice in a male dominated blues scene. Memphis Minnie was … Read MoreMemphis Minnie (1887-1973)
Lisa LaTrelle Blunt Rochester has served in the cabinet of two Delaware governors, including five years as Deputy Secretary of Health and Social Services and three years as the Secretary of Labor for Governor Tom Carper, and as State Personnel Director for Governor Ruth Ann … Read MoreLisa Blunt Rochester (1962- )
Irene Amos Morgan Kirkaldy was a civil rights activist who won her 1946 U.S. Supreme Court case in Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia, which declared interstate transport racial segregation to be unconstitutional, nearly a decade before the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Irene Amos was born … Read MoreIrene Morgan Kirkaldy (1917-2007)
Victorine Quille Adams was a Baltimore Public School teacher, business manager of the Charm Center, Founder of the Colored Women’s Democratic Campaign Committee, Co-Founder of Woman Power, Incorporated, and first African American Baltimore City Councilwoman. She was a native Baltimorean whose contributions sought to improve … Read MoreVictorine Quille Adams (1912-2006)
Joyce Beatty, who represents Ohio’s 3rd congressional district, is a former consultant and business owner. She holds honorary doctorates from the Ohio Dominican University and Central State University, and is the first woman Democratic House Leader in Ohio history. Representative Beatty was born Joyce Birdsong … Read MoreJoyce Beatty (1950- )
Alberta Jones was born in November 1930 to Sarah (Sadie) Frances Crawford and Odell Jones, in Louisville, Kentucky. Jones attended Louisville Central High School and the Louisville Municipal College for Negroes, which in 1951 merged with the University of Louisville. She graduated third in her … Read MoreAlberta Odell Jones (1930-1965)