Carol Johnson-Dean was the first black woman superintendent of Minneapolis Public Schools. She held that post from 1997 to 2003. Johnson-Dean was born 1948 to Mrs. Willie Rawls and Buddy Rawls. She grew up in Brownsville, Haywood County, Tennessee about 50 miles northeast of Memphis. … Read MoreDr. Carol Johnson-Dean (1948-)
On March 7, 2023, Jennifer Leigh McClellan was sworn in as the U.S. representative for Virginia’s 4th congressional district. The former Virginia state senator is the great-great-grandchild of enslaved African Americans and the first Black woman to represent Virginia in Congress. McClellan was born on … Read MoreJennifer Leigh McClellan (1972-)
The Arnells, a female doo-wop ensemble that also performed as The Teenettes Variations, were all from all-girls Joseph Battin High School in Elizabeth, Union County, New Jersey. The short-lived but talented group, established in 1963, met in the high school corridors. They rehearsed after school … Read MoreThe Arnells (1963-1964)
Addie Fletcher Booth was an educator, civil rights activist, and labor organizer. She was born Addie De Vault on October 29, 1902 in Independence, Texas to Reuben and Anis Gee De Vault. Although very little is known of her early life, she enrolled in Prairie … Read MoreAddie Fletcher Booth (1902-1996)
Pauline Powell Burns was a pianist and a painter who was most well known for her early art exhibitions in California in the 1890s. Powell was born in Oakland, California in 1872, to Josephine Turner, a schoolteacher and domestic worker, and William W. Powell, a … Read MorePauline Powell Burns (1872-1912)
Mary Hatwood Futrell was an educator, who is best known as being the fourth person of color to become President of the National Education Association when she was elected to that post in 1983. Mary Alice Franklin Hatwood Futrell was born in Altavista, Virginia, on … Read MoreMary Hatwood Futrell (1940 – )
Diana Bajoie is known as a pioneer of African American politics in the state of Louisiana. She is a former member of the Louisiana legislature and the first African American woman elected to serve in the Louisiana state senate. She is also the first woman … Read MoreDiana E. Bajoie (1948– )
Dr. Lisa DeNell Cook is an economist and a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. She is the first African American woman to sit on the Board. Cook was born in 1964 and raised in Milledgeville, Georgia. She is one of three daughters of … Read MoreLisa D. Cook (1964- )
Carolyn J. Purnell, a 1971 graduate of the University of Washington’s School of Law, is one of two women who are the first Black women known to have graduated from that institution (Gwendolyn Howard is the other). William McDonald Austin, the first Black man, graduated … Read MoreCarolyn Purnell (1939- )
Edith Peterson Mitchell, MD, was born in 1948, and raised in Brownsville, Haywood County, Tennessee during the time of Racial segregation in the United States. The daughter of Callie and Robert Peterson, she is a prominent Philadelphia physician and Medical School professor. Mitchell received her … Read MoreEdith P. Mitchell, MD (1948- )
