Born Dana Elaine Owens on March 18, 1970 in Newark, New Jersey, Queen Latifah is the most influential woman in the history of rap music. The Muslim name “Latifah,” which translates roughly to “delicate, sensitive and kind,” was adopted by Owens at the age of … Read MoreQueen Latifah (1970- )
Ella Fitzgerald was a female jazz singer considered without equal at the height of the jazz era. Her voice had an amazing and vibrant range that allowed her to sing nearly every jazz style. Ella was also an accomplished composer and bandleader who performed into … Read MoreElla Fitzgerald (1917-1996)
American poet laureate Rita Frances Dove was born August 28, 1952 in Akron, Ohio. Rita’s father, Ray Dove, was the first African American chemist in the tire industry. Rita Dove excelled in school and in 1970 she received the Presidential Scholar Award. Dove completed a … Read MoreRita Dove (1952- )
Deborah Batts was a U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District New York for twenty-five years. She received degrees from Radcliffe College and Harvard University Law School. Batts began her legal career with the firm of Cravath, Swaine, and Moore in New York City. … Read MoreDeborah Batts (1947-2020)
An activist, politician, and leader of her community, Sharon Sayles Belton was the first African American and first woman mayor of the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. A St. Paul native, Belton was born on May 13, 1951. For most of her life she fought for … Read MoreSharon Sayles Belton (1951- )
Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar-Nelson was an educator, poet, activist, and playwright. Moore was born on July 19, 1875 in New Orleans, Louisiana, into a family of mixed black, white, and Indian ancestry. Her mother, Patricia Wright, was formerly enslaved, and worked as a seamstress and … Read MoreAlice Ruth Moore Dunbar-Nelson (1875-1935)
As a generation of young African Americans broke new artistic and political ground in the Harlem Renaissance during the 1920s, three thousand miles away in Los Angeles, Fay Jackson helped to fuel a similar, if less well known movement. Jackson and her friends, including future … Read MoreFay Jackson (1902-1988)
Condoleezza Rice has earned distinction as a scholar, expert on international politics, and with her appointments as the first African American woman National Security Advisor and Secretary of State of the United States. Rice was born on November 14, 1954 in Birmingham, Alabama to John … Read MoreCondoleezza Rice (1954- )
“There’s no life in safety,” said three-time National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Image Award winner Nikki Giovanni who began her own life on June 7, 1943, in Knoxville, Tennessee. She moved with her mother and sister to a small black suburb … Read MoreYolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni (1943- )
Teacher, writer, and women’s activist Hallie Quinn Brown was born on March 10, 1850 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the daughter of former slaves who in 1864 migrated to Ontario, Canada. The Brown family returned to the United States in 1870, settling in Wilberforce, Ohio. Brown attended … Read MoreHallie Quinn Brown (1850-1949)
