The Golden 14 were the first Black women to muster into the United States Navy. First recognized by scholar Kelly Miller in his 1919 book “Kelly Miller’s History of the World War for Human Rights,” but subsequently nearly lost to history after the war, the … Read MoreThe Golden 14 (1918-1919)
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Rose Kanyange Kabuye rose to the highest rank in the Rwandan Army. She was also an advocate for the training of women leaders. Rose Kanyange was born on April 22, 1961, in Muvumba, Rwanda, to Kabuye Kanyange of the ‘Bazigaba’ clan. Information … Read MoreRose Kanyange Kabuye (1961- )
Fifty years before the 19th Amendment was passed, Wyoming legislators enacted the Wyoming Women’s Suffrage Act in 1869. The bill granted women in the Wyoming Territory the right to vote, free from restrictions such as property ownership, monetary requirements, or marital status requirements. This meant … Read MoreBlack Women and the Wyoming Women’s Suffrage Act (1869- )
Joanne Marie Anderson is the first woman of color to win election as mayor of a major city the United Kingdom and the first Black and first female woman mayor of Liverpool, England. Born in January 1971 in Liverpool, she acknowledges she is biracial and … Read MoreJoanne Marie Anderson (1971- )
Lucille Boynton Skaggs Edwards, a journalist and suffragist, was the first African American woman magazine publisher in Nebraska. Edwards was born to Mary and David Skaggs in Washington, D.C. on July 23, 1875. Some documents suggest that her mother was a white Irish immigrant while … Read MoreLucille Boynton Skaggs Edwards (1875-1972)
Elvi Gray-Jackson is the second African American woman elected to the Alaska state senate and the first African American to become Chair of the Senate in the state. Born in Newark, New Jersey on April 8, 1953, Gray-Jackson graduated from Barringer High School before attending … Read MoreElvi Gray-Jackson (1953- )
Florinda Soriano Muñoz, also known as Mamá Tingó, was an Afro-Latina female activist for farmers’ rights within the Dominican Republic whose actions helped reclaim farmland for more than three hundred families within the Hato Viejo region. Soriano received the nickname “Mamá Tingó” by her friends, … Read MoreFlorinda Soriano Muñoz (Mamá Tingó) (1921-1974)
Dr. Leith Patricia Mullings was an anthropologist, author, and professor. She is one of triplets with Pauline Mullings and Sandra Mullings born on April 8, 1945 in Mandeville, Jamaica to Hubert Waite and Lillieth (Gayle) Mullings. She was the widow (m. 1996) of William Manning … Read MoreLeith P. Mullings (1945-2020)
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 the first African American Baltimore City Councilwoman. She was a native Baltimorean whose contributions sought to … Read MoreVictorine Quille Adams (1912-2006)
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-?)
