Black History Month - The Rise of Black Women

Rosa Parks -  (1913—2005) helped initiate the civil rights movement in the United States when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in 1955. Her actions inspired the leaders of the local Black community to organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Led by a young Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the boycott lasted more than a year—during which Parks not coincidentally lost her job—and ended only when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional. Over the next half-century, Parks became a nationally recognized symbol of dignity and strength in the struggle to end entrenched racial segregation.

Harriet Tubman – (1820 – 1913) Known as the “Moses of her people,” Harriet Tubman was an escaped enslaved woman who became a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad. Tubman made 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people to freedom before the Civil War, all while carrying a bounty on her head. But she was also a nurse, a Union spy and a women’s suffrage supporter. Tubman is one of the most recognized icons in black history and her legacy has inspired countless people from every race and background.

Mary Seacole – (1805 – 1881) was a British-Jamaican nurse and businesswoman who set up the "British Hotel" behind the lines during the Crimean War. She described the hotel as "a mess-table and comfortable quarters for sick and convalescent officers", and provided succour for wounded service men on the battlefield, nursing many of them back to health. Coming from a tradition of Jamaican and West African "doctresses", Seacole displayed "compassion, skills and bravery while nursing soldiers during the Crimean War", through the use of herbal remedies. 

Katherine Johnson – (1918 – 2020) Johnson was an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. During her 33-year career at NASA and its predecessor, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform the tasks. The space agency noted her "historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist".

Madam C.J. Walker - (1867-1919) was “the first Black woman millionaire in America” and made her fortune thanks to her homemade line of hair care products for Black women. Born Sarah Breedlove to parents who had been enslaved, she was inspired to create her hair products after an experience with hair loss, which led to the creation of the “Walker system” of hair care.

Maya Angelou – (1928 – 2014) an acclaimed American poet, storyteller, activist, and auto-biographer, Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri. Angelou had a broad career as a singer, dancer, actress, composer, and Hollywood’s first female black director, but became famous as a writer, editor, essayist, playwright, and poet. As a civil rights activist, Angelou worked for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. She was also an educator and served as the Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.

Oprah Winfrey - First Black Woman Billionaire - whose first name is synonymous with Black excellence, registered a net worth of $2.6 billion, making her the first Black woman to accumulate that much wealth. 

Michelle Obama – former First Lady of the US - a lawyer, writer, and the wife of the 44th President, Barack Obama. Micelle is the first African-American First Lady of the United States. She became a role model for women and an advocate for healthy families, service members and their families, higher education, and international adolescent girls education.

Kamala Harris – Vice president of the United States – Kamala made modern history as the first woman and black woman to be vice president of the United States of America and the highest-ranking woman in the history of American government. 

Serena Williams – Tennis Player - Williams is widely considered one of the greatest women's tennis players of all time. She was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 319 weeks and was the first ever black woman in the open era, to win a Grand Slam singles title.

Mae C. Jemison - First Black Woman in Space - On Sept. 12, 1999, American physician and former NASA astronaut Mae Carol Jemison fulfilled a lifelong dream by becoming the first black woman to fly into space.