James' World 2

On April 9, 1939, after being denied the use of every indoor auditorium in Washington, D.C. because of her race, world-renowned Black opera singer Marian Anderson instead performed for an audience gathered outside the Lincoln Memorial. Ms. Anderson, a contralto, had been invited to sing at the nation’s capital on this day as part of […]

Opera Singer Marian Anderson 

Mae Jemison isn’t just the first African American woman who orbited into space aboard the shuttle Endeavour. She’s also a physician, teacher, and Peace Corps volunteer; after her work with NASA, she founded the Jemison Group, which develops scientific and technological advancements. Jemison continues to work toward helping young women of color get more involved in technology, engineering, […]

Mae Jemison

Thanks to the early accomplishments of Williams, who has been called the first woman of color producer, we have female directors and producers like Oprah, Ava DuVernay, and Shonda Rhimes. Williams’s 1923 film The Flames of Wrath had a team of all people of color, and beyond that, the former Kansas City teacher was an activist and writer […]

Maria P. Williams

Audrey Patterson (September 27, 1926 — August 23, 1996) was the first African American woman to win an Olympic medal; she won a bronze medal in the 200-meter dash at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. Patterson was born in New Orleans to Lionel Patterson and Josephine Nero Patterson.[1] She attended Danneel Elementary School and Gilbert Academy,[citation needed] where she developed […]

Audrey Patterson

Despite being the first licensed Black pilot in the world, Coleman wasn’t recognized as a pioneer in aviation until after her death. Though history has favored Amelia Earhart or the Wright brothers, Coleman—who went to flight school in France in 1920—paved the way for a new generation of diverse fliers like the Tuskegee Airmen, Blackbirds, and Flying […]

Bessie Coleman

People are blind to reality and only see what they want to see. Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth. I’m not blind and stupid. I’m just in love. A mathematician is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat which isn’t there. The only thing worse than […]

True Blindness

A former slave, Sojourner Truth became an outspoken advocate for abolition, temperance, and civil and women’s rights in the nineteenth century. 1797-1883 Edited by Debra Michals, PhD | 2015 Sojourner Truth was an American abolitionist of New York Dutch heritage and a women’s rights activist. Truth was born into slavery in Swartekill, New York, but escaped with […]

Sojourner Truth