Thread by @FCWkly

Every day for the rest of the month we'll be bringing you a #FoldingChair #BlackHistoryMonth fact, celebrating a man or woman who created their own seat at the table.
#CreatingCommunityWhereverWeSit #BHM

Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm famously said “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” In 1968, Chisholm became the first black woman elected to Congress. She campaigned using the slogan "Unbought and Unbossed."
#BlackHistoryMonth #BHM

Psychiatrist Frantz Fanon was a foundational figure in postcolonial thought and decolonization struggles. His written works have become central in Africana philosophy, due to their commentary on anti-colonial cultures and national liberation.
#BlackHistoryMonth

Businesswoman #UrsulaBurns became the first black woman CEO of a Fortune 500 company in 2009 as the CEO of Xerox. That same year, President Barack Obama appointed Burns to help lead the White House National STEM program. Burns served as Xerox CEO until 2016.
#BlackHistoryMonth

#ThurgoodMarshall was the first black justice of #SCOTUS. Before he was appointed to the highest court, he won 29 of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court, incl. Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which ended racial segregation in public schools.
#BlackHistoryMonth

In 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first black Oscar winner. Known for her roles as maids, McDaniel’s legacy is complicated: black audiences criticized her for perpetuating negative stereotypes during a time when many black actors refused to play such roles.
#BlackHistoryMonth

After Hattie McDaniel, it would be nearly 25 more years before the Academy would crown another black actor. In 1964, Sidney Poitier became the first black actor to win an Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field.
#BlackHistoryMonth

“It ain’t hard to tell, I’m the new Jean-Michel.”

#BlackHistoryMonth

Basquiat was a painter known for his graffiti-like images. At 20, his career skyrocketed and he eventually put on his first show in 1980, “The Times Square Show.” He's known for his mixed motifs, incorporating visuals from Africa, Caribbean and Aztec cultures.
#BlackHistoryMonth

SAMO (pronounced Same-Oh): a graffiti tag used on the streets of NYC in the late 1970s; commonly associated with Jean-Michel Basquiat.

#BlackHistoryMonth

Nigerian author @ChimamandaReal's work has been translated into over 30 languages. Her 2012 talk We Should All Be Feminists started a worldwide conversation about feminism, and was published as a book in 2014 - not to mention sampled in Beyonce's song Flawless.
#BlackHistoryMonth

.@ChimamandaReal's 2009 TED Talk, The Danger of A Single Story, is now one of the most-viewed TED Talks of all time. A recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, the author founded the Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop for aspiring Nigerian writers.
#BlackHistoryMonth

Business exec Ken Chenault became the 3rd black CEO of a Fortune 500 company in 2001 as Chairman and CEO of @AmericanExpress. Chenault led Amex through 9/11 and the financial crisis and served as chief exec until his retirement in 2018.
#BlackHistoryMonth
#BlackChangeAgents

"The role of a leader is to define reality and give hope.” -Ken Chenault, the 3rd black CEO of a Fortune 500 company

#BlackHistoryMonth

#SallyHemings was an enslaved woman owned by President Thomas Jefferson who birthed 6 children with the Founding Father. For over 100 years, most historians denied rumors that Jefferson had a long-term relationship Hemings until DNA analysis in the late 90s.

#BlackHistoryMonth

In 1884 - more than 70 years before Rosa Parks would inspire the Montgomery Bus Boycott - civil rights leader Ida B. Wells refused to give up her seat on a train, inciting her fight against prejudice.

#BlackHistoryMonth

Born a slave, Ida B. Wells was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation and became an investigative journalist, leading the first anti-lynching campaign. Wells is considered a founding member of the NAACP.

#BlackHistoryMonth

Nelson Mandela was President of South Africa from 1994-1999. He was jailed for 27 years for fighting apartheid. During his time in jail, he was considered to be a symbol for those who were oppressed in South Africa.
#BlackHistoryMonth

Mandela became SA's first black President only 4 years after his release from jail. He's won 250+ awards including the Nobel Peace Prize. Mandela is known as a hero and a global advocate for human rights. He led a life devoted to peace and social justice.

#BlackHistoryMonth

Anita Hill is an American attorney. In 1991, during a senate confirmation hearing for SCOTUS nominee Clarence Thomas she testified that he sexual harassed her for years in the workplace. Her testimony had Americans torn as many stood with her and others did not
#BlackHistoryMonth

Thomas was narrowly confirmed but Anita Hill became a symbol of women’s rights in the workplace. Hill is an author and professor.

#BlackHistoryMonth

Alvin Ailey performed in various stage plays and studied acting and dance. He founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958. His theater was made up of mostly black dancers that performed his works and others.

#BlackHistoryMonth

Revelations (1960) is the company’s signature piece - set to black spirituals. Dancers with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater have performed for more than 20 million people around the world.

#AlvinAiley
#BlackHistoryMonth

Educator, author and political activist Angela Davis has been deeply involved in the cause of black prisoners and a champion of the black liberation struggle since the 1960s.

#BlackHistoryMonth

Activist Angela Davis was heavily influenced by her segregated upbringing in Birmingham and went on to join the Black Panther Party. Davis is the founder of Critical Resistance, a national organization dedicated to breaking down the prison industrial complex.

#BlackHistoryMonth

Our Forever President, Barack Hussein Obama. First black POTUS. First black president of the Harvard Law Review. Husband to Michelle. Dad to Sasha and Malia. Author. An inspiration to a generation.

#BlackHistoryMonth
#PresidentsDay

#PhyllisWheatley was a slave and poet. Her achievements were publicized by abolitionists and supporters of the anti-slavery movement. She was taught by her slave owner's wife and children how to read and write. By the time she was 18, she had written 28 poems.

#BlackHistoryMonth

James "Eubie" Blake was a composer of vaudeville, ragtime and musical theater scores. He was also a pianist. One of his notable theater scores - 1921 Shuffle Along was a collaboration with singer Noble Sissle.

#BlackHistoryMonth

James "Eubie" Blake played music beginning at age 4 or 5. By the late 1950s he was known as a ragtime pioneer. In 1969, Columbia Records issued "The Eighty-six Years of Eubie Blake", a double album of his performances. Blake toured all over Europe & the US.

#BlackHistoryMonth

Bessie Coleman. First black woman to hold a pilot's license. Daughter of sharecroppers. One of 13 children. Bessie couldn't find anyone in the US to teach her to fly, so she went to study in France in 1919. An American legend. ✊🏿

#BlackHistoryMonth

August Wilson was a playwright whose iconic work includes "Fences," "The Piano Lesson" and "Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom". His series, "The Pittsburgh Cycle" was a collection of 10 plays that are set in different decades and illustrate various facets of black life.
#BlackHistoryMonth

Legendary playwright August Wilson was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes in Drama. He once said he was influenced by the “four B’s”: painter Romare Bearden, poet Jorge Luis Borges, playwright Amiri Baraka and blues music.

#BlackHistoryMonth

.@Edward_Enninful is the editor-in-chief of @BritishVogue. His fashion direction has been described as strong, provocative and elegant. He’s worked as a model, style director and editor.
#BlackHistoryMonth

Edward Enninful is the editor-in-chief of @BritishVogue. One of Edward Enninful's most influential works is Vogue Italia's July 2008 "All Black" issue, featuring. only black models, which became the mag's top-selling issue.
#BlackHistoryMonth
#FashionIcon

Dr. Charles Drew is considered the father of the Blood Bank. He was a surgeon who pioneered methods of storing blood plasma for transfusion and organized the first large-scale blood bank in the US.

#BlackHistoryMonth

Dr. Charles Drew directed the blood plasma programs of the US and Great Britain in World War II, but resigned after a ruling that the blood of African-Americans would be segregated.

#BlackHistoryMonth

Mary Ann Shadd Cary was the 1st black female newspaper editor in North America. She was born into a free family in 1823 and her family was committed to ending slavery. Often, her home would house fugitive slaves.
#BlackHistoryMonth

Mary Ann Shadd Cary traveled to Canada with family in the early 1850s because it was believed that Canada had better opportunities. It was there that Cary would start her newspaper, the Provincial Freeman which focused on getting blacks to move to Canada.

#BlackHistoryMonth

Mary Ann Shadd Cary risked her own safety to speak publicly about providing aid to fugitive slaves. During the Civil War, she worked as a recruiting officer for the Union Army and encouraged other black people to fight against the Confederacy and slavery.
#BlackHistoryMonth