Sarah Breedlove known as Madam C.J Walker was the first black woman to become a self-made millionaire. She developed a successful line of beauty and hair products for black women.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe is credited as the Godmother of Rock ‘N’ Roll. Before Elvis, Johnny Cash or Little Richard, there was Sister Tharpe- A Black woman who forged her own sound in a male dominated industry.
She does not get the credit she deserves.
A Boston monument to Phyllis Wheatley. In 1773 she became the first black woman to publish a book.
Her poems captured the realities of slavery for the enslaved, before covering themes such as rebellion and revolution.
When Bessie Coleman developed an interest in flying, women and people of color had no flight training opportunities in the US.
She learnt French and moved to Paris to earn her pilot's license.
She became the first black licensed pilot.
Euphemia Lofton Haynes was a mathematician and Educator. She became the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1943.
Dr. Alexa Canady. She became the first black woman to become a neurosurgeon in 1981. She also co-invented a device to treat fluid buildup in the brain.
Alice Coachman became the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal following a record-setting high jump despite nursing a back injury.
She was often unable to use the training facilities due to segregation & also trained barefoot and used old equipment
Constance Baker Motley was the first Black woman to argue cases before the Supreme Court and was the first African-American woman to be appointed as a federal judge, serving from 1966 to 1986.
Dr. Shirley Jackson, first Black woman to ever earn a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Her research paved the way for numerous developments in the telecommunication space including the touch-tone telephone, the portable fax, caller ID & call waiting.
Hazel Scott, piano prodigy, jazz sensation and television pioneer. She was the First African-American Woman to Host Her Own TV Show.
Not one but two Grand pianos being played with ease by Hazel Scott in 1943 🤯
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Did you know The real Betty Boop was inspired by a Black Harlem jazz singer named Esther Jones. Ever heard of “Baby Esther”?
She later sued the cartoonist but the court threw out the case and she was never compensated!
A THREAD
Esther Jones took Harlem’s Cotton Club by storm in the 1920s with her unique “baby” scat style. Her “boop-oop-a-doop” sounds were fresh, bold, and totally her own, making her a jazz sensation of the time.
In 1930, cartoonist Max Fleischer introduced Betty Boop, a flapper character who became animation’s first sex symbol. That playful “boop” in her voice? It was a direct echo of Esther’s lively performances on stage.
She refused to move to the back of a bus 9 months before Rosa Parks, the NAACP did not want to use her to represent them because she was 15 & pregnant.
Other women who refused to give up their seats before Rosa Parks
A THREAD!
A century before Rosa Parks, there was Elizabeth Jennings
In 1854, she refused to get off of a streetcar that only allowed white passengers.
She was arrested. She sued (and won), and her case led to the eventual desegregation of NYC's public transit.
In 1944, Irene Morgan refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Greyhound bus in Gloucester County, VA. She was charged with violating Virginia Jim Crow laws. In 1946, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in her favor, striking down Virginia’s law in Morgan v. Virginia case.
In 1969, the Black Panthers launched free breakfast programs across the US, feeding thousands of kids before school. The FBI called it a threat. In some cities, police raided kitchens, smashed food, and urinated on supplies to shut them down.
A THREAD
In January 1969, the Black Panther Party launched their Free Breakfast for Children Program, their first and most notable community effort, to feed kids who went to school hungry due to poverty. It was radical care in action. But the FBI called it a threat.
The Black Panthers, founded in 1966, built programs to tackle systemic issues like poverty and hunger. The Free Breakfast Program was a direct response to families unable to feed their kids before school. It aimed to nourish bodies and minds for learning.
Did you know Cornrows were used to help enslaved people escape slavery? They used cornrows to create maps to leave plantations. It’s most documented in Colombia where Benkos Bioho, came up with the idea to have women create maps & deliver messages through cornrows.
A THREAD.
Cornrows are ancient art. Found in 3000 B.C. Sahara paintings & on Ethiopian warriors like Tewodros II, braids showed community, age & status in African societies. In the Caribbean, “cane rows” linked to slaves planting sugar cane, tying style to survival.
During the slave trade, captors shaved enslaved Africans’ hair to strip identity. But many defied this by braiding cornrows tightly to stay neat & preserve culture. These braids became secret tools, hiding maps to escape plantations across South America.
62 years ago today, The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C.
A THREAD
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was one of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States history and called for civil and economic rights for African Americans. It took place in Washington, D.C.
Martin Luther King, Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech advocating racial harmony during the march.