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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One in every four cowboys was believed to be a Black man released from slavery despite the stories told in popular books and movies although the most famous cowboys of the old west were white.
Some notable cowboys!
A THREAD
Many of the enslaved african men were familiar with cattle herding from Africa.
a highlight of some famous black cowboys:
Bill Pickett (1871-1932), rodeo performer.
World famous black cowboy Bill Pickett "Dusky Demon" invented the rodeo sport, bulldogging (steer wrestling). In 1989 was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.
Gaspar Yanga was a liberator and one of Mexico’s heroes, enslaved from West Africa. He fought for the abolition of slavery in Mexico. He was known as “America’s First Liberator” or “El Primer Libertador de las Americas.”
The town of Yanga, Mexico is named after him.
THREAD
El Yanga was an African abolitionist and a leader of a slave rebellion in Mexico during the early period of Spanish colonial rule. Mexico was called 'New Spain'.
Gaspar Yanga, often called Yanga, El Yanga, or Nyanga, was said to be a member of the royal family of Gabon, Africa, before being kidnapped and placed in the Middle Passage to the new world.
On this day in 1947, Activist & member of the Black Panther Party Mark Clark was born.
He was assassinated together with Fred Hampton by Chicago police & FBI, both at 21 years Old.
William O'Neal, an FBI informant, infiltrated the Panthers & set up them up for $300
A THREAD
In Illinois, where Fred Hampton was born, Black communities faced relentless police harassment and systemic barriers to essential services like housing and education in predominantly Black areas.
The Black Panther party, a creation of Huey Newton and fellow student Bobby Seale, insisted on black nationalist response to racial discrimination. The party’s Illinois chapter was opened in 1967 and Hampton joined in 1968, aged just 20.
In Louisiana, black women were put in cells with male prisoners and some became pregnant
All children born in the penitentiary became property of the state
At 10 years they would be auctioned off. The proceeds were used to fund schools for white kids #BlackHistoryMonth
THREAD
Before the Civil War, most prisoners in the South were white. The punishment of enslaved African Americans was generally left up to their owners. Louisiana, however, did imprison enslaved people for "serious" crimes, generally involving acts of rebellion against the slave system.
A number of these imprisoned slaves were women. Penitentiary records show a number of women imprisoned for "assaulting a white," arson, or attempting to poison someone, most likely their enslavers.
Racist US military police attacked black US troops on British soil.
US military authorities demanded the town’s pubs impose a colour bar, the local landlords responded with signs that read “Black Troops Only” which pissed them off.
A THREAD
In 1943 Black American soldiers faced off with white American Military police during World War 2 on British soil. Black American soldiers had to fight their own white American soldiers, while in England, where they were fighting the world war.
Why? Because the town, Bamber Bridge in Lancashire wasnt segregated so they treated the black soldiers like all other races, BUT back in America segregation still existed so essentially the American army went to someone else’s country & demanded they adopt their racist practices
Most people have heard or used the term UNCLE TOM when we refer to a sell-out, but did you know that the inference is totally wrong.
The real Uncle Tom was a hero, Josiah Henson, was an abolitionist who helped slaves escape among other great things.
A THREAD
Uncle Tom was a man:
—who refused to beat black women.
—who refused to tell on other slaves.
—who would put cotton in other slaves’ bags at night, so that they wouldn’t get beat!
—who helped 100 slaves get free long before the underground railroad.
Josiah Henson was born into slavery in 1789 in Charles County, Maryland. Growing up he watched his father receive beatings for standing up to his slave owner and also witnessed his father's ear being severed as part of the punishment and also his father being sold off.