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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We need to speak up about what is happening in SUDAN, it’s a GENOCIDE that has led to the World's largest displacement crisis.
So Whats Happening in Sudan and How is UAE (Emirates) supporting the genocide? #FreeSudan
THREAD
On April 15, 2023, a paramilitary group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo known as Hemedti, launched a war against the Sudanese Army in Khartoum. That led to displacement of millions of Sudanese people.
Since then Millions have been killed, raped and displaced in the ongoing genocide.The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has described the situation in Sudan as “the largest as well as the fastest growing displacement crisis globally.”
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.
In 1862, congress allowed the enlistment of African Americans into the U.S. military. Those who served and loved the country that did not love them back.
Military History of African Americans.
A THREAD
Black Americans participated in every American war from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the Civil War, the Spanish–American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.
Thousands of black troops, made up of both free men and enslaved, fought in the continental war. They were promised freedom for fighting but those promises were often broken.
On this day in 1969, the Historic ‘Wyoming Black 14’ Protests Began.
14 black football players at the University of Wyoming were kicked off the team for trying to protest against Brigham Young University because of the Mormon Church ban on Black men in the priesthood
THREAD!
The players protested playing a game with Brigham Young University (BYU) because of the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS ban on black men holding the priesthood in the church, and other racial restrictions. Mormons believe black people are cursed with the mark of Cain.
The Wyoming Cowboys had won three consecutive Western Athletic Conference (WAC) championships, and they were considered as the best football team to ever play for the university in 1969
When the Zulu People of South Africa 🇿🇦 defeated the British 🇬🇧
—A THREAD—
In 1879, the British army invaded the independent & previously friendly Zulu kingdom, which had been founded by the formidable Nguni warrior Shaka Zulu in 1818.
Shaka had been the first proper king in South Africa, in that he managed to unite almost 800 Eastern Nguni–Bantu clans under his rule, displacing the rest.
He was also the first to establish a proper army, which he divided into regiments called impis armed with assegais and iklwas – the former a traditional long-poled spear to use from a distance, the latter a remodelled short-poled version which was lethal in hand-to-hand combat.
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
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.