African Descent Archives - Page 19 of 51

Betty Reid Soskin

Civil rights activist, musician, and pioneering businesswoman.

Prominent abolitionist and women’s rights advocate. During the Civil War, Forten taught newly freed African-Americans on the Sea Islands of South Carolina. Her writings and poetry showed her commitment to battling racial and gender inequality.

Cathay Williams

Though over 400 women served in the Civil War posing as male soldiers, Williams was the first African American woman to enlist and the only documented woman to serve in the United States Army, while disguised as a man, during the Indian Wars. Williams is also the only known female Buffalo Soldier.

Elizabeth Harden Gilmore

Civil rights leader who pioneered efforts to integrate her state’s schools, housing, and public accommodations and to pass civil rights legislation enforcing such integration.

Adella Hunt Logan

Suffragist and the second woman to join the faculty of Tuskegee University.

Juanita J Craft

Juanita Jewel Craft was an American civil rights advocate and politician.

Maria W Stewart

Abolitionist and women’s rights advocate Maria W. Stewart was one of the first women of any race to speak in public in the United States. She was also the first Black American woman to write and publish a political manifesto.

Lorraine Hansberry

In 1959, Lorraine Hansberry made history as the first African American woman to have a show produced on Broadway—A Raisin in the Sun. As a playwright, feminist, and racial justice activist, Hansberry never shied away from tough topics during her short and extraordinary life. an American artists. Her commitment to racial justice inspired countless more.

Unita Zelma Blackwell

Born to sharecroppers in the Mississippi Delta, Blackwell rose from humble beginnings to become one of many unsung Black female heroines of the modern Civil Rights Movement.