African Descent Archives - Page 19 of 51

Juana Briones

1800s Mexican-American pioneer, businesswoman, healer, and landowner

Sallie Wyatt Stewart

African American educator, real estate broker, civil rights activist, and community leader based in Evansville, Indiana.

Like her sister Georgia, Alice Nugent played an active role in Black women’s clubs and other civic organizations in Kentucky. Both Alice and Georgia were founding members of Louisville’s Women’s Improvement Club (WIC).

Betty Reid Soskin

Civil rights activist, musician, and pioneering businesswoman.

Charlotte Forten Grimke

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.