Phillis Wheatley
Despite spending much of her life enslaved, Phillis Wheatley was the first African American and second woman (after Anne Bradstreet) to publish a book of poems.
Tag Archives: African Descent
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Aileen Cole Stewart
The same year the United States entered the first World War, Aileen Cole Stewart passed her exams to be a nurse in Maryland and Washington, DC. Her dedication and courage helped her climb the ranks to become one of the first African American women to serve in the Army Nursing Corps. She helped establish a field hospital in Cascade, West Virginia. Stewart was also certified by the American Red Cross and served with 17 other African American nurses during the influenza epidemic of 1918.
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
As a poet, author, and lecturer, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was a household name in the nineteenth century. Not only was she the first African American woman to publish a short story, but she was also an influential abolitionist, suffragist, and reformer that co-founded the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs.
Nellie Robinson
Dame Nellie Robinson, DC, MBE was a pioneer of education in Antigua who broke down class and colour barriers to help provide all children with access to education. She was the first woman to receive Antigua and Barbuda’s Order of the National Hero.
Mama Adame
Mama Adame was a ruler, known as a mansa, of the village of Bakindiki in Niumi Bato in the Kingdom of Niumi, in what is now The Gambia.
Dr Patricia Era Bath
Cataract surgery pioneer Patricia Bath was the first African-American to complete a residency in ophthalmology, after obtaining her MD at Howard University and her fellowship in ophthalmology at Columbia University.
Nwanyeruwa
Nwanyeruwa was an Igbo woman living in colonial Nigeria known for her role in the Women’s War against taxation from November 1929 to January 1930.
Alberta Hunter
Alberta Hunter was an American jazz and blues singer and songwriter from the 1910s to the late 1950s, who returned to singing in her 80s after 20 years working as a nurse.
Na Agontimé
Agontimé was a queen of Dahomey in the early 1800s, one of multiple wives of King Agonglo.
Eulalie Nibizi
Eulalie Nibizi is a Burundian trade unionist and human rights activist.