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𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗔 𝗦𝗛𝗘𝗣𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗗 (1851-1915) Ella Shepard, soprano, pianist and reformer, was the matriarch of the Fisk Jubilee Singers and also a confidante of Frederick Douglass. She was born a slave in 1851 on Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage plantation and was a biracial relation of Jackson’s family. When her father moved to Ohio, a German woman taught her… Continue reading Ella Sheppard

Judy Woodford Reed 1826-1905 Judy Reed was an African-American woman alive during the 1880s, whose only record is known from a US patent. Reed, from Washington, D.C., is considered the first African American woman to receive a US patent. Patent No. 305,474 for a “Dough Kneader and Roller” was granted September 23, 1884. 

𝗘𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗮 𝗠. 𝗠. 𝗪𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲 1876-1974 Eartha Mary Magdalene White was born on November 8, 1876, near Jacksonville, Florida, the thirteenth child of former slaves. She was soon adopted by Clara and Lafayette White, who were themselves also former slaves. Lafayette, a laborer and wagon driver, died when Eartha was still young. Clara, who worked in… Continue reading Eartha and Clara White

Mary Parrish, 1892–1972 A trained journalist, Mary Parrish chronicled her own experience of the violence during the Tulsa massacre of 1921. She fled with her young daughter, along with other survivors, who provided eyewitness accounts. From The Nation Must Awake by Mary Parrish: Mary Parrish was reading in her home when the Tulsa race massacre… Continue reading Mary Parrish

Dr. Dorothy Height, 1912 – 2010 Dr. Height was an African American civil rights and women’s rights activist. She focused on the issues of African American women, including unemployment, illiteracy, and voter awareness. Height is credited as the first leader in the civil rights movement to recognize inequality for women and African Americans as problems that should be considered as a whole. She was… Continue reading Dr. Dorothy Height

Ida Rollins  1867-1953   Ida Rollins, the first African American female dentist, became an orphan shortly after birth. Rollins’ white father, whose name is unknown, played no role in her childhood or education. After her mother’s death, Ida was raised by her aunt, Caroline Gray who was a seamstress and taught her the trade. While… Continue reading Ida Rollins

Wilma Rudolph, 1940-1994 Rudolph’s legacy lies in her efforts to overcome obstacles from childhood illnesses including polio to become the fastest woman runner in the world in 1960.   Rudolph is also regarded as a civil rights and women’s rights pioneer.  Further Information: National Women’s History Museum Olympics

Rosa Parks, 1913 –2005 Rosa Parks was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has called her “the first lady of civil rights” and “the mother of the freedom movement”. Additional Information: Wikipedia Academy of Achievement

Dr. Patricia Era Bath, 1942 –2019 Dr. Bath was an American ophthalmologist, inventor, humanitarian, and academic. She was the inventor of laser cataract surgery. Her invention was called Laserphaco Probe. She also became the first woman member of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, the first woman to lead a post-graduate training program in ophthalmology, and… Continue reading Dr. Patricia Bath