Category: Women of Color and Accomplishment: Doing the Right Thing

Sherry Johnson, Child Bride, 2022, Acrylic on Canvas, 24 x 30″ 1960 – At age 11, Sherry Johnson was forced to marry her rapist after she gave birth, at age 10, to his child. The marriage allowed her rapist, a church deacon, to escape legal punishment for his crime. It also robbed Johnson of her… Continue reading Sherry Johnson

1960- Lucy McBath is a gun control activist and politician who has worked tirelessly to pass gun control legislation in the United States. She became a gun control advocate after her 17-year-old son, Jordan Davis, was shot and killed by a white man who objected to the volume of music playing in Davis’s car. Since… Continue reading Lucy McBath

Darnella Frazier was 17 when she recorded George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis in 2020. She was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in Special Citations in 2021. The video played a major role in igniting a global protest movement against police violence, and was used as evidence in the trial of Floyd’s killer.

1924-2005 Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman in Congress (1968) and the first woman and African American to seek the nomination for president of the United States from one of the two major political parties (1972). As a member in Congress, Chisholm introduced more than 50 pieces of legislation and championed racial and… Continue reading Shirley Chisholm

1944- Angela Davis is a writer, feminist, political activist, and educator. She rose to prominence in 1969 when her campaign to defend three black soldiers in Soledad Prison and her affiliation with the Communist Party led to her being fired from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1970, Davis was accused of purchasing the… Continue reading Angela Davis

Ella Baker 1903-1986 In the late 1950s Ella Baker helped create Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) with Martin Luther King, Jr. to fight racism. She served as executive director.  As college students became involved in the civil rights movement, Baker supported the idea of a student-run organization. She was an inspiring force behind the creation… Continue reading Ella Baker