Category: Women of Color and Accomplishment: Fighting for Equality

Anna Murray Douglass (1813 – 1882) Anna Murray Douglass was an American abolitionist, member of the Underground Railroad, and the first wife of American social reformer and statesman Frederick Douglass, from 1838 to her death. Anna Murray was a laundress and housekeeper. She met Frederick Douglass when he was working as a caulker at the docks of and… Continue reading Anna Douglass

Elizabeth Ann Eckford   1941– Elizabeth Ann Eckford is one the first black students to attend classes at formerly all-white Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Will Counts of the Arkansas Democrat took the photo of her that inspired this painting. Eckford only spent one year at Little Rock Central High where she and the other black students were tormented… Continue reading Elizabeth Eckford

Anna Mangin (1844 – 1931) Anna Mangin was awarded a patent in 1892 for the Pastry Fork. The designed allowed the user to beat eggs, mash potatoes, prepare salad dressing, and work together butter and flour without having to touch the food with his or her hands.   In 1893, Mangin’s Pastry Fork was displayed… Continue reading Anna Mangin

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

Susan King Taylor 1848-1912 Susie King Taylor is known for being the first Black nurse during the American Civil War. Besides nursing the wounded of the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry Regiment, Taylor was the first Black woman to self-publish her memoirs. She was the author of Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the… Continue reading Susie King Taylor

Eartha Mary Magdalene White (1876-1974) was born 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 a variety of domestic services, provided Eartha with… Continue reading Eartha and Clara White

Diane Judith Nash 1938 – Diane Nash is an American civil rights activist, and a leader and strategist of the student wing of the Civil Rights Movement. Nash’s campaigns were among the most successful of the era. Her efforts included the first successful civil rights campaign to integrate lunch counters , the Freedom Riders, who desegregated interstate travel, co-founding the Student Nonviolent Coordinating… Continue reading Diane Nash