Singer

"To a Dark Girl" Something of old forgotten queens lurks in the lithe abandon of your walk. And something of the shackled slave sobs in the rhythm of your talk.

On July 9, 1860, the Clotilda, a two-masted 86 foot schooner anchored off Point of Pines in Grand Bay, Mississippi carrying 110 enslaved Africans in spite of the 1807 Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves. It was the last known U.S. slave ship, and among its youngest passengers was two-year-old Matilda McCrear, who would survive until 1940, becoming one of the last living links to the transatlantic slave trade.

Referred to as the First Lady of Negro America, Bethune (1875-1955) was an impassioned Educator and founder of Bethune-Cookman College and the The National Council of Negro Women, Inc.

Alexander Lane (1916-2007) founded the Harlem Institute of Fashion in 1966 and established the Black Fashion Museum in Harlem, NY in 1979.

Coloratura Soprano Opera Singer

Starring Nia Long, Cubs Good Jr, Angela Bassett, and Laurence Fishburne

In 1991, Harlins was murdered, shot in the back of the head from a distance of three feet by a Korean grocery store owner in Los Angeles, California.

On July 24, 1903, Maggie L. Walker became the first Black woman to serve as president of a U.S. bank, as well as the first woman founder of a U.S. bank, when she rallied members of the Independent Order of St. Luke to charter and capitalize the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond, Virginia.

Investigative journalist who fearlessly investigated and exposed horrific realities of lynchings in the United States in the 1890s.

Caroroll (1935-2019) was an actress and the first Black woman to earn an Emmy nomination (1969).

Oretha and her sister, Doris Jean Castle, were vital leaders of the civil rights movement in New Orleans.

Starring Janet Jackson, Regina King, Tupac Shakur....

Ball (1892 - 1916) was a brilliant chemist who, at 23, discovered the first treatment for Leprosy (Hansen’s Disease), known as the Ball Method.

Ng (1956) was the first Black woman to earn her wings in the United States Armed Forces (1979).

Austin (1955) was the first Black woman to dance with the New York City Ballet (1971). She was also the first Black woman to become a principal ballerina at a major American ballet company, the Pennsylvania Ballet (1982).

Funk singer, model, futuristic fashionista, and second wife of Miles Davis, Betty (1944-2022) was known for her raw lyrics, powerful voice, and innovative blend of funk, soul, and rock. During their brief marriage, Betty was Davis' muse and profoundly influenced his musical direction and sense of style. “Miles was pure energy, sometimes light but also dark. He was driven inspiring and also angry. Everyday married to him, was a day I earned the name Davis.”

This "parade" of 10,000 on 5th Avenue was one of the first major demonstrations by the African American community. It was organized by the NAACP to address violence and discrimination and most acutely, it was a response to the East St. Louis riots of 1917.

Attorney, educator, and author, Hill (1956) is most well known for her public testimony during the 1991 Senate confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. Hill, who had worked under Thomas at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), accused him of sexual harassment.

Lacks (1920-1951) is the source of the HeLa "immortal" cell line, one of the most important human cell lines in the history of medical research. Lacks's cells, taken without her knowledge or consent, transformed the landscape of modern medicine, while Lacks herself remained long deprived of recognition and recompense.