First African American woman to earn a Bachelor Degree. See also, Lucy Stanton.

King (1904-1975) was a formidable Civil Rights advocate, Choir Director, Musician, and mother of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Judge Motley (1921-2005) was a woman of firsts. She was the first Black woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, to serve as a federal court judge (Southern District of New York), and to sit in the New York State Senate. She was also the first woman to hold the office of President of the Borough of Manhattan. Earlier in her career she was a law clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense fund's first woman attorney. She also represented Dr. Martin Luther King and the Freedom Riders.

Ku Klux Klan bombing of 4 little girls in Birmingham, Alabama - Denise McNair (11), Addie Mae Collins (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Cynthia Wesley (14).

Opera Singer

Board Certified Obstetrician-Gynecologist

Educator, Author

NASA

Activist

Park Ranger, Singer, Songwriter

"A white woman has only one handicap to overcome - that of sex. I have two - both sex and race. ... Colored men have only one - that of race. Colored women are the only group in this country who have two heavy handicaps to overcome, that of race as well as that of sex."

Smith (1930) is a retired Librarian, Archivist, and Author of over 50 publications including Notable Black American Women. In 1964, Smith became the first African American to earn a Ph.D. degree in library science from the University of Illinois.

Released September 24, 1972

Vetted and recruited by Daisy Bates, President of the Arkansas branch of the NAACP, nine students were selected to integrate Central High School in Little Rock in 1957 (September 4, 1957-September 25, 1957).

NASA Astronaut, Aerospace engineer, and the second black woman to travel into Space.

Sidney Poitier and Diahann Carroll

Starring Jada Pinkett Smith and Allen Payne.

Davis (1929-2018) was the first Black ballerina to perform with the Paris Opera Ballet, a Broadway actress, member of the Katherine Dunham Company, and the first wife of Miles Davis.

Brenda "Raven" Robinson (1956) is the Navy's first black woman to earn her wings of gold (June 6, 1980).

Florence (1897-1991) was the first Black woman to graduate from a professional library program in the United States.

“I am here to put the nation on notice that violence perpetuated against women in the music industry in the forms of gangster rap and misogynist lyrics will not be tolerated any longer.” Tucker (1927-2005), dubbed “the most hated woman in hip hop” …

"I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired".

Mayor of Compton