Mary was the first licensed African American nurse in the United States and first African American graduate of an American nursing school. She was born in the spring of 1845 in Dorchester, Massachusetts to freed, formerly enslaved people who relocated from North Carolina for a chance at better civil and economic opportunities for their family.

NASA Astronaut, Geologist, Aquanaut, Athlete, Aviator, and the first Black woman to complete an International Space Station long term mission.

Stanton (1913-2012), a legend in the public library domain. She was the first woman and Black person to lead a Public Library system (Executive Director, Detroit Public Library - 1970) and the first Black President of the American Library Association.

O'Leary (1937) is an American lawyer, consultant, and former government official. She served as the 7th United States Secretary of Energy from 1993 to 1997 under President Bill Clinton, becoming the first woman and first Black person to hold this position.

Ahhh, "to be young, gifted, and Black"! Hansberry was a dynamic playwright and the first Black woman author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best-known work, the play A Raisin in the Sun, has been considered one of the greatest plays of the 20th century.

Andrews (1901-1993) was a Harlem It Girl, Librarian, Hostess, and Cultural Icon. She helped organize the Civic Club Dinner of 1924 - the purported birthplace of the Harlem Renaissance - and she became the first Black librarian appointed to lead a New York Public Library branch (115th St. Branch, 1938).

Lynch (1959) was the 83rd Attorney General of the United States, the first Black woman to hold the position.

Librarian, Challenged and improved upon the Dewey Decimal system

Civil Rights Activist

“There is no one so black that is not akin to me”. Matthews declared during her 1897 speech “The Awakening of the Afro-American Woman”.

Verrett (1931-2010) was an operatic mezzo-soprano who established herself as a soprano sfogato, mastering both vocal ranges with extraordinary power and flexibility throughout her celebrated career. She rose to international prominence from the late 1960s through the 1990s, earning particular acclaim for her commanding interpretations of Verdi and Donizetti heroines, along with definitive portrayals of roles like Carmen, Tosca, and Lady Macbeth.

Spelman College and Yale Law School graduate, the first black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar (1964), founder of the Children's Defense Fund, and the first woman alum elected to the Yale University Corporation, Marian Wright Edelman has dedicated her life to advocating for children's rights and serving her community.

On May 1, 1950, Gwendolyn Brooks was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and became the first African American to win a Pulitzer.