February provides the perfect opportunity to focus attention on some of the amazing history of the African American story and the chance to focus on some amazing women. Here are nine who inspire us.
Harriet Tubman
Seriously, let’s talk about a woman who was born into slavery, escaped, returned to help hundreds of others escape via the Underground Railroad and became a nurse during the Civil War, all while spying on the enemy. Now that’s bold.
Madame C.J. Walker
So here’s a fact most of us don’t know: the woman believed to be the first female self-made millionaire in the United States was C.J. Walker, an African American woman whose parents had been slaves.
Misty Copeland
The first African American principal ballet dancer in the history of the American Ballet Theatre, one of the nation’s most prestigious classical ballet companies. She speaks openly and publicly about the journey, work and pressure of performing at the highest level and inspires a generation of young dancers.
Wilma Rudolph
Picture this. You are a young, black girl born in the South, diagnosed with polio and encumbered with leg braces. Then, you go on to compete in two Olympics and become the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field.
Condoleezza Rice
As Secretary of State under George W. Bush, she was only the second woman and first Black woman to serve as the nation’s top diplomat and represent the United States to the world.
Shonda Rhimes
You know those shows you love to watch on TV? There is a good chance Shonda Rhimes is behind them. She is the brilliant producer of hits like Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder making her the first Black woman to produce a top 10 hit on network television.
Maya Angelou
We all know Maya Angelou for her poetry and great literary works like I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, but did you also know that Angelou has won 3 Grammy Awards, was San Francisco’s first female African American cable car driver, and one of a few full-time college professors at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC?
Shirley Chisholm
So many firsts. First Black woman elected to Congress. First black woman to run for a Presidential nomination. First black woman to appear in a Presidential debate.
Mae Carol Jemison
Breaking barriers here on Earth as the first Black woman accepted into the NASA astronaut training program and breaking barriers out of this world as the first Black woman in space.