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.

Sarah Louise Keys Evans' refusal to give up her bus seat led to a landmark Interstate Commerce Commission ruling that banned segregation in interstate travel. In 1952, Evans, a Women's Army Corps member on leave from Fort Dix dressed in full military uniform, boarded a Carolina Trailways bus in Trenton, New Jersey heading home to Washington, N.C. Around midnight in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, a new driver took over. The new driver went down the aisle to check tickets and ordered her to give up her seat to a white Marine, despite the 1946 Morgan v. Virginia Supreme Court ruling that banned segregation in interstate travel. When Evans refused, the new driver had all of the passengers except Evans depart the bus and move to a different bus.

Cartoonist whose strips and panels infused fashion and refinement with social and political elements.

Mayor of D.C.

NASA Astronaut, Electrical Engineer, and the third black woman to travel into Space.

Dr. Jackson is the first Black woman to graduate with a doctorate in particle physics. She holds her Bachelor's degree in Physics (1968) and her Ph.D. in theoretical elementary particle physics (1973), both from MIT.

Nurse and Memoirist

On August 7, 1920 the New York Age published a story about four Black women who had been accepted by the New York Public Library for training. Catherine Latimer was one of the four. She became New York Public Library's first Black librarian.

Suffragist

Owner of Rose Meta House of Beauty in Sugar Hill & A founder of NY's only black owned commercial bank, the Freedom National Bank.

The Voice!