Important Black Women in History
History textbooks have let us down, we know this. Systemic racism in our education system shows us this even through our textbooks— where the stories of melanated communities are usually only told as an elective course. It’s unjust, and we owe it to future generations to be able re-educate ourselves on a more accurate revisionist history. The intention of this post is to highlight the triumphs of some of the most Important Black Women in History. This is NOT a comprehensive list—it’s going to be a working list that I’ll keep updating as I can. As with all of my posts, this will only be a starting point to the reader’s self-education— please use google to learn about more of History’s most amazing Black Women!
Here’s my working list (my real list is like 100s of names long, but I’m trying to write a little bit about each person I’m highlighting, so it’s taking a minute):
Angela Davis, an American political activist and philosopher, and one of the reasons why I wish I went to UCSC so I could enroll in one of her lectures.
Wilma Rudolph , "the fastest woman in the world." In 1960, she became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field at the same Olympic Games
Maya Angelou, an American Poet, Novelist, and Dancer. She’s one of my biggest inspirations. I’m not kidding— I own like all her books and her poem collections, and I’ve listened to her speeches and podcasts almost 10 times over. Maya Angelou, the phenomenal woman embodied.
Wangari Maathai, I first learned about her through my mom, who grew up in Kenya! Wangari Maathai is the first African woman to win a Nobel Prize for her environmental work in creating a more ecologically sustainable and responsible economy in Kenya. She founded the Green Belt Movement, and is responsible for the largest tree-planting in Africa.
Toni Morrison, an American Novelist, who wrote “The Bluest Eye” and has some of the most inspiring speeches, interviews, and essays I’ve ever seen.
Mae Jemison, is a GOAT!! Her story is incredible, and as the first Black American woman to travel to space, she broke the glass ceilling for women in STEM.
Shirley Chisholm, another breaker of glass ceilings! She was the first Black women to be elected to the United States Congress.
CNN also released a list of 10 important Black women in history, and you can learn about them here.
So did PBS! And you can find readings and videos through this link.
