When Brooklyn photographer Marc Bushelle and his wife Janine teach their daughter Lily about iconic African-American women, they get creative. Lily and her family recreate famous photos of the women for their collection, #TheBlackHeroinesProject. It is all kinds of awesome.
“I am a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.”
-Maya Angelou
View her life in photos at The New Yorker.
Things we <3: Google Doodle honors Dorothy Height, who has been called the “godmother of the civil rights movement.”
Read more about Height at TIME.
In 1972, Rep. Shirley Chisholm became the first black woman to run for President on a major party ticket. Ms. Magazine paid tribute to her historic run–and to her proud slogan “unbought and unbossed.”
Source: Ms. Magazine
Wednesday inspiration from Toni Morrison, born this week in 1931. Morrison is the first African-American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY: In 1967, Aretha Franklin recorded “Respect” in New York City. A great Valentine’s Day message indeed.
4 Quotes From Rosa Parks On Her Birthday
Parks was born today in 1913.
Source and Image Source: Color Lines
Trailblazing Women You May Not Know (But Should): Alice Coachman, the first African-American woman to win Olympic gold
Each week, the Lean In tumblr will spotlight women who succeeded against the odds and blazed a trail in their fields — yet didn’t always end up in the history books. These posts do not serve as endorsements of specific policies or individuals. Lean In encourages everyone to support changes that help all women to succeed.
Alice Coachman – who grew up in the 1930s in Albany Georgia – always knew she was destined for a life in sports. She spent her childhood “just jumping with the boys in the street. I was so tomboyish, I wanted competition.“
And did she beat the boys? "I sure did,” she said.
Coachman joined the track team at her high school, but her parents had their doubts about encouraging their daughter’s athleticism. Coachman’s father didn’t approve of her training, which involved practicing on a homemade high jump.
“He said, ‘sit on the porch and act like a lady,’” Coachman told NBC. “But I didn’t do that.”
Central African Republic Chooses Its First Female President
via The Daily Beast
While the Central African Republic is struggling through a sectarian civil war, the National Assembly has chosen Catherine Samba-Panza, 58, to be the interim president. She is the first woman to ever lead the country.
“Our country is at the brink of implosion,” Samba-Panza said. “More than ever, the country needs someone who can bring it together.”
Image credit: Getty Images
Trailblazing Women You May Not Know (But Should): Nichelle Nichols
Each week, the Lean In tumblr will spotlight women who made a lasting mark on the world — yet didn’t always end up in the history books. This week we celebrate Nichelle Nichols, barrier breaking actress.
Nichelle Nichols, born in 1932 outside of Chicago, always believed she was destined for a life in the theater. As she likes to joke, Star Trek interrupted my career.“
Star Trek came calling in 1966 when Nichols was cast as Lieutenant Uhura, one of the first roles to show a black woman in a position of power on American television. "I splashed onto the TV screen at a propitious historical moment,” Nichols said. “Black people were marching all over the South. Dr. King was leading people to freedom, and here I was, in the 23rd century, fourth in command of the Enterprise.”
Nichols considered leaving the show after a few seasons, until a vital encounter with Martin Luther King Jr. changed her mind. As she recounted to MAKERS, King told her, “For the first time on television we will be seen as we should be seen every day – as intelligent, quality, beautiful people who can sing, dance, but who can also go into space, who can be lawyers, who can be professors, and yet you don’t see it on television – until now."
Trailblazing Women You May Not Know (But Should): Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson
Each week, the Lean In tumblr will spotlight women who made a lasting mark on the world — yet didn’t always end up in the history books. This week we celebrate Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, the first black woman to earn a doctorate in nuclear physics from MIT.
When she was four years old, Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson told her mom she already knew what people would call her some day: “Shirley the Great.” She was right.
Dr. Jackson was born in Washington D.C. in 1946 and quickly developed a passion for science. Her father encouraged her interest, telling her to “aim for the stars so that you can reach the treetops and at least you’ll get off the ground.”
In 1964 Dr. Jackson started her freshman year at MIT, where she was one of fewer than twenty African American students and the only one studying theoretical physics. She later told Science Magazine that men weren’t the only ones who made her feel alienated. “The irony is that the white girls weren’t particularly working with me, either," Dr. Jackson said. "I had to work alone and I went through a down period. But you have to decide you will persist in what you’re doing and that you won’t let people beat you down.” She didn’t. She soon became the first African American woman to earn a doctorate from MIT in nuclear physics.
Women Key in Shaping Black Panther Party
Did you know? Women made up 2/3 of the Black Panther party, and played an instrumental role in shaping the black power movement. Read more here.
Source and Image Source: The Clayman Institute for Gender Research
As the world celebrated Nelson Mandela at his funeral today, we’re feeling inspired by Dr. Maya Angelou’s tribute to the man known at home as Madiba.
Source: The State Department
Trailblazing Women You May Not Know (But Should): Figure Skater Mabel Fairbanks
Each week, the Lean In tumblr will spotlight women who made a lasting mark on the world — yet didn’t always end up in the history books. This week we celebrate Mabel Fairbanks, the first African American inducted into the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
Mabel Fairbanks fell in love with ice skating as a little girl in New York on the Central Park rink. “Blacks didn’t skate there,” she remembered. “But it was a public place, so I just carried on."
Fairbanks was told she had no business lacing up in an era when the words "Colored Trade Is Not Solicited” were prominently displayed at local rinks. "I stood in line and said, ‘I’m next, I’m next!’ but I’d get up front and they would just push me away.“
Trailblazing Women You May Not Know (But Should): Oseola McCarty
Each week, the Lean In tumblr will spotlight women who made a lasting mark on the world — yet didn’t always end up in the history books. This week we celebrate Oseola McCarty, philanthropist and inspiration.
Oseola McCarty worked for over 75 years washing and ironing people’s clothes. She began working in the 6th grade when she had to drop out of school to care for her ailing mother. By the time she was 87 years old, McCarty had saved over $150,000. In 1995, she donated it all to the University of Southern Mississippi to help finance scholarships for black students. "I never minded work, but I was always so busy, busy,“ she told The New York Times. "Maybe I can make it so the children don’t have to work like I did.”
At the time of her donation, it had only been three decades since the University of Southern Mississippi became integrated. “My race used to not get to go to that college,” she said. “But now they can.”