Politics
The first Black woman member of the U.S. Congress, the first African American and the first woman to run as a major party candidate for the presidency of the United States.
Shirley Chisolm
Renowned poet, writer, activist. She received the Langston Hughes and Rosa Parks Awards for Distinguished Contributions in Arts and Letters.
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni
“I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired”.
Fannie Lou Hamer
Mara Brock Akil
Fastest woman in the world in the 1960s. First American woman to win 3 gold medals in track and field.
Wilma Rudolph
The first African American woman U.S. Senator.
Carol Moseley-Braun
Author of Women of Brewster Place which was later turned into an acclaimed mini-series that Oprah Winfrey starred in and produced.
Gloria Naylor
Longest serving president of the National Council of Negro Women 1957-1997.
Dorothy Height
An actress with roles in In the Heat of the Night, A Different World, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and movie Baby Boy.
Adrienne Joi "AJ" Johnson
First female bishop of AME Church
Vashti Murphy McKenzie
An American attorney and politician and the 18th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Marcia Fudge
Sculptor who created the bust of President Franklin D. Roosevelt that was minted on the American dime.
Selma Hortense Burke
First African-American woman in the nation to run a major police department. Former Chief of Atlanta Police Department.
Beverly Harvard
First Black woman to grace the cover of Glamour Magazine. Well-known for her role on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
Daphne Maxwell-Reid
EVP and COO of Baranco Automotive Group. Former Assistant AG of GA and first African American female chair of GA Board of Regents.
First African American woman U.S. Secretary of Labor.
Alexis Herman
American dancer, choreographer, and artistic director emerita of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Judith Jamison
60th Mayor of Atlanta
Keisha Lance Bottoms
First African American soprano lead performer with the Metropolitan Opera.
Leontyne Price
2nd African American woman to receive a Ph.D. in the U.S., 1st woman to receive a law degree.
Sadie Tanner Mossell-Alexander
First African American elected to Texas Senate after Reconstruction and woman to deliver a keynote address at a Democratic National Convention.
Barbara Jordan
Author of In Search of Sisterhood
Paula Giddings
First African American woman to serve as U.S. Attorney General.
Loretta Lynch
Song “I’ll Rise Up”. She played “Strange Fruit” singer.
Andra Day
At 26, she became the first Black woman neurosurgeon in the United States.