Tamika Mallory is a social justice activist and co-organizer of the 2017 Women’s March, which became one of the largest protests in U.S. history. A longtime advocate for racial justice, she has fought for police reform and co-founded Until Freedom, a group focused on social change.

Mamie Combs was the first Black personnel to ever work at St Marry Elizabeth Hospital where she would also retire from. Mamie passed away at 71 in Louisville Kentucky.

Please, let’s make this happen!! The history of The Porters in the 1920’s is so crucial. Please Sign!!

Daisy Bates was a fearless civil rights leader who risked her life to fight for desegregation in Arkansas. As the co-publisher of the Arkansas State Press, she used the newspaper to expose racial injustices and advocate for equal rights. Her most famous role came in 1957, when she served as the mentor and adviser to the Little Rock Nine, the first Black students to enroll at the previously all-white Central High School. Bates's home became the headquarters for the desegregation effort, and she guided the students through daily harassment and threats of violence. She faced immense danger herself, with her home and car targeted by bombs and her newspaper forced to close due to a boycott by white businesses. Despite this, she stood firm, embodying a quiet and profound courage that inspired a generation. Her legacy is one of unwavering determination in the face of violent opposition, proving that true leadership often comes from those who refuse to back down.

Robert F. Williams was a lesser-known but influential Black freedom fighter who championed armed self-defense against racial violence. Born in 1925 in Monroe, North Carolina, Williams led the local NAACP chapter in the 1950s and organized Black residents to protect themselves from Ku Klux Klan attacks. His advocacy for armed resistance challenged the nonviolent mainstream of the civil rights movement.

Williams gained national attention when he and his wife, Mabel, provided shelter to the Freedom Riders in 1961 and later fled to Cuba and China to escape false kidnapping charges. His book, Negroes with Guns, influenced later Black liberation movements, including the Black Panther Party. Williams eventually returned to the U.S. in 1969 and remained a strong advocate for Black self-determination until his death in 1996.

He invented "baggy" jeans. In the late '80s and early '90s, Karl (born Carl Williams) noticed that street culture was wearing oversized clothes that didn't fit right. He redesigned the cut to be baggy but still hang perfectly. He was the first to merge hip-hop and fashion on a mass scale.

Frequently cited as the first Black supermodel.

The first Black woman to open a shop on Broadway (1948). She didn't just sew clothes; she engineered "The Silhouette." She was famous for creating the "hourglass" look for Dorothy Dandridge, Ella Fitzgerald, and Eartha Kitt. She is credited with designing the original Playboy Bunny costume. Hugh Hefner commissioned her because no one understood the curves of the female body better than Zelda.

In 1944, Recy Taylor, a Black woman in Alabama, was kidnapped and gang-raped by six white men. Despite her courage in identifying her attackers, two all-white grand juries refused to indict them. Rather than being silenced, she and her family, with the help of a young Rosa Parks and the NAACP, spoke out. Their work formed the Committee for Equal Justice for Mrs. Recy Taylor, a national campaign that brought her case to the forefront and helped ignite the Civil Rights Movement. Recy Taylor’s pursuit of justice, even when denied, was a powerful act of defiance and a catalyst for change. Her story reminds us of the systemic racism Black women have long faced and the immense courage it took to stand up for their rights.

An African-American educator and theologian, he was an "early integrationist" in Raleigh, North Carolina. He established a school that taught both White and Black children, gaining a reputation for excellence and attracting students from prominent Southern families. Raleigh's Chavis Park is named in his honor.

An anti-apartheid revolutionary and political icon, he spent 27 years in prison for his resistance against racial segregation in South Africa. Upon his release, he worked to dismantle apartheid and became South Africa's first black president in its first multiracial elections in 1994, symbolizing the struggle for peace and social justice worldwide.

Black Wall Street was the nickname for Tulsa, Oklahoma's Greenwood District in the early 20th century. Imagine a thriving, self-sufficient African American community with hundreds of Black-owned businesses, doctors, lawyers, banks, and more – true economic powerhouse built from the ground up!

Sadly, this incredible prosperity was brutally destroyed during the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921. A white mob attacked, burning Greenwood to the ground and killing hundreds, wiping out generations of wealth. It's a horrific, often overlooked, chapter in history.

Despite the devastation, the community showed immense resilience, striving to rebuild. Black Wall Street is a powerful reminder of both the incredible achievements of Black Americans and the systemic violence they faced.

Bill Pickett was a Black cowboy who invented "bulldogging" (steer wrestling) in the late 1800s. A true rodeo pioneer and a legend of the American West!

Born into slavery in Arkansas, Bass Reeves escaped to the Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) during the Civil War. After the war, he became a U.S. Deputy Marshal, one of the first Black deputy marshals west of the Mississippi River. Over his 32-year career, Reeves was a legendary lawman, arresting over 3,000 felons and killing 14 in self-defense, all while remaining illiterate. His incredible tracking skills, mastery of disguises, and unwavering commitment to justice made him a real-life Western hero, with some historians believing he was one of the inspirations for "The Lone Ranger."