February 2016 will be Black Women’s History Month on this blog. In the comments below, please nominate or second posts you woulds like to see. If you want to suggest a guest post, that would be great too!
My own suggestions, in alphabetical order:
- Alice Walker
- Alicia Garza
- Althea Gibson
- Annie Easley (pictured)
- Audre Lorde
- Ava DuVernay
- Barbara Jordan
- Barbara Harris
- Bessie Smith
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Cicely Tyson
- Claudette Colvin
- Cynthia McKinney
- Diane Nash
- Dorothy Height
- Ella Baker
- Esther Jones
- Florence Griffith Joyner
- Henrietta Lacks
- Jessye Norman
- Kerry Washington
- Katherine Dunham
- Leontyne Price
- Lupita Nyong’o
- Margaret Ekpo
- Mary McLeod Bethune
- Marimba Ani
- Maya Angelou
- Mia Love
- misogynoir
- Nichelle Nichols
- Nina Simone
- Queen Nanny
- Queen Nzinga
- Rama Yade
- Sarah Vaughan
- Shonda Rhimes
- Sojourner Truth
- Sophia Stewart
- Stacey Dash
- Viola Davis
- Winnie Mandela
- womanism
See also:
Jessye Norman!! My hero since 1987: Vier Letzte Lieder
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JteREaN0JNQ)
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Seconding Nina Simone and Stacy Dash…Coretta Scott King
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Marie Van Brittan Brown
Oprah Winfrey
Ida B. Wells
Madam C.J. Walker
Lorraine Hansberry
Michelle Obama
Harriet Tubman
Fannie Lou Hamer
Toni Morrison
Marian Anderson
Angela Davis
Marian Wright Edelman
Opal Tometi
Patrisse Cullors
Bree Newsome
Shirley Chisolm
Betty Shabazz
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Miriam Makeba
Mae Jemison
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One more (for now): Mara Brock Akil
Thanks!
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How about these ladies:
Chanda Prescod Weinstein Phd
Wanda Austin
Ursula Burns
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Since you already have a picture of her, how about Annie J. Easley? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Easley)
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Beatriz Kimpa Vita (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimpa_Vita) for her contribution to the struggle against the slave trade in Africa and her innovations to Christian dogma.
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Victoria Duval, upcoming tennis star who’s Haitian.
Naomi Osaka, upcoming tennis star who’s Haitian-Japanese.
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Gwendolyn Brooks
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Four interesting African ladies to research about:
* Graça Machel (Mozambique);
* Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia);
* Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Nigeria); and
* Wangari Maathai (Kenya).
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Cynthia McKinney !
Octavia Butler !
Tracie Ellis Ross !
Mahalia Jackson !
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Tananarive Due
Nisi Shawl
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J. California Cooper
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Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
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Yelena Khanga
Marcia Hines
Deni Hines
Condoleezza Rice
Portia White
Melissa Harris-Perry
Lena Horne
Jennifer Beals
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bell hooks
Fannie Lou Hamer
Elaine Brown (Black Panthers)
Women in the Black Panthers
19th Century Black Washerwomen in the North and South
Angela Davis
Assata Shakur
Queen Nzinga of Angola
19th Century Black women of New Orleans forced to cover their hair by city law
Octavia Butler
Wangari Maathai
Ida B Wells-Barnett
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Darnell Martin
Jennifer Beals
Carol Channing
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Seconding, well…just about all of these wonderful suggestions. Harriet Jacobs’ story is incredible, though. She’s top of my list. And Queen Latifah. This may sound lame, but in high school/undergrad in the late 80s/90s, Salt n Pepa, Spinderella, Janet Jackson and Queen made this sheltered little white girl take NOTICE. Then En Vogue and TLC doubled down. As a geeky chorus kid, I was hooked on the talent of expression and vocal chops coupled with messages about being a strong, independent woman who doesn’t wait for things to happen to her–she gets shit done herself.
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maybe Queen Charlotte
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(Written from a small phone)
Thank you very much, Abagond, for this post. And Peanut.
Misygnoir and Womanism would make for great and important discussion.
Abagond, you have written on quite a few woman giants already (to my mind):
1. Dr. Angela Davis
2. Assata Shakur
3. Zora Neale Hurston
4. Whitney Houston
5. Audrey Lourde
6. bell hooks
7 Harriet Tubman
8. Toni Morrison
9. Jamaica Kincaid
10.Angela Bassett
11. Billy Holiday
12. Dr. Francis Cress Welsing
13. Rosa Parks.
And in a category of her own, Saartjie Baartman.
So I would leave them out for nomination.
I second most of your list and almost everyone else’s except for Jennifer Beals and Winnie Mandela.
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*misogynoir
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Louise Marie Thérèse (The Black Nun of Moret), daughter of the queen of France.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Marie_Th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se_%28The_Black_Nun_of_Moret%29)
Will next year’s selection be: February 2017 Black Men’s History Month on this blog?
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Here are the women I like from the list
Queen Nzinga
Yaa Asantewa
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Cicely Tyson
Lupita Nyong’o
Viola Davis
Henrietta Lacks
Sojourner Truth
Maya Angelou
Winnie Mandela
Mary McLeod Bethune
Nina Simone
Hones I would like everyone on this list because a lot I do not know. You so rock for this, do you mine if I copy this idea? I can’t wait for these posts, keep up the great work!
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Reblogged this on revealingartisticthoughts and commented:
Black woman February Month?! I mean could that be any cooler? Seriously head on over and let him know who you want from the list or add some people. This is so going to rock!
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Seriously though: Edmonia Lewis. Colorful pioneer of black American art.
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@taotesan
Thank you for pointing out articles about notable African American women already covered by Abagond. Memory is a good thing.
I will have to make use of that search box in the sidebar.
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J. California Cooper and Maya Angelou and Tannarive Due and ballerina Michala Prince and Viola Davis, Melissa Harris-Perry.
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Misogynoir is also a great subject
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Abagond,
you promised Sarah Rector years again, I’m still waiting 🙂
Sarah Rector, child of former slaves (Creek Freedmen), became one of the richest little black girls in America in 1914, when oil was discovered on her allotment of land.
http://www.blackpast.org/aaw/rector-sarah-1902-1967
and because of her wealth, she got a lot of media attention, and there was a push to have her declared “white” so that she could ride on public trains and be eligible for marriage to white men who saw her story in the papers.
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Lupita N’Yongo
Ava DuVernay
Maya Angelou
Womanism
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Oops I forgot Assata Shakur.
Maya Penn; 13 year old genius young’n who started a company at 8 years old and did a wonderful TED Talk on her accomplishments & aspirations.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVcaTtJmRNs)
Afua Richardson; great new comic writer of the series Genius. We need more Black heroes.
I know the last 2 names are modern and not apart of fields most people would think of in regards to American Black woman (activism, acting, music) but it’s for those exact reasons I think they should be given a shout out. It will make everyone look at the broader Black female spectrum to highlight that talent is present in every part of it.
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@ acj13
Not at all.
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I did do a post on Audre Lorde’s “Eye to Eye”, but not on her:
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@ Linda
Sarah Rector for sure.
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@gro jo: The black nun who allegedly might have been the queen of France’s daughter is quite intriguing. i plan to read more about her thanks for introducing her.
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@ Afrofem: not to mention.
My incomplete list:
1. Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis): 3.2 million old skeleton discovered in Ethiopia.
2. Luzia: name given to the 11 500 year old skeletal remains of the first African American woman , discovered in 1975 , in Brazil.
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3. Hatshepsut: longest reigning female pharaoh.
4.Queen of Sheba: great beauty, wealth and power.
5. Nefertiti: Queen of ancient Kemet.
6.Hypatia: African intellectual in antiquity : outstanding in mathematics, astronomy and philosophy.
——————————————————-
7. Dahia al-Kahina: 7th century commander of North African resistance against Arab invasions.
8. Seconding Queen Nzingha: John Hendrik Clark wrote that: “she was the greatest military strategist that ever confronted the armed forces of Portugal. ”
9.Madam Efunroye Tinube: powerful Nigerian aristocrat and former slave trader herself who later opposed all forms of slavery upon discovering the inhumane chattel slavery as practiced by the Europeans.
——————————————————–
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Continued:
10. FloJo: Fastest woman on earth.
11. Serena Williams:Tennis superstar.
12. Caster Semenya: South African 800 m Olympic gold medallist.
13. Linda Wood Hayte: 70 year old African American bodybuilder that will put a lot of the young ‘thick’ ladies to shame.
14.Ernestine Shepard: 77 year old bodybuilder.
15. Annette Larkin: Ageless septuagenarian (raw vegan).
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16. Ella Fitzgerald: nightingale.
17. Bessie Smith: Empress of Blues.
18. Sarah Vaughan: nightingale.
19.Miriam Makeba: Mama Africa . Legendary musical sensation and anti-apartheid activist.
20. Aretha Franklin : one of the greatest singers of all time.
21. Cesaria Evora: Cape Verdean ‘ barefoot diva’.
22. Pumeza Matshikiza: young South African opera singer.
——————————————————-
23. Nkozazana Dlamini-Zuma:anti- apartheid activist. Head of African Union and possible? future president of South Africa.
24. Adelaide Tambo: anti- apartheid activist.
25. Fannie Lou Hamer: ” I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
26. Septima Poinsette Clark: Grandmother of Civil Rights Movement.
27.Ida B. Wells: anti-lynching activist and Mother of intersectionality.
——————————————————-
28. Alice Walker: wrote ” In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens (womanist prose ) and “The Color Purple” – disliked by Black men and loved by white people for the wrong reasons.
29. Bessie Head: South African writer, whom I can’t say her name without being emotional. Sad life. Truthteller about the madness of apartheid.
30. Dr. Marimba Ani: intellectual heavyweight. Wrote ‘Yurugu’.
31. Dr. Kathryn Gines: African American philosopher.Field: Africana, race and Black feminist philosophy.
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Tiye, grandmother of King Tut.
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@ Abagond
This may go without saying, but I’m not sure, so:
Can I request that the post on Maria W. Stewart stay scheduled for March? This is a wonderful idea (shout-out to Pumpkin), but I really did want that post to be in observance of National Women’s History Month.
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These five Black island women should be considered:
Queen Savusavu of Fiji (mother of King Cakobau – ruler of a united Fijian kingdom).
Queen Litia Samanunu of Fiji (highest ranking wife of King Cakobau)
Queen Keopuolani of Hawaii (highest ranking wife of Kamehameha I).
Queen Ka’ahumanu of Hawaii (co-ruler and one of the kingdom’s most politically powerful Hawaiian).
Queen Liliuokalani (last monarch of Hawaii).
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@Taotesan
I’m loving your list, especially:
# 13. Linda Wood Hayte & #14. Ernestine Shepard; both of them run rings around women 50 years younger than them.
#20. Aretha Franklin – to me she is the gold standard of vocal artists.
#21. Cesaria Evora – she had the voice of an angel, may she rest in peace.
#28. Alice Walker – you are very perceptive about her being disliked and loved for the wrong reasons.
I will have to do some reading about the rest of the women on your list.
Thank you.
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Merneith(no relation):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merneith
Ahhotep I:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahhotep_I
Ahmose-Nefertari:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmose-Nefertari
precursors of Hatshepsut and Nefertiti. All in all, the 18th Dynasty produced very powerful female rulers with more documentation than other dynasties that preceded them.
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Mary Burrell, you are welcome.
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Everyone has great lists and I am going to do reading on them.
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@taotesan: I do remember owning the Alice Walker book back in the 80’s and I enjoyed reading it. I remember when the Color Purple arrived in movie theaters and many black men reacted negatively to it saying how black people should boycott the film because it was a negative portrayal of black men and black people. And white people had the opposite reaction thinking this was an accurate representation of black people. I remember how confusing and conflicting all this was at that time. It bothered me how everyone was saying how ugly Whoopie Goldberg was. That is my memory of that time. I enjoyed Meridian and Revolutionary Petunias. And Good Night Willie Lee I’ll See You In The Morning. In Love And Trouble., The Third Life of Grange Copeland.
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You Can’t Keep A Good Woman Down was a good read too. And In Search of Our Mother’s garden. I believe it was one of those books i can’t remember which one where she discusses rape of women and how men develop what I know now is rape culture of black women and how she lost her eye was injured. I think this what brought about the hate directed at her.
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Alice Walker^^^^^^
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Misogyn especially in regard to black women is quite prevalent now a days and it’s pretty disgusting and disturbing. A good post on that is in order.
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*Misogynoir* ^^^^^^
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Kristala Jones Prather who’s working on turning cells into factories. (http://www2.technologyreview.com/tr35/profile.aspx?TRID=621)
Kay Igwe – Brain Gaming Developer (http://hackaday.com/2015/12/03/kay-igwe-explains-brain-gaming-through-ssvep/)
Trachette Jackson fighting cancer with math (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5u7-4yFLbY)
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Dr Layla Zakaria Abdel Rahman, Sudanese pioneering biologist (http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/business/business-news/laylas-work-is-too-sweet-1148230)
Dr. Segenet Kelemu, Ethiopian scientist (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5Tq2ZtrJY8)
Saheela Ibraheem, intellectually precocious Harvard graduate ( http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/05/ahead-of-her-time/)
Anne-Marie Imafidon, child math prodigy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne-Marie_Imafidon)
Esther Okade, another math prodigy (http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/09/africa/esther-okade-maths-genius/)
Trojan Pam notwithstanding, none of the women and girls were raped by their fathers.
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Abagond,
Does it matter if you’ve already written about someone? Or do just new people count?
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@ Mira
I am just doing new people, though you could suggest a new angle on someone I already did, like “Angela Davis and Black Lives Matter”, for example.
If you are not sure if I did someone, put them down anyway, just to be on the safe side.
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Well, I was going to suggest Toni Morrison but there’s already a post on her. I am not sure about some others (I think there is one about Angela Basset).
My nominations:
Viola Davis
Alice Walker
Nichelle Nichols
Maya Angelou
Shonda Rhimes
Zadie Smith
Annie Easley (tbh I didn’t know about her but I want to learn more – she’s a must have, imo!)
Queen Latifah
Sade
Kelly Rowland
Lupita Nyong’o
Are children allowed? For example, Amandla Stenberg (she’s only 17).
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*Angela Bassett, sorry for the typo.
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Chimamandi adiche Nogozi – One of today’s top writers
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Julie Dash (writer-director of “Daughters of the Dust”; AFAIK no relation to Stacey Dash)
Toni Cade Bambara
Paule Marshall
Nikki Giovanni
Tracy Chapman
Sweet Honey in the Rock
Ma Rainey
Bessie Smith
Memphis Minnie
The National Association of Colored Women (f. 1896)
The National Council of Negro Women (f. 1935)
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@ Mira
Children are allowed. Of those you listed, I have done Angela Bassett and Sade:
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Abagond,
Thanks for clarification. In this case, I also nominate Amandla Stenberg and Quvenzhané Wallis (unless there are already posts about them).
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Abagond,
Kimberle Crenshaw
Intersectionality
Paula Giddings
C.DeLores Tucker
M. Belinda Tucker
Patricia Hill Collins
Controlling Images of Black women
Johnetta Cole
Lonnae O’Neal
Lonnett McKee
For Harriet
Ann Petry
Fannie Lou Hamer
Dorothy Roberts
Audre Lorde
Combahee River Collective
SB
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National Congress of Black Women
E. Faye Williams
Julienne Malveaux
Lisa Jones
Susan Taylor
Sylvia’s Restaurant
B. Smith
Veronica Brown-Comegys
Angela Davis
Michaela angela Davis
Lani Guinier
Jocelyn Elders
Anita Hill
Spelman College
Tracey D. Shipley
Bulletproof Diva
Asha Bandele
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Flo Kennedy
Mary Church Terrell
Anna Julia Cooper
Seconding womanism and intersectionality. Thirding womanism and intersectionality. Fourthing…
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Miss Lou, Louise Bennett-Coverley
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Since it is All White Oscars month too, maybe we should do a post on Hattie McDaniel, her stereotyped roles and how she had to sit at a segregated table at the Oscars.
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@ Solitaire
Right, she will stay in March.
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@ Melanie
I liked Salt-N-Pepa, En Vogue and Janet Jackson back then too.
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@ gro jo
Probably not. In practice that is pretty much the same thing as Black History Month. That is why I am doing Black Women’s History Month.
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One more: science fiction writer extraordinaire, Octavia Butler.
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How about a post on ‘Storm’ from the Marvel universe? She is the only superhero to be a member of The Avengers, The Fantastic Four and The X-Men.
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@ Linda
I have not forgotten Sarah Rector. I will do a post on her next week, God willing.
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nomad
Seriously though: Edmonia Lewis. Colorful pioneer of black American art.
Google celebrates edmonia lewis.
Celebrating Edmonia Lewis
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Hatshepsut, Amanitore, Amanishakheto
Beverly Snow, Bridget Mason
Cynthia McKinney, Christiane Taubira
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