How Well Do You Know These Trailblazing Black Women?

In 1767, at age 13, Phillis Wheatly wrote "On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin," a poem about a miraculous survival at sea, which was published in "The Newport Mercury." By 18, her "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" had been published, making her the first African American, male or female, to published a book of poetry.

Ida B. Wells was a pioneer of investigative journalism. Her work to expose the brutal racist practice of lynching helped to end its spread in America. Alfreda M. Duster, the editor of Wells' autobiography, wrote, "[Ida] fought a lonely and almost single-handed fight... long before men or women of any race entered the arena."

After having a painful scalp condition herself, Madam C.J. Walker created her "Wonderful Hair Grower," "Glossine," and "Vegetable Shampoo," which all gained a loyal following among the Black community. In 1905, with just $1.05 in her pocket, Walker moved to Denver, Colorado, and started selling the products. Her business grew and she became the first Black female millionaire in the U.S.

In 1993, author Toni Morrison, who wrote the acclaimed novels “Beloved,” "Jazz," and “Song of Solomon," became the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize in literature. “My work requires me to think about how free I can be as an African American woman writer in my genderized, sexualized, wholly racialized world," she said.

In 2017, NASA Langley officially opened its Katherine Johnson Computational Research Facility. The state-of-the-art center was named for mathematician Katherine Johnson, who worked at NASA as a human calculator for decades. Her work helped set the trajectories for such landmarks as John Glenn's orbital mission and the Apollo 11 flight to the moon.

Shirley Chisholm's motto was "unbought and unbossed," and she served the state of New York with that credo for 14 years as a U.S. Representative. Since Chisholm's boundary-breaking election, 44 more Black women have been elected to Congress. Chisholm later unsuccessfully ran for President, and in 2015, she was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

After hearing her brothers' tales of serving in the military during WWI, Bessie Coleman was drawn to flight. However, American flight schools wouldn't accept her because she was both a woman and African American, so she attended flight school in France. Shortly after she got her pilot's license in 1921, "Brave Bessie" became a celebrated stunt pilot and performed aerial tricks for audiences across the globe.

In 1851, Sojourner Truth, a formerly enslaved woman, gave what would become her most famous speech, "Ain't I a Woman?” The powerful address, delivered at the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, confronted the movement's lack of support for Black women. After giving the speech, Truth's popularity boomed and she continued advocating for abolition and women's rights for the rest of her life.

In 1950, Althea Gibson became the first Black person to play at the U.S. National Tennis Championships. Six years later, she was the first Black person to win a Grand Slam event when she took the title at the French Open, and in 1957, Gibson became the first Black woman on the cover of "TIME." In 1960, she switched sports to become the first African American on a women's professional golf tour.

The 1958 Grammy Awards, the first annual edition of the awards ceremony, gave out two awards to legendary Black performers. Ella Fitzgerald became the first Black female winner when she was awarded the Grammy for Best Vocal Performance, Female. That same show, Count Basie earned the award for Best Jazz Performance, Group, making him the first Black man to take home a Grammy.