Calendar

O'Leary (1937) is an American lawyer, consultant, and former government official. She served as the 7th United States Secretary of Energy from 1993 to 1997 under President Bill Clinton, becoming the first woman and first Black person to hold this position.

Ahhh, "to be young, gifted, and Black"! Hansberry was a dynamic playwright and the first Black woman author to have a play performed on Broadway. Her best-known work, the play A Raisin in the Sun, has been considered one of the greatest plays of the 20th century.

Andrews (1901-1993) was a Harlem It Girl, Librarian, Hostess, and Cultural Icon. She helped organize the Civic Club Dinner of 1924 - the purported birthplace of the Harlem Renaissance - and she became the first Black librarian appointed to lead a New York Public Library branch (115th St. Branch, 1938).

Lynch (1959) was the 83rd Attorney General of the United States, the first Black woman to hold the position.

Librarian, Challenged and improved upon the Dewey Decimal system

“There is no one so black that is not akin to me”. Matthews declared during her 1897 speech “The Awakening of the Afro-American Woman”.

Verrett (1931-2010) was an operatic mezzo-soprano who established herself as a soprano sfogato, mastering both vocal ranges with extraordinary power and flexibility throughout her celebrated career. She rose to international prominence from the late 1960s through the 1990s, earning particular acclaim for her commanding interpretations of Verdi and Donizetti heroines, along with definitive portrayals of roles like Carmen, Tosca, and Lady Macbeth.

Spelman College and Yale Law School graduate, the first black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar (1964), founder of the Children's Defense Fund, and the first woman alum elected to the Yale University Corporation, Marian Wright Edelman has dedicated her life to advocating for children's rights and serving her community.

On May 1, 1950, Gwendolyn Brooks was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and became the first African American to win a Pulitzer.

McDaniel (1895-1952) was the first Black person to win an Academy Award, receiving the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mammy in "Gone with the Wind" (1939). Despite her groundbreaking achievement, she faced significant racial discrimination throughout her career: She was barred from the film's premiere at the whites-only Loew's Grand Theatre in Atlanta and was forced to sit at a segregated table in a side room during the Academy Awards ceremony.

Scott (1920-1981) was a child prodigy who became a virtuoso pianist, renowned for fusing classical music with jazz and her signature "swinging the classics" style. She was famous for playing two pianos simultaneously at prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall. She broke racial barriers as the first Black woman to host her own TV show, The Hazel Scott Show, in 1950. The 15-minute program aired three times a week and featured Scott performing her signature style. However, the show was canceled after she was blacklisted for defending herself against communist allegations before the House Un-American Activities Committee. She was a committed civil rights activist and also notably married to U.S. Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

Extraordinary

Brown, (1918-1999) is considered the second African American woman to become a licensed architect in the U.S.

Orfeu Negro is a 1959 tragedy starring Marpessa Dawn. It is based on the Greek story of Orpheus and Eurydice set in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil during Carnaval.

Decided June 12, 2967. In 1958, Mildred and Richard Loving were arrested and jailed for violating Virginia's Racial Integrity Act, which banned marriages between individuals classified as "white" and "colored." The Lovings first challenged the constitutionality of the Act in the Virginia Supreme Court. After the state court upheld the law, the Lovings appealed to the United States Supreme Court, arguing that Virginia's anti-miscegenation law violated the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.