Civil Rights

Judge Motley (1921-2005) was a woman of firsts. She was the first Black woman to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, to serve as a federal court judge (Southern District of New York), and to sit in the New York State Senate. She was also the first woman to hold the office of President of the Borough of Manhattan. Earlier in her career she was a law clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense fund's first woman attorney. She also represented Dr. Martin Luther King and the Freedom Riders.

Ku Klux Klan bombing of 4 little girls in Birmingham, Alabama - Denise McNair (11), Addie Mae Collins (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Cynthia Wesley (14).

Educator, Author

Activist

"A white woman has only one handicap to overcome - that of sex. I have two - both sex and race. ... Colored men have only one - that of race. Colored women are the only group in this country who have two heavy handicaps to overcome, that of race as well as that of sex."

Vetted and recruited by Daisy Bates, President of the Arkansas branch of the NAACP, nine students were selected to integrate Central High School in Little Rock in 1957 (September 4, 1957-September 25, 1957).

“I am here to put the nation on notice that violence perpetuated against women in the music industry in the forms of gangster rap and misogynist lyrics will not be tolerated any longer.” Tucker (1927-2005), dubbed “the most hated woman in hip hop” …

"I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired".

Educator, Writer, and Civil Rights Activist

Katz Drug Store

Civil Rights and Social Worker

Hurley (1909-1980), known as the "Queen of Civil Rights".

Coined the term “Jane Crow”.

Civil rights Activist and mother of Emmitt Till.

Morial (1932-2024) was a staunch voting and civil rights activist, the wife of the first Black Mayor of New Orleans, Ernest "Dutch" Morial, and mother of Marc Morial, the second Black Mayor of New Orleans.

Civil Rights Activist

Eslanda "Essie" Robeson was a phenom!