Foremothers

Juneteenth 2022
A Celebration of Black Achievers (Click Here)

Chronology

1730 Lucy Prince Terry (c. 1730-1821), a poet, abolitionist and orator who argued a case before the Supreme Court, was the author of the first poem, Bars Fight, a ballad published in 1746.

1742 Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Betts, 1742-1829), an abolitionist, was the first slave to successfully sue for her freedom, encouraging Massachusetts to abolish slavery in 1781.

1753 Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), a pioneering African-American poet and slave, was the first to publish a book in 1773. "Her book of poems was entitled, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral."

1783 Jarena Lee (1783-?), an evangelist and itinerate preacher, was the first sanctioned to preach in the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church by founder Richard Allen, during the 1800s.

1784 Mary Elizabeth Lange (1784-1882), an organizational founder of the first Black Religious Order in the United States, in 1829.

1797 Sojourner Truth (Isabella Baumfree, 1797-1883), an abolitionist and women’s rights activist was the first to have a sculpture permanently placed in Emancipation Hall of the United States Capitol building, in 2009.

1803 Maria Stewart (1803-1879), a journalist, lecturer, abolitionist, and women’s rights activist, was the first to address a diverse audience on the topic of abolition, in Boston on September 21, 1832.

1818 Elizabeth Keckley (1818-1907), a fashion designer, was a slave who purchased her freedom and became the first to serve as a personal confidante, companion, and dress designer for Mary Todd Lincoln [wife of President Abraham Lincoln) from 1861 - 1865.

1819 Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield (1819-1876), a concert artist, was the first to win recognition outside of the United States when she gave a command performance for England's Queen Victoria, at Buckingham Palace in 1853.

1822 Harriet Tubman (Araminta Harriet Ross, c.1822-1913), an abolitionist, humanitarian, Civil War spy, was the first to become a conductor of the Underground Railroad and the first to be honored on a U.S. Postage Stamp, in 1978.

1823 Mary Ann Shadd Carey (1823-1893), an abolitionist, journalist, publisher, teacher and lawyer, was the first newspaper editor. She began publishing a weekly paper, the Provincial Freeman in 1853, which had the motto, ’Self-reliance is the true road to independence’.

1825 Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) whose antislavery verse, Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects (1854) sold thousands of copies and her work, The Two Offers (1859) was the first short story published by an African-American.

1825 Harriett Wilson (1825-1900), a writer, was the first to publish a novel, Our Nig: Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, in 1859.

1825 Sarah James Woodson Early (1825-1907), an educator, abolitionist, and feminist, was the first to become a college professor, at Wilberforce University in 1859.

1831 Lucy Stanton (1831 - 1910), an educator and abolitionist is believed to be the first to graduate from college, completing a Ladies Literary Course from Oberlin College, in 1850.

1831 Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831-1895), a medical doctor, was the first to earn a medical degree in 1864, from what is now Boston College School of Medicine.

1832 Mary (Stagecoach) Fields (1832-1914), a postal service worker, was the first to become a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in 1895 Montana, at approximately age 60.

1837 Charlotte Forten Grimke (1837-1914), an educator, poet, and abolitionist, was the first teacher in the world to work with white students, at the Salem Public School in 1855.

1837 Fannie Jackson Coppin (1837-1913), an educator and missionary, was the first to receive the title of Principal at the Institute for Colored Youth, in Philadelphia in 1869.

1840 Mary Jane Patterson (1840-1894), an educator, was the first to receive a B.A. Degree from Oberlin College, in 1862.

1842 Cathay Williams (1842-1892), a Buffalo soldier, enlisted as male Williams Cathay, to serve in the U.S. Army in 1866. She became the first and only known female Buffalo Soldier.

1842 Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (1842-1924), a publisher, journalist and civil rights activist, was the editor of the first African-American women’s newspaper, Women Era from 1890-1897.

1845 Edmonia Lewis (1845 - 1907), an artist, was the first to become a professional sculptor in the U.S., during the 1860s.

1845 Mary Eliza Mahoney (1845-1926), a nurse, was the first to graduate with a nursing degree from the New England Hospital for Women and Children, in Boston in 1879.

1848 Susan King Taylor (1848-1912), the first nurse with the 33rd U.S. Colored Troop during the Civil War, from 1861-1865, and the first teacher to openly instruct former slaves, in a school in Georgia.

1850 Charlotte E. Ray (1850-1911), was the first permitted to practice law in the United States, in 1872.

1854 Lucy Craft Laney (1854-1933), a famous educator, was the founder of the first school for black children, in Augusta, Georgia in 1883.

1855 Sarah Goode (1855-1905) an entrepreneur and inventor, was the first to be granted a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office for the invention of a folding bed, in 1885.

1858 Anna Julia Cooper (1858-1964), a distinguished scholar, author, and pioneering black feminist was the first to publish a black feminist analysis, A Voice from the South, in 1892.

1862 Ida Burnett Wells (1862-1931), a civil rights activist, journalist, and crusader of justice, was the first writer to document lynching of African-Americans in the South, during the 1890s.

1863 Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954), an educator and activist, was the first president of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896, and was the first to serve on the Washington, D.C. School Board, in 1898.

1864 Maggie Lena Walker (1864-1934), a teacher and businesswoman, was the first to become a bank president [St Luke Penney Savings Bank, Richmond VA], in 1903.

1866 Mary Burnett Talbert (1866-1923), a civil rights and ant-lynching activist was the first to receive the NAACP Spingarn Medal Award, in 1922

1866 Georgiana Simpson (1866-1944), an educator, was the first to receive a Ph.D. in German from the University of Chicago in 1921.

1867 Ida Gray Nelson Rollins (1867-1953), a dentist, was the first to earn a dental–surgeon degree when she graduated in 1890, from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

1867 Madame C. J. Walker (Sarah Breedlove, 1867-1919) a civil rights activist, philanthropist and entrepreneur, was regarded as the first to become a self-made millionaire; however, history now records her mentor in the hair care industry, Annie Turnbo Malone, as the first millionaire.

1868 Sissieretta Jones (1868-1933), performed at the White House for President Benjamin Harrison, was the first world famous soprano, and the first to perform at New York’s Carnegie Hall, in 1892. She was nicknamed the “Black Patti”.

1869 Annie Turnbo Malone (1869-1957), an entrepreneur, philanthropist and scientist, was the first U.S. millionaire, based on her company’s assets of fourteen million dollars, in 1920. She was a mentor to Madame C. J. Walker and introduced her to the black hair care industry.

1874 Charlotta Bass (1874-1969), a newspaper publisher-editor and civil rights activist, was the first to be named to the Progressive Party as the nominee for Vice President of the United States, in 1952.

1874 Mary Annette Anderson (1874-1922), an American professor, was the first to be inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society, in 1899.

1875 Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955), an educator and civil rights activist, was the first to head a federal agency, as Director of the Division of Negro Affairs, appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1930. She was also the first to establish a school with five students that continues to function today, as Bethune Cookman College, with over 3,000 students. In Additionally she was the founder of the National Council of Negro Women.

1883 Hazel Harrison (1883-1969), a concert orchestra pianist was the first fully American-trained musician to appear with a European orchestra, in the 1920s.

1883 Lucy Diggs Slowe (1883-1937), an educator, was the first president of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority in 1908, was first to serve as dean of any American University (Howard) in 1922, an athlete, was first to win a national sports title (tennis) from the American Tennis Association in 1917.

1883 Mamie Smith (1883-1946), a vocalist, was the first performer to make a phonograph record, paving the way for all the classic blues women of the 1920s and beyond.

1887 Ethel Hedgeman Lyle (1887-1950), an educator, often referred to as the ’guiding light’ of Alpha Kappa Alpha, was the conceptual founding mother of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the first Greek letter organization founded by and for African American college educated women, established at Howard University, in 1908.

1887 Florence Beatrice Smith Price (1887-1953), a composer and pianist, was the first to have her work performed by a major symphony, in the late 1930s.

1890 Martha Euphemia Loften Haynes (1890-1980), an educator and mathematician, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics, in 1943 from the Catholic University, in Washington, D.C.

1890 Lillian Evanti (1890-1967), a lyric soprano, was the first to perform with a major European company in the 1920s, while simultaneously maintaining deep ties to her native home, Washington, D.C.

1891 Nella Larsen (1891-1964), a poet, was the first to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship Award for creative writing, in 1930.

1892 Bessie Coleman (1892-1926), a civil aviator, was the first to earn an international pilot license, in 1921.

1893 Eva Dykes (1893-1986), an educator, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in English-Philosophy from Radcliff College in 1921.

1893 Ella Myers Phillips Stewart (1893-1987), a pharmacist, was the first to graduate from the College of Pharmacy, at the University of Pittsburgh, in 1916.

1894 Crystal Byrd Fauset (1894 - 1965), a former teacher, was the first state legislator in the United States when she was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, in 1938.

1894 Jackie ’Moms’ Mabley (1894-1975), a comedian was the first to establish herself as a single act in standup comedy, during the early 1960’s.

1895 Eva Jessye (1895-1992), a Choral Director, actress, author, and poet was first to win international distinction as a director of a professional choral group. She was the first choral director for Porgy and Bess (1935).

1895 Hattie McDaniel (1895-1952), an actress, was the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in her performance as Mammy in the 1939 film, Gone with the Wind.

1896 Ethel Waters (1896-1977), a film, television, theater actress and singer, was the first to be broadcast on radio, on April 21, 1922.

1896 Florence Mills (1896-1927), an entertainer and dancing jazz performer, was the first international female superstar when she appeared in the Plantation Review in England, in 1923.

1896 Mary Lou Allison Little (1896-1992), an educator, was the first president and national president of the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority when elected in 1925.

1897 Marian Anderson (1897-1993), a contralto singer, was the first to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera, in 1955.

1898 Arizona Cleaver Stemons (1898-1978), an educator, was a founder and served as the first president of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority in 1920, and became the first national president of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

1898 Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (1898-1989), a lawyer and Civil Rights activist, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in economics, from the University of Pennsylvania in 1921