28 Black Female Firsts: An extraordinary woman for each day of Black History Month
A list of pioneers, teachers, overachievers, and glass ceiling breakers.
Mungi Ngomane is the granddaughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. She is the Senior Business Operations Manager for Outvote and the author of the book Everyday Ubuntu: Living Better Together, the African Way. She is also host of the podcast Everyday Ubuntu. Mungi wrote this piece to highlight Black History Month.
Every year, February hits and it’s hard to scroll anywhere without seeing ‘Black History Month’ hashtagged everywhere. For the shortest month of the year, Black culture becomes even sexier than usual and those who are often preoccupied with ‘not getting political’ even manage to throw out a line or two about the contributions Black people have made. The problem with the refrain about not getting political is that everything IS political, especially the Black identity which has been politicized since colonizers decided they were superior to their darker-complexioned fellow human beings. This means my response to the noise ping pongs between excitement and skepticism. The former in response to the Black educators, activists, writers, and content creators who are teaching all of us and centering Black narratives so damn beautifully. While the latter is in response to the people who have been silent in the darkest moments but quick to pop up a black square. Of course the refrain ‘meet people where they are’ comes to mind, so we continue to grant grace to those who are not at the same place as us. But we must not ignore that this requires great patience, something Black people have in spades.
I find it difficult to reconcile all the emotions that come up during this month and try to focus my energy where I feel it’s useful. On the campaign trail, now Vice President Kamala Harris kept repeating the words of her mother: “Kamala, well, you may be the first to do many things — make sure you’re not the last.”
Below is a list of Black women firsts, they are pioneers, teachers, overachievers, and glass ceiling breakers. The list is far from exhaustive and is just a drop in the bucket of what Black women have given to our history, our present, and our future but I hope that this month we can honour them and their legacies. No black squares, no “All Lives Matter”, no calling for unity without accountability. No more of the nonsense, injustice, and oppression that these women spent their lives fighting against or continue to work against as we speak.
1. Phillis Wheatley
First: Black woman to publish a book (1770)
Phillis spent most of her life enslaved. Born in West Africa, she was brought to America by slave traders. At 14, Phillis began to write poetry. Her poems were influenced not only by the poets of the time, but heavily by her African heritage and her faith.
2. Mary Ann Shadd Cary
First: Black female newspaper publisher in Canada (1853)
“I have broken the editorial ice.”
3. Mary Jane Patterson
First: Black woman to get a college degree (1862)
“Our involvement in the civil rights movement is what sent us into our involvement against apartheid.”
4. Dr. Rebecca Crumpler
First: Black woman to get a medical degree in the US (1864)
“I early conceived a liking for, and sought every opportunity to relieve the sufferings of others.”
5. Charlotte E Ray
First: Black woman to get a law degree in the US (1872)
In the 19th century, women were prohibited from getting licenses to practice law. Though Ray’s career is not well-documented, we know that it took exceptional courage to break the barriers she did, seeking equality for black women.
6. Mary Mahoney
First: Black female nurse (1879)
After completing her degree, Mary chose to pursue her career in private nursing because of the discrimination that was inherent in the public field. She was known for her efficiency, patience, and caring bedside manner, as well as being a pioneer in the field.
7. Madam C.J. Walker
First: Black female millionaire (1910)
“I had to make my own living and my own opportunity. But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them.”
8. Dr. Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander
First: Black woman to earn a Ph.D in economics (1921)
“I knew well that the only way I could get that door open was to knock it down; because I knocked all of them down.”
9. Bessie Coleman
First: Black woman to fly a plane (1922)
“I refused to take no for an answer”
10. Hattie McDaniel
First: Black woman to win an Oscar (1940)
“Putting a little time aside for clean fun and good humor is very necessary to relieve the tensions of our time.”
11. Alice Coachman
First: Black woman to win an Olympic gold medal (1948)
Alice Coachman was born into a world that denied her of opportunities. However, as her most famous quote suggests “I’ve always believed that I could do whatever I set my mind to do.” Coachman improvised her training, and eventually leaped record-breaking heights to earn her Olympic gold.
12. Charlotta Spears Bass
First: Black woman to run for Vice President of the United States (1952)
“In public, in private, wherever I have heard the challenge, the call for a greater effort, the need for further struggle…I have continued to this day to work and fight and struggle toward the light of a better day.”
13. Violet King
First: Black female lawyer in Canadian history (1954)
Violet knew what she wanted: her high school yearbook, the caption read “Violet wants to be a criminal lawyer.” It had never been done by someone who looked like her, and she did it anyway.
14. Shirley Chisholm
First: Black woman to be elected to U.S. congress (1968)
“If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”
15. Vinnette Carroll
First: Black woman to direct on Broadway (1972)
Vinette’s path to the stage was not on the beaten path. After receiving her Master’s degree in psychology, Carroll left her studies to pursue acting. We remember her not only for her work, but also for being a leader in the Black theatre movement.
16. Rosemary Brown
First: Black woman elected to a Canadian legislature and the first woman to run for leadership of a federal political party. (1972 & 1975)
“We must open the doors and we must see to it they remain open, so that others can pass through.”
17. Mae Jemison
First: Black female astronaut (1992)
“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.”
18. Toni Morrison
First: Black woman to win Nobel Prize (1993)
“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down. ”
19. Oprah Winfrey
First: Black female billionaire (2003)
“Turn your wounds into wisdom.”
20. Wangari Maathai
First: African woman to win Nobel Prize (2004)
“Human rights are not things you put on the table for people to enjoy. These are things for you fight for and then you protect”
21. Michaelle Jean
First: Black woman to be Governor General in Canada (2005)
“Empower women and you will see a decrease in poverty, illiteracy, disease, and violence”
22. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
First: Black elected woman Head of state in Africa (Liberia) (2006)
“The size of your dreams must always exceed your current capacity to achieve them. If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.”
23. Angela James
First: Black woman and openly gay player to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame (2010)
Considered “The Wayne Gretzky of Women’s Hockey,” Angela faced adversity throughout her life and career, but that didn’t stop her from being a force to be reckoned with in the game.
24. Viola Davis
First: Black woman to win the ‘Triple Crown of Acting’ (2017)
“As Black women, we’re always given these seemingly devastating experiences — experiences that could absolutely break us. But what the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls the butterfly. What we do as Black women is take the worst situations and create from that point.”
25. Cicely Tyson
First: Black woman to win honorary Oscar (2018)
“One of the things I have always said about the man-woman relationship is that I don’t want anybody to walk ahead of me, and I don’t want anybody to walk behind me. I want a man who will walk along beside me. And that’s how I feel about equal rights.”
26. Mariya Russell
First: Black woman to run Michelin-starred restaurant (2019)
“I’m just about encouraging people to follow their dreams and focus on the fact that you’re more human than the titles that you’re given, no matter what your gender, your race… it doesn’t matter. If you have a dream, you can totally achieve it.”
27. Kamala Harris
First: Black female Vice-president of the United States (2021)
“My mother would look at me and she’d say, ‘Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last”
28. Amanda Gorman
First: Black woman to perform a poem at the Super Bowl (2021)
Keep an eye on Amanda Gorman, she’s also the first person to be named National Youth Poet Laureate and the youngest poet to recite for the presidential inauguration.
“I am not lighting that strikes once. I am the hurricane that comes every single year, and you can expect to see me again soon.”
To the young Black girls — who are only starting to see themselves represented in government, on the news, at the front of the lecture hall, in television and movies — I want to apologize that it took so long. It is not a reflection of the work, beauty, magic, strength, importance, or excellence of our people but rather the system we have found ourselves in. A system that our ancestors fought and that we will continue to fight until our worth is truly embraced. I hope you can use this list of the Black women who have come before us as your inspiration on those days when life gets hard. Keep showing up and keep being you. You are excellent.
Learn more about Mungi at mungingomane.co. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
