Dr. Dorothy Height (b. 1912) was among the “most tireless freedom fighters in American history.” A leader in the Civil Rights Movement, she advised presidents & founded an organization for women of diverse racial & religious backgrounds to advance the movement.

Josephine Silone Yates was a professor of chemistry & among the 1st women in the US to head a university science department. She was also a journalist & editor & served as the president of the National Association of Colored Women in 1901.

Dr. Caroline Still Anderson (b. 1848) was a physician & educator. Her parents, William & Letitia Still, were leaders in the Underground Railroad who assisted 800 individuals in the dangerous work of freeing themselves. Her grandparents were self-liberated, formerly enslaved.

The Haitian Revolution began 233 years ago today, leading to Haiti's independence from France, and Haiti became the first nation to permanently abolish slavery. Let us all honor, recognize, & never forget how Haiti led the world from slavery to freedom: publicbooks.org/how-haiti-dest…

Haiti's Queen Marie-Louise Christophe took her family to England & then Italy, where they are memorialized today. Her husband, Henry Christophe, general in Haiti’s war for independence & leader of the new nation, fostered trade, industry, & education before his death.

In 1841 Mary Richardson married John Jones of North Carolina. They carried free papers when they settled in Chicago & Mr. Jones established a successful tailoring business. Active in abolitionist politics, they hosted (& dressed) John Brown & crew en route to Harper’s Ferry.

Attorney & Army veteran Dovey Roundtree won a landmark 1955 desegregation case representing Sarah Keys, a US Army private who’d been forced by a NC bus driver to relinquish her seat to a white Marine. Roundtree, an officer during WWII, had experienced a similar situation in 1943.

In 1859 Henry Weekes exhibited this bust of an unnamed woman of African ancestry at the British Royal Academy in London. Some say it was based on a portrait of Mary Seacole. The sculpture now resides in the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Ignatius Sancho was a British composer, author, & shopkeeper born on the Middle Passage. A politically active figure, his property allowed him to vote - but his 1780 best-selling posthumous book may have had the most profound impact on abolitionist politics in England.

Delilah Beasley (b. 1869) was a journalist & historian who published & spoke widely on the foundational roles Black women & men played in US history. Her meticulously researched 1919 book The Negro Trailblazers of California used archival sources from 16th C Spanish expeditions.

Dr. Ernest Just (b. 1883) biologist, professor whose advances in cytology earned him a National Research Council fellowship 1920-1931, Dartmouth class of 1907, PhD from University of Chicago. He was the 1st American invited to conduct research at Berlin's Kaiser Wilhelm Institute

Black Americans fought against fascism at home & abroad. US volunteers who fought in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) were known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Among them was nurse Salaria Kee, who would go on to serve in WWII & care for patients in New York City hospitals.

Lieutenant Phyllis Mae Dailey (b. 1919) was a commissioned officer in the US Navy. The daughter of West Indian immigrants, Dailey was an alum of Lincoln School for Nurses & Columbia University. After her military service, she taught nursing for the NYC Board of Ed for 24 years.

Dr. Monroe Majors (b. 1864) was a physician, writer & activist in Texas & Los Angeles. He practiced & taught medicine, founded a medical association for Black physicians, edited & wrote for several newspapers, & published a book of biographies of accomplished Black women in 1893.

A. Philip Randolph (b. 1889) was an exceptional leader who championed the rights of working people. He persuaded President Roosevelt to order an end to discrimination in war industries & President Truman to ban discrimination in federal employment and the armed services.

Adding on: A. Philip Randolph could not have been the influential union organizer that he was without the support of his wife Lucille Campbell Green Randolph. Mrs Randolph ran her own beauty salon and was the breadwinner in their home. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucille_C…

Dr. Chester Pierce (b. 1927) earned his MD from Harvard where he became a professor. A US Navy Commander, he advised the Children's Television Network, Air Force, Arctic Research Commission, Peace Corps & National Aeronautics, all to promote human rights, conservation & education

Lemuel Haynes, abandoned son of a Scottish indentured servant & an enslaved father of African descent, fought among the Patriots in the American Revolution & for democracy long after as an abolitionist, minister, & author. He was granted a degree from Middlebury College in 1804.

“Executive board of Women's League, Newport, R.I. 1899?” Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. Mary H. Dickerson, founder at top center.

Euphemia Toussaint was freed by her uncle, Pierre Toussaint, a formerly enslaved man from Haiti who became a very successful entrepreneur & philanthropist in New York. She wrote him weekly letters in English & French. This one is from June 20, 1828.