A little known history fact of a 6 year old girl.
In November 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges Hall became the first African American child to desegregate an elementary school. Although she only lived a few blocks from the William Frantz Elementary school in New Orleans, Louisiana. Marshals had to escort Ruby because of angry segregationist mobs that gathered in front of the school. For an entire year, she was the only student in her class since white parents pulled their children from the school in protest. Click on the link a see her story!


Ruby Bridges story

From the American Revolution to the present, African American women have played a myriad of critical roles in the making of our nation. Their labor and leadership, their motherhood and patriotism, and their intellect and artistic expression have all enriched both the African American community and the nation at large. In slavery and freedom, their struggles have been at the heart of the human experience, and their triumphs over racism and sexism are a testimonial to our common human spirit.

For the entire month of February I will give you a little known Black History fact - the purpose is to educate people about African-American history, focusing on African Americans' cultural backgrounds and reputable achievements. This is also a way to show how they have made a difference in the world as we know it. Enjoy!

Dr. Susan McKinney Steward


1848-1918
Dr. Susan McKinney Steward was the first black woman to formally enter the medical profession with recognizable success. Highly motivated and determined, she overcame two major obstacles, being black and female.

In 1870, she graduated from the New York Medical School for Women and Children as class valedictorian. The focus of her work was the practice of homeopathy, as defined by Webster's New Dictionary as "a system of curing disease by drugs in very small doses, which produce in healthy person, symptoms like those of the disease."

World's first African-American woman pilot honored with U.S. Stamp
By Agnes Barr

A brief ceremony hosted by the Des Moines, Iowa, International Airport honored Bessie Coleman, the first woman to earn an International Aviation License and the world's first licensed black aviator. The Bessie Coleman Commemorative is the 18th in the U.S. Postal Service Black Heritage series.

During the ceremonies, Richard Watkins of the postal service in St. Louis, presented framed enlargements of the Bessie Coleman Stamp to William Flannery, Des Moines airport director, and to me as a representative of The Ninety-Nines Iowa Chapter. Members Jane Walter and Martha Matthews also attended.

Bessie Coleman was born in Texas in 1892. During World War I, she read about the air war in Europe. She became interested in flying and became convinced she should be up there, not just reading about it. She started looking for a flying school but what she didn't realize was that she had two strikes against her: She was a woman and she was black.

She heard that Europe had a more liberal attitude toward women and people of color so she learned to speak French and earned enough money to go to Paris to get her license. She encountered many problems but would not let go of her dream and earned her license on June 15, 1921 from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale She returned to the U.S. and began teaching other black women to fly, giving lectures and performing at flying exhibitions.

As she gained increasing fame as a barnstorming air circus performer in a war-surplus Jenny Trainer, she became known as "Queen Bessie." On April 30, 1926, while practicing for a show in Orlando, Florida, she was thrown from the plane and fell to her death.

Thank you, Tuculia.

Did you see that A.N.T. Farm, a Nick show - I think - has a special for black history month? The young singer who stars in the show will share/sing/mimic African American women singers. I don't care for the show, but this one actually looked like a good one.

Hey Lisa,

I did not get a chance to see it but I'll try to see it on the internet. Thanks for dropping by!

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the mother of the freedom movement". On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. Parks' act of defiance became an important symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement and Parks became an international icon of resistance to racial segregation. She organized and collaborated with civil rights leaders, including boycott leader Martin Luther King, Jr., helping to launch him to national prominence in the civil rights movement.

Mother Theresa was a Catholic nun of Albanian ethnicity and Indian citizenship. She founded the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, India in 1950. For over 45 years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion, first throughout India and then in other countries. She was internationally renowned as a humanitarian and advocate for the poor and helpless, due in part to a documentary and book Something Beautiful for God by Malcolm Muggeridge. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 and India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1980 for her humanitarian work.

Sojourner Truth was born a slave. After suffering years of abuse at the hands of several different owners, she gained her freedom on July 4, 1827. For the rest of her life, she worked tirelessly to end slavery, to help the many freed blacks who were suffering and to advance women's rights.

Sojourner traveled constantly, powerfully speaking and singing at meetings all over the Northeast and Midwest, often with Frederick Douglass. In 1850, she published an account of her life, Narrative of Sojourner Truth. Her last campaign was fought to secure land in Kansas and Missouri for freed slaves who were living in misery on the East coast. She died in 1883 and was buried in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Sojourner's best-known speech, entitled “Ain't I a Woman?” was given in Akron, Ohio in 1851 at the Women's Rights Convention. Although no formal record exists, her speech made a great impact at the convention and has endured as a classic expression of woman's rights. Her devotion to the rights of women and oppressed people was the reason this ministry was named after her. She continues to inspire all who enter Sojourner Truth House.

A true American pioneer, Dr. Susan McKinney Steward was the first black woman to earn a medical degree in the state of New York.

Born in Crown Heights — then known as Crown Hill — in 1847, McKinney Steward grew up in the neighborhood’s socially elite and civically active community. Motivated and driven McKinney Steward worked on the family farm and spent her free time under the tutelage of noted organist John Zundel.

As she grew older she worked as a teacher in Washington D.C. and New York City, using her wages to pay for medical school. In a time when racial and gender obstacles continued to hold many back, McKinney Steward pushed on and in 1870, graduated from the New York Medical School for Women and Children as class valedictorian, with a specialization in homeopathy, a natural treatment of diseases.

After graduation, McKinney Steward opened her own medical practice at her home in Brooklyn. After a slow start, word of her skills began to spread around Brooklyn and despite skepticism of the ability of a black doctor, she attracted a broad, diverse group of patients who affectionately referred to her as “Dr. Susan.”

McKinney Steward would also practice medicine and at the Brooklyn Women's Homeopathic Hospital and Dispensary as well as use her time to attend to seniors at the Brooklyn Home for Aged Colored People.

A renowned physician throughout her life, McKinney would use her fame to speak out for social reform as well as advocating for women’s suffrage and temperance. She died in 1918.