African Descent Archives - Page 4 of 78

Louise Johnson Pridgeon

The first practicing African American woman lawyer in Cleveland, and was also active in welfare work and politics.

Zilla Mays

Gospel and R&B singer and popular radio DJ

For most of her film career, McQueen was typecast as a servant, but when those roles became scant in Hollywood during the 1950s, she pursued jobs in musical theater, television, and radio. She won the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame Award in 1975 and an Emmy Award for her role in the children’s television special The Seven Wishes of Joanna Peabody (1979).

Sarah J Rudolph

Sarah J. Rudolph lost her right eye and her little sister, Addie Mae Collins, in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.

Shirley Caesar

The “First Lady of Gospel,” she has received 10 Grammy Awards, 12 Stellar Awards, and 17 Dove Awards, but her commitment to her church remains paramount. Of her call to the ministry, she said, “I am called to be a preacher-evangelist first, and a singer second.”

Susan Paul

Through her actions and teachings, educator Susan Paul instilled in her students a commitment to social justice, action, and change.

Henriette W Johnson

Suffragist Henriette W. Johnson was elected president of the Woman’s Club of Orange, which was the first woman’s club in New Jersey when it was founded in 1872.

Source: http://www.njwomenshistory.org/discover/biographies/henriette-w-johnson/

Kamala Harris

On January 20, 2021, Kamala D. Harris became the first woman, the first African American woman, the first Indian-American, the first person of Asian-American descent, and the first graduate of an HBCU to be sworn in as the Vice President of the United States of America.

Mamie Till-Mobley

“The murder of my son has shown me that what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all.”
—Mamie Till-Mobley, mother of Emmett Till, at a NAACP rally in Cleveland, Ohio, September 18, 1955