Jamaican activist, co-founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which was the most influential anti-colonial organisation in Jamaica for decades. Co-founder of the international Negro World newspaper, and one of the first directors of UNIA’s shipping line, the Black Star Line.
American sculptor
American comedian, actor and writer
Jamaican chef Norma Shirley built a reputation in the U.S. serving “New England food with Jamaican flair” at her Massachusetts restaurant in the late 1970s. But as she told Essence magazine, “It’s my dream to open another restaurant in Jamaica where Blacks would be the majority clientele.”
Cofounded by Cuban activist and playwright Ana Maria Simo in 1992, the Lesbian Avengers used direct-action tactics (nonviolent demonstrations such as marches and kiss-ins) to increase lesbian visibility.
The first woman of African descent elected to Canada’s House of Commons, and to be appointed to the Cabinet
Known as Juana “La Avanzadora,” or Juana “The Advancer” in English for her valiant efforts and leadership on the frontlines of the fight against colonial rule in Venezuela.
In 2000, Claudia L. Gordon became the first Deaf Black female lawyer in the U.S.
One of the first women in Cuba to study chemical engineering, graduating from the Universidad de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, Vilma Lucila Espín Guillois was mostly known as one of the leading Cuban revolutionaries, feminist, and wife of Raúl Castro.
Puerto Rican chemical engineer