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In 1926 Violette Neatley Anderson became the first African American female attorney admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court. Anderson was born on July 16, 1882 in London, England to Richard and Marie Neatley. The family immigrated to the United States and settled in Chicago, Illinois when Anderson was a young child. She graduated from a Chicago high school in 1899, furthering her education at the Chicago Athenaeum and the Chicago Seminar of Sciences. Violette Neatley married Albert Johnson in 1903; however, the marriage quickly ended in divorce. In December 1906, she married Dr. Daniel H. Anderson, an African American general practitioner, and she took his last name. #womenshistory https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu6of6NhZJNF9uXYjxTGtOSC8kbIg4VAZNOs440/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=14t79iwuvvvm2

Today marks 106 years since Harriet Tubman's death. She was born into slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland. In 1849, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia. Shortly after that, she returned to Maryland to rescue her family. Little by little, she began taking some of her relatives out of the state, sometimes personally guiding dozens of slaves to freedom. Traveling at night and in extreme secrecy, Tubman or "Moses", as she was called, "never lost a passenger". Tubman is especially recognized for driving a network of clandestine escape routes known as the 'Underground Railroad' from the south to the "free states" of the north during the 19th century. When the Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1850, it helped many slaves flee to Canada. She became an abolitionist leader before the Civil War in the US, which ended in 1865 with an end to slavery throughout the country’s territory. When this happened Tubman said: "I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything. The sun came up like gold through the trees, and I felt like I was in heaven." #womenshistory #WomensHistoryMonth #blackhistory https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu1xz4uBDBNkbbptD21A6Kzr-MOmkPzHagfkUw0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=2yq4lwxaitkg

From the Women's History Museum - Maya Angelou was an internationally renowned poet, dancer, singer, and civil rights activist. Born in 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri, Angelou grew up in St. Louis and Arkansas. Angelou won a scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco's Labor School, but she dropped out to be one of the first African American women to work as a cable car conductor. Angelou finished high school and had her son only a few weeks after graduating. In the 1950s she joined the Harlem Writer's Guild and began working on her novel "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," which was published in 1970. She would go on to write 35 more books. Angelou won three Grammy Awards, served on two presidential committees, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. #WomensHistoryMonth #blackhistory https://www.instagram.com/p/BumKDr1BKGYPkx5SrMt5rcL-PGFpb1f_iDYUWw0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1avhntaq66rjh

Happy 87th Birthday to coloratura soprano, Reri Grist! Ms. Grist is one of the pioneer African-American singers to enjoy a major international career in opera. Learn more about her life and legacy at http://www.rerigrist.com/index.php/en.html. See the comments for her legendary performance of "Somewhere," from the original production of "West Side Story" (1957). (She was actually born on February 29, 1932, so she only has an "official" birthday every four years!) #womenshistory #blackhistory #BlackHistoryMonth https://www.instagram.com/p/BucP8FOB8hxuToKIn3Cqdg2y32yPQMfR6hlWNo0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=c9sbnmt3n955

From the Zinn Education Project - Luís Gama (June 21, 1830 — August 24, 1882) abolitionist, journalist, lawyer, and poet. Gama was born in Salvador, Brazil in 1830, his biological father a wealthy Portuguese man and his mother, Luisa Mahin, a revolutionary black woman from Ghana. Mahin played a major role in a number of slave uprisings, including the Malê Revolt. At the age of 10, Gama’s father sold him into slavery. In 1848, Gama escaped his enslavement and was able to win his legal freedom after proving to a court that he was born free. As noted on AfroEurope, "Gama published a collection of poems, mocking Pardos (mixed race) who wanted to be white and sold out their black brother and sisters by denying their roots so they could join the elite." Gama gained a reputation in Brazil as a Rabula, or a lawyer without a law degree who represented people who were enslaved against their "masters." By the end of his life, he had helped to free upwards of 1,000 enslaved people and become one of Brazil’s most prominent abolitionists and revolutionaries. Read much more about Gama's life here: http://bit.ly/1fXEvEI #blackhistory #BlackHistoryMonth https://www.instagram.com/p/BucPkkzhJbrmn3piEmMf0xZ0OpGyTvV8t_YrxE0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=18w7ru8nn8c6c

From the Zinn Education Project - "It has been discovered, at last, that slavery is no respecter of persons, that in its far reaching and broad sweep it strikes down alike the freedom of the black man and the freedom of the white one. This movement can no longer be regarded as a sectional one. . . it must be evident to every one conversant with American affairs that we are now realizing in our national experience the important and solemn truth of history, that the enslavement and degradation of one portion of the population fastens galling festering chains upon the limbs of the other. For a time these chains may be invisible; yet they are iron-linked and strong; and the slave power, becoming strong-handed and defiant, will make them felt." John Mercer Langston (abolitionist, politician, and attorney) in a speech delivered in August of 1858. Read full speech here: http://bit.ly/1fZZ4jY Read Langston's bio here: http://bit.ly/1fZZYwU Read about more black abolitionists and download a free lesson on the people's history of Abolitionism, by Bill Bigelow from Rethinking Schools, here: http://bit.ly/LAl8tP #blackhistory #BlackHistoryMonth https://www.instagram.com/p/BucPV5KBM6wlQAjVdCchYg1x4ZftJKtpsFMJjo0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=hzxcnm0nij08

From the Women's History Museum Dr. Olivia Hooker was the first African American woman to enlist in the United States Coast Guard. She joined in 1945 only a few months after President Franklin Roosevelt ordered female military corps to open to minorities. Hooker grew up in Oklahoma and her home was attacked during the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot. Hooker only joined the Coast Guard for about a year, working as an administrator. She then earned a doctorate from the University of Rochester in psychology and worked as a professor. (Photo Credit: US Coast Guard) #womenshistory #blackhistory #BlackHistoryMonth https://www.instagram.com/p/BucPCOUhULp23XstthosAWs6z-7KZLg2tJ6keQ0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=q3yyw83uxmnj

From the Women's History Museum Mabel Keaton Staupers a strong advocate throughout her life for black nurses. Born February 27, 1890 in Barbados, West Indies Staupers immigrated to the US with her parents at the age of 13. She then attended the Freedmen's Hospital School of Nursing, which would become Howard University. Staupers graduated in 1917, with honors, and then worked as a private duty nurse. Next Staupers worked as a surveyor of health needs and as an executive secretary for the Harlem Tuberculosis Committee. Staupers was determined to get equal rights for black nurses. At this time most of the nursing training schools were segregated and national organizations denied memberships to black nurses. In 1934, Staupers became the first paid executive secretary of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses. She would work for the organization for 12 years, and during this time increased membership, created a citizens advisory committee, built relationships with other nursing and non-nursing organizations, and worked to ensure black nurse be allowed in the military. Staupers' work paid off and the US Army opened its Armed Forces Nurse Corps to all application in 1945, regardless of race. Then in 1948 the American Nurses Association began granting full membership to black nurses. (Photo Credit: Knowledge Walk Institute) #womenshistory #blackhistory #BlackHistoryMonth https://www.instagram.com/p/BucO9jlhocZYVLamxx_mQTDR-25rISUNpnshYw0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=n2eft8h4uacs

Annie Easley'(April 23, 1933 – June 25, 2011) (computer scientist, mathematician, and rocket scientist) wrote the computer code used for the Centaur rocket stage that was used in more than 220 launches. Her work influenced codes that have been used in military, weather, and communications satellites. #womenshistory #blackhistory #BlackHistoryMonth https://www.instagram.com/p/BuZO6tkBilcRsDtPLEMYPGY68_kAyhIfAp5JEE0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=19hnhiuqh2bad

Mabel Keaton Staupers a strong advocate throughout her life for black nurses. Born on February 27 in 1890 in Barbados, West Indies Staupers immigrated to the US with her parents at the age of 13. She then attended the Freedmen's Hospital School of Nursing, which would become Howard University. Staupers graduated in 1917, with honors, and then worked as a private duty nurse. Next Staupers worked as a surveyor of health needs and as an executive secretary for the Harlem Tuberculosis Committee. Staupers was determined to get equal rights for black nurses. At this time most of the nursing training schools were segregated and national organizations denied memberships to black nurses. In 1934, Staupers became the first paid executive secretary of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses. She would work for the organization for 12 years, and during this time increased membership, created a citizens advisory committee, built relationships with other nursing and non-nursing organizations, and worked to ensure black nurse be allowed in the military. Staupers' work paid off and the US Army opened its Armed Forces Nurse Corps to all application in 1945, regardless of race. Then in 1948 the American Nurses Association began granting full membership to black nurses. #womenshistory #BlackHistoryMonth https://www.instagram.com/p/BuZOuheBWnSZPmke11gJRdV6ldYOdhM5ZPY_GA0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1anzk8aovqpxc

John Steinbeck, winner of both the Pulitzer and the Nobel Prize in Literature, is considered one of the greatest writers produced by the United States. The themes of his works often centered on injustice and the hardships faced by the poor, something he also experienced first hand. One of his more notable works The Grapes of Wrath was banned in a number of schools in the United States due to the critiques of capitalism and sympathy for the condition of migrant workers. While actively working with left-wing groups throughout much of his early career, recently released documents indicate that Steinbeck offered his services to the CIA and was also later sympathetic to the U.S. war in Vietnam. Despite this, his works stand as some of the most compelling critiques of the plight of the poor in the United States, particularly migrant workers. Almost 80 years after the release of The Grapes of Wrath, migrant workers in the United States continue to suffer from exploitative conditions at work and in society at large. #laborhistory https://www.instagram.com/p/BuZOPAhBySakuRc-gLsGxiUXEJzie3Z6QBxOUg0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=cvj5szqn08qb

As Michael Harriot said, " I will offer my sincerest apologies immediately following an apology from George Zimmerman, the FBI agents who came up with “black identity extremism,” the NFL, anyone who ever called Black Lives Matter a “terrorist group,” the NRA leaders who ignored the deaths of Bradford and Philando Castile, the cop who killed Philando Castile, Donald Trump, people who fly the Confederate flag, the creators of the War on Drugs, Tucker Carlson, Ronald Reagan’s ghost, white Jesus and white people who apologize to white people." https://www.instagram.com/p/BuMXbSNBsoZyRYrqcumSsdnF6dHQ11c1_Kuqig0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1nnelpji06n4r

Thanks Jen ❤️ #blackhistory #knowyourhistory https://www.instagram.com/p/BuJ5kU-hbm9mHwvl9NV66Bswimmv8Na0EqyOWg0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=im58io83xub3

Vivian Malone Jones was one of the first African-American woman to enter the University of Alabama in 1963, along with fellow black student James Hood. Their entry resulted in then Governor George Wallace standing in the door of the university in an attempt to halt their admission. They entered the university but only after an agreement was reached between the White House and Wallace's aides. Ms. Jones further distinguished herself as the first African-American to graduate from the University of Alabama in 1965 with a degree in management. She moved to Washington, DC and joined the U.S. Department of Justice as a staff member of its Voter Education Project. Later, she was director of civil rights and urban affairs, and helped pioneer the concept of environmental justice at the EPA regional office. She retired in 1996 remaining active in civil rights organizations. Her alma mater endowed a Vivian Malone Jones Scholarship Fund and in her honor hung her portrait in the building that houses the College of Commerce and Business Administration. #BlackHistoryMonth #WomensHistory https://www.instagram.com/p/BuJxDCrhSJsTKpqeaF07NSj5tnbUsRLtSfRdmA0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1pw69q3s8d6c6

From the National Women's History Museum - Ada Overton Walker was one of the foremost African American female stage artists. Her interest in both African American indigenous material and her translation of these to the modern stage inspired modern dance pioneers Katherine Dunham and Pearl Primus. She negotiated the societal definitions of appropriate black performance, and created an onstage black cultural identity that paved the way for other black musicians on the professional concert stage. #WomensHistory #BlackHistoryMonth https://www.instagram.com/p/BuEughOhidIBr0Qng3nPo2O8ywGu5HthLqNhNc0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=fnqazf4x0ssn

Southern Blacks were banned from eating Vanilla Ice Cream during the Jim Crow Era, except on the 4th of July. The racist hierarchy in the South manifested in several ways, but most people don’t know that racism even impacted what foods blacks were allowed to buy. As Maya Angelou once wrote, it was custom not to sell vanilla ice cream to blacks in many parts of the South, except on Independence Day. Although it was a black enslaved named Edmund Albius who perfected the flavor of vanilla ice cream its white sweetness was viewed as a representation of the American dream, which is why blacks were kept from eating it !!! #blackhistory #knowyourhistory https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt_qSC-hx9emGHxwb_Vg-m_GoWkdSMEQAKpgXc0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=oj6h03bi75eg

From the Women's History Museum Dr. Dorothy Irene Height dedicated her life to actualizing the vision of a socially and politically equitable United States. She served as president of the National Council of Negro Women from 1957 to 1997, becoming the most influential woman within the Civil Rights Movement’s leadership. She also served on the staff of the National Board of the YWCA of the USA for more than 30 years. Height was instrumental in fighting for school desegregation, voting rights, employment opportunities, and public accommodations. (Photo Credit: Library of Congress) #womenshistory #BlackHistoryMonth https://www.instagram.com/p/Bt_pwNRBNFpFwLY2slN3-qS8QJsR38ZWLdefvY0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=18ax8hjkk4chq