100 Black Women Who Shaped America

Glenn L. Starks, PhD, holds a doctorate in public policy and administration from Virginia Commonwealth University's L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs. He has written extensively on public administration and American politics.

Introduction
Timeline Showing the Contributions of Black Women in the United States
List of Entries
Abolition and Suffrage
Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman (c. 1742–1829)
Sojourner Truth (c. 1797–1883)
Harriet Tubman (early 1820s–1913)
Mary Ann Shadd Cary (1823–1893)
Frances E. W. Harper (1825–1911)
Politics and Law
Bessie A. Buchanan (1902–1980)
Jane Bolin (1908–2007)
Shirley Chisholm (1924–2005)
Patricia Harris (1924–1985)
Barbara Jordan (1936–1996)
Carol Moseley Braun (1947–)
Condoleezza Rice (1954–)
Susan Rice (1964–)
Michelle Obama (1964–)
Kamala Harris (1964–)
Ketanji Brown Jackson (1970–)
Civil Rights and Activism
Elizabeth Jennings Graham (1827–1901)
Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (1842–1924)
Ida B. Wells (1862–1931)
Septima Poinsette Clark (1898–1987)
Ella Baker (1903–1986)
Amelia Boynton Robinson (1911–2015)
Dorothy I. Height (1912–2010)
Rosa Parks (1913–2005)
Florynce Kennedy (1916–2000)
Fannie Lou Hamer (1917–1977)
Stormé DeLarverie (1920–2014)
Constance Baker Motley (1921–2005)
Gloria Richardson (1922–2021)
Coretta Scott King (1927–2006)
Marian Wright Edelman (1939–)
Claudette Colvin (1939–)
Angela Davis (1944–)
Ruby Bridges Hall (1954–)
The Arts and Film
Edmonia Lewis (c. 1844–1907)
Maria P. Williams (1866–1932)
Emma Azalia Smith Hackley (1867–1922)
Sissieretta Jones (1868–1933)
Madame Sul–Te–Wan (1873–1959)
Evelyn Preer (1896–1932)
Marian Anderson (1897–1993)
Augusta Savage (1892– 1962)
Hattie McDaniel (1893–1952)
Katherine Dunham (1909–2006)
Barbara Conrad (1937–2017)
Virginia Johnson (1950–)
Aesha Ash (1977–)
Misty Copeland (1982–)
Music and Entertainment
Ma Rainey (1886–1939)
Bessie Smith (1894–1937)
Mahalia Jackson (1911–1972)
Billie Holiday (1915–1959)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1915–1973)
Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996)
Dorothy Dandridge (1922–1965)
Big Mama Thornton (1926–1984)
Eartha Kitt (1927–2008)
Diahann Carroll (1935–2019)
Aretha Franklin (1942–2018)
Sports
Alice Coachman (1923–2014)
Althea Gibson (1927–2003)
Mamie Johnson (1935–2017)
Wilma Rudolph (1940–1994)
Dianne Durham (1968–2021)
Serena Williams (1981–)
Business, Law, and Industry
Elizabeth Keckley (1818–1907)
Mary Fields (1832–1914)
Cathay Williams (1844–1893)
Charlotte Ray (1850–1911)
Maggie Walker (1864–1934)
Madam C. J. Walker (1867–1919)
Bessie Coleman (1892–1926)
Sheila Johnson (1949–)
Oprah Winfrey (1954–)
Ursula Burns (1958–)
Literature and Journalism
Phillis Wheatley (1753–1784)
Harriet Jacobs (1813–1897)
Lillian May Parker Thomas Fox (1854–1917)
Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
Alice Dunnigan (1906–1983)
Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks (1917–2000)
Maya Angelou (1928–2014)
Lorraine Hansberry (1930–1965)
Toni Morrison (1931–2019)
Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006)
Gloria Naylor (1950–2016)
Education, Medicine, and Science
Lucie Ann Stanton Day Sessions (1831–1910)
Fanny Jackson–Coppin (1837–1913)
Mary Jane Patterson (1840–1894)
Mary Church Terrell (1863–1954)
Ida Gray Nelson Rollins (1867–1953)
Elizabeth Carter Brooks (1867–1951)
Mary McLeod Bethune (1875–1955)
Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (1898–1989)
Dorothy B. Porter (1905–1995)
Dorothy Lavinia Brown (1919–2004)
Margaret Strickland Collins (1922–1996)
Gladys West (1930–)
Ruth Simmons (1945–)
Mae Carol Jemison (1956–)
Bibliography
Index