Marie Catherine Laveau, born September 10, 1801, was an important figure in 19th-century New Orleans society. As a Mambo priestess of Voudou, Laveau practiced the powerful spiritual system carried to New Orleans from enslaved Dahomeans after the Haitian Revolution of 1804.
Ida B. Wells Barnett (1862-1931) was a teacher, journalist, activist, civil rights
Leader, and women’s rights pillar. Born into enslavement, her parents died of yellow fever in 1878. The oldest of five, Ida worked to support her siblings in Holly Springs, Mississippi. She attended Rust College and later taught school in Memphis, Tennessee.
Carter G. Woodson was born in 1875 in New Canton, Virginia, to formerly enslaved parents, where he grew up facing many systemic challenges, including limited access to education. Despite these obstacles, he graduated high school and received a BA in Literature from Berea College in Kentucky. After undergrad, Woodson worked as a teacher and principal before enrolling in grad school at the University of Chicago, where he earned a Ph.D. in history.
Kuwasi Balagoon was a bisexual New Afrikan anarchist, Black Panther Party member, and Black Liberation Army revolutionary. Born on December 22, 1946, in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Balagoon’s activism was inspired by Gloria Richardson and the Cambridge Movement because they advocated self-defense in the Civil Rights Movement.
To behold the work of Meta Warrick Fuller a soul-stirring experience. Her work simply overcomes you. Thought to be the first African American woman trained sculptor, Fuller channeled the collective experiences of Black America through her work: from the pride of our African inheritance to the deep pain of lynchings.
Langston Hughes was a poet, novelist, playwright, columnist, political radical, and leader of the Harlem Renaissance who was born on February 1, 1901, in Joplin, Missouri.
Safiya Bukhari was born in the Bronx, NYC, on April 3, 1950, and became politically active as a college student. Her sorority began volunteering with the Black Panther Party’s Free Breakfast Program in 1969.
