Little Known Black Herstory Facts

Jane Bolin (1908 – 2007) was the first African American female judge in the United States. Her father, Gaius Bolin, the first African American graduate of Williams College, practiced law in Poughkeepsie. Bolin graduated from Wellesley College in 1928. She was the first black woman to graduate from Yale University School of Law and the first to be admitted to the New York City Bar Association.

Frances Walker-Slocum, A.B. Oberlin 1945, was the first African American woman to serve as a full professor in the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, 1975-91. In 2004, she was awarded the Alumni Medal from Oberlin College. From oberlin.edu

Millie and Christine McCoy (1851-1912) were conjoined twins born into slavery. They and their mother were sold to a showman, Joseph Smith. Smith and his wife educated the girls; they eventually could speak five languages, dance, play music, and sing. They were known as ‘The Two Headed Nightingale’. In the 1880s they retired and purchased a small farm. Millie died of tuberculosis at age 61, with Christine following hours later. They remain one of the oldest-lived set of conjoined twins. From https://www.flickr.com/photos/29482804@N06/2758581106/in/set-72157616379342621

Adm. Michelle Howard becomes first four-star woman in Navy history. From https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/07/01/adm-michelle-howard-becomes-first-four-star-woman-in-navy-history/

Thelma Johnson Streat was the first African American woman to have a painting exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, in 1942.

First Black Playboy Bunnies. The original bunny costumes were designed by a black woman.

Dr. Barbara Ross-Lee is the first African-American woman to become dean of a medical school. [And also the eldest sister of singer, Diana Ross]

Lillyn Brown 1885–1969, A veteran of vaudeville and musical theater. Her show business career began in 1894 when she left her home in Georgia traveling in a minstrel show. Born Lillian Thomas to an African American mother and Iroquois father, Brown performed as the “Indian Princess” but soon acquired the role of male impersonator billed as “Elbrown” or “E. L. Brown,” which she wore top hat and tails, sang several songs as a man, then revealed her long hair and continued singing as a woman. She made her only known gramophone recordings in 1921, backed by her group, the Jazzbo Syncopators. Brown toured Europe, appeared on Broadway, and performed at the major clubs in Harlem and on the Keith Circuit until her retirement in 1934. She resumed her stage career in 1949, with a dramatic role in Regina. In the 1950s, she operated an acting and singing school in Manhattan, taught for many years at the Jarahal School of Music in Harlem (Sugar Ray Robinson was one of her pupils), and was active in the Negro Actors Guild.
From https://www.flickr.com/photos/blackheritage/3355148795/in/photostream/

Sarah Rector–By the age of 10, she became the richest Black child in America. She received a land grant from the Creek Nation as part of reparations. Soon after, oil was discovered on her property. By 1912, the revenue from this oil was $371,000 per year (roughly $6.5 million today). Despite various attempts to steal her land and fortune, Sarah resisted. She went on to attend Tuskegee University and eventually settled in Kansas City, Missouri where her mansion still stands. Read more at http://african-nativeamerican.blogspot.com/2010/04/remembering-sarah-rector-creek.html

This 1962 Charles Williams image shows Brenda A. English, the first African American Rose Queen candidate. Read more at http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-0707-calstate-photos-pictures-photogallery.html

ELIZABETH KECKLEY, a freed slave and the first African American Fashion Designer at the White House. From http://usslave.blogspot.com/2013/10/former-slave-seamstress-elizabeth.html

Octavia E. Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was one of the few African American female science fictions writers and the first SciFi writer to be awarded a MacArthur Grant. She is best known for her novel Kindred, as well as the Patternist, Lilith’s Brood and Parable series. Read more at http://www.locusmag.com/2000/Issues/06/Butler.html

Camilla Williams, famed opera singer, performed as “Madame Butterfly” in 1946. She was the first African American woman to sign a contract with a major American opera company.

Robie Mortin, 93, last survivor of the 1923 Rosewood massacre. Read more at http://thegrio.com/2012/01/04/rosewood-remembering-an-african-american-tragedy/

          1st African-American Bond girl, Trina Parks. Read more about Trina at http://losarchivosdestrangways.blogspot.com/2013/01/trina-parks-girl-who-zaps-james-bond.html

A Woman’s War by Captain Gail Harris – Navy’s First African American Female Intelligence Officer. From awe.sm/o4ndt

         I Salute these AMAZING HER-story making sistas!