Since many African communities are patriarchal, some feats accomplished by women tend to be lost in history. It would take many women huge accomplishments for them to be acknowledged and even praised.

the Queen mother (umugabekazi) was a highly respected and famous one in Burundian society (Kingdom) . Ririkumutima was a queen in the Kingdom of Burundi. She was the daughter of Chief Sekawonyi and Inankinso and the 13th wife of King Mwezi Gisabo. She is known for her quest to be Queen Mother, which saw her kill Ntibahinya, her co-wife and the mother of the crown prince. She then claimed that she was the biological mother of crown prince Mbukije and thus the rightful regent during his reign and the reign of Mwambutsa IV.

As the Queen Mother and regent, Ririkumutima was very influential and was described as “intelligent, as energetic and more stubborn than all the princes in her entourage” by the Europeans.

Jumbe was the queen of Moheli, an autonomous island that is part of Comoros. Before joining Comoros in 1975, Moheli was ruled by kings and queens. Little is known about Jumbe-Souli apart from the fact that she took over the reign after the death of her father King Ramanateka, also known as Sultan Abderahmane, a Malagasy prince who had run away from Madagascar after the death of King Radama I.

In the image above together with her companions, Jumbe Souli is seen receiving a French delegation in 1836.

Muhumuza was the wife of Rwandan King Kigeli IV. But after his death in 1895, her son was denied the chance to take over the reign. She rebelled against the government and moved to Uganda. She was however captured by the colonial powers and detained from 1908 until her death in 1945.

Muhumuza was known for many things including resisting colonial powers and establishing the rights of women in Rwanda. Many of her followers believe that either is a descendant or the reincarnation of Queen Nyabinghi, a mystical being.

Also known as Ranavalona the Cruel, this Malagasy queen reigned between 1828 and 1861. Born Ramavo to non-royalty, she was betrothed to then Crown-Prince Radama as a sign of gratitude to her father, who had informed the king about a conspiracy to assassinate him. When Radama took over power, she became the queen but their marriage was not quite a happy one.

Years into his reign, King Radama I started assassinating his rivals and anyone who disagreed with him. Unfortunately, these included members of Ramavo’s family, increasing the tensions in the marriage. While this was happening, Ramavo was planning how to take over the reigns. She staged a coup after Radama I died in 1828, deposing his nephew.

She took the name Ranavalona and started her cruel reign at her coronation. She not only killed any real and imagined threat but also killed Christians and banned any western influences in Madagascar at the time. She ordered the hanging, beheading and poisoning of many people and implemented forced labour. During her reign, more than 2.5million people died, earning her the ‘World’s Most Murderous Woman’ title.

Ranavalona died in her sleep in 1861 and was succeeded by her son, Radama II.

Amina (also Aminatu; died 1610) was a Hausa Muslim warrior queen of the city-state Zazzau (present-day city of Zaria in Kaduna State), in what is now in the north-west region of Nigeria. She ruled in the mid-sixteenth century. Amina was born around 1533 in Zazau (sometimes called Zaria), in a family of wealthy traders that was ruling the region. After her father passing, her brother Karama became the ruler. While growing up Amina demonstrated love for fighting and was training to be a warrior. She gained respect of the male dominated army. After her brother’s dead she became the queen and led many conquests and military campaigns in the region, with an army of approximately 20 000 people. In the many legends about her she is known as “Amina the woman capable as man”.

Queen Ahmose-Nefertari, circa 1560 BCE.

Candace or Kandake is the title given to women rulers in ancient Ethiopia. There is one specific empress,(whose real name was believed to be Amanineras, who was more famous than the others. She is at the heart of many legends because she is said to have defeated King Alexander. She was a fierce and tactical leader. She was blind in one eye, lost in a battle with Romans. Legend says that upon hearing that Alexander the Great wanted to invade her empire, she gathered and lined up all her army and waited for him, standing on 2 elephants. Another legend says that, she met with him privately and advised him not to invade her empire, because after defeating his army, she will decapitate him and roll his head down a hill!

Born around 1760, Queen Nandi is one of the most powerful queen of southern Africa because she gave birth to one of the greatest king, Shaka Zulu.

Nandi’s story is one of resilience. She conceived Shaka, with the then king of the Zulu nation, Senzangakhona kaJama, out of wedlock. She was then subjected to humiliation, insults and rejection. However, despite the hard times, she did everything in her power to protect her son and raised him to become one of fearless Kings known to our continent. During Shaka’s reign, Nandi was very influential in the Kingdom’s affairs.

At her death, Shaka Zulu struck with grief, declared a long period of mourning where food like milk could not be consumed, women shall not fell pregnant or be executed. Thousands of people who didn’t show “enough grief” were executed during this time.

Born around 1840 into the Ashanti Kingdom in Ghana, Yaa Asantewaa was another African leader known as brave and fierce. Yaa Asantewaa fought the British invaders in the famously named “The golden stool fight” (1900). After British governor Sir Frederick Hodgson demanded that he owns and seat on the Golden stool, a sacred symbol of the Ashanti empire, Yaa Asantewaa called her people to resist in these words: “If you, the men of Ashanti will not go forward, then we will. I call upon my fellow women. We will fight till the last of us die in those battlefields”. Women occupied prominent roles in the Ashanti culture and were involved in the government and judicial and affairs including deciding when to launch or to stop a war.

The Ashanti people fought a long and fierce battle, since the beginning of British led invasions, but unfortunately were defeated in 1902. Yaa AAntewaa and other prominent figures of the empire were deported to the Seychelles where she died.

Nefertiti’s parentage is unrecorded, but, as her name translates as “A Beautiful Woman Has Come,” early Egyptologists believed that she must have been a princess from Mitanni (Syria). There is strong circumstantial evidence, however, to suggest that she was the Egyptian-born daughter of the courtier Ay, brother of Akhenaton’s mother, Tiy. Although nothing is known of Nefertiti’s parentage, she did have a younger sister, Mutnodjmet. Nefertiti bore six daughters within 10 years of her marriage, the elder three being born at Thebes, the younger three at Akhetaton (Amarna). Two of her daughters became queens of Egypt. By the end of Akhenaton’s fifth regnal year, the Aton had become Egypt’s dominant national god. The old state temples were closed and the court transferred to a purpose-built capital city, Akhetaton. Here Nefertiti continued to play an important religious role, worshipping alongside her husband and serving as the female element in the divine triad formed by the god Aton, the king Akhenaton, and his queen. Her sexuality, emphasized by her exaggeratedly feminine body shape and her fine linen garments, and her fertility, emphasized by the constant appearance of the six princesses, indicate that she was considered a living fertility goddess. Nefertiti and the royal family appeared on private devotional stelae and on the walls of nonroyal tombs, and images of Nefertiti stood at the four corners of her husband’s sarcophagus.

Referred to as the most illustrious queen of Egypt, Tiye was born to nobles, Yuya and Tjuy. She became the wife of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and mother to Akhenaten and grandmother of Tutankhamun.

Patricia Yumba Muzinga, the creative brain behind House of Nzinga. Is a bilingual freelancer-French & English,In the PR & Communications industry.She helps individuals, entrepreneurs and organisations with their languages need such as translation, copy-writing and editing.

Africa is always described as a place where women live under the plight of patriarchy-based traditions and customs. But once you start reading ancient history and traditions, you’ll find out that women have always occupied very important roles in most of our societies. Many women have created and ruled kingdoms (and empires), furthermore they led armies and fought wars against invaders and colonizers.

I strongly believe that we, modern African women, can learn and take inspiration from these queens.

Queen Cleopatra (69 – 30 BCE) Her Name Echoes Threw The Tunnels Of Egypt To This Very Day.

Sobekneferu (Also known as "Neferusobek") reigned as Pharaoh of Egypt after the death of Amenemhat IV. She was the last ruler of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt and ruled Egypt for approximately four years from 1806 to 1802 BC. Her name means "the beauty of Sobek". Sobekneferu is the first woman for whom there is confirmed proof that she reigned as Pharaoh of Egypt. There are earlier women who are known to have ruled, as early as the First Dynasty, such as Neithhotep and Meritneith, but there is no definitive proof they ruled in their own right. Another candidate, Nitocris, would have ruled in the Sixth Dynasty; however, there is little proof of her historicity. Some scholars believe the kingship of Nitocris is merely a legend derived from an incorrect translation of Pharaoh Neitiqerty Siptah's name.

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A few monuments have been discovered for Sobekneferu, although many (headless) statues of her have been preserved, including the base of a statue that bears her name and is identified as the representation of a king's royal daughter. It was discovered in Gezer. One statue with her head is known. A bust in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin (Inv. no. 14476), lost in World War II, could be identified as belonging to her, as well. Today, the sculpture is known only from photographic images and plaster casts. It came to the museum in 1899. The head fits on top of the lower part of a royal statue discovered at Semna. The latter can definitely be identified as royal because the royal symbol "unification of the two countries" appears on the side of her throne.

Hatshepsut (also known as Hatchepsut of Egyptian: "Foremost of Noble Ladies";1507–1458 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the second historically confirmed female pharaoh, the first being Sobekneferu. (Various other women may have also ruled as pharaohs regnant or at least regents before Hatshepsut, as early as Neithhotep around 1,600 years prior.)

Hatshepsut came to the throne of Egypt in 1478 BC. Her rise to power was noteworthy as it required her to utilize her bloodline, education, and an understanding of religion. Her bloodline was impeccable as she was the daughter, sister, and wife of a king. Hatshepsut's understanding of religion allowed her to establish herself as the God's Wife of Amun. Officially, she ruled jointly with Thutmose III, who had ascended to the throne the previous year as a child of about two years old. Hatshepsut was the chief wife of Thutmose II, Thutmose III's father. She is generally regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, reigning longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty. According to Egyptologist James Henry Breasted, she is also known as "the first great woman in history of whom we are informed."

Hatshepsut was the daughter and only child of Thutmose I and his primary wife, Ahmose. Her husband Thutmose II was the son of Thutmose I and a secondary wife who was named Mutnofret, who carried the title King's daughter and was probably a child of Ahmose I. Hatshepsut and Thutmose II had a daughter named Neferure. After having their daughter, Hatshepsut could not bear any more children. Thutmose II with Iset, a secondary wife, would father Thutmose III, who would succeed Hatshepsut as pharaoh.

The archaeological evidence relates to a woman who reigned as pharaoh toward the end of the Amarna Period during the Eighteenth Dynasty. Her sex is confirmed by feminine traces occasionally found in the name and by the epithet ("Effective for her husband"), incorporated into one version of her second cartouche.

She is to be distinguished from the king who used the name, but without epithets appearing in either cartouche.

If this person is Nefertiti ruling as sole pharaoh, it has been theorized by Egyptologist and Archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass that her reign was marked by the fall of Amarna and relocation of the capital back to the traditional city of Thebes.

Twosret, d. 1189 BC conventional chronology) was the last known ruler and the final Pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt.

She is recorded in Manetho's Epitome as a certain Thuoris, who in Homer is called Polybus, husband of Alcandra, and in whose time Troy was taken. She was said to have ruled Egypt for seven years, but this figure included the nearly six-year reign of Siptah, her predecessor. Twosret simply assumed Siptah's regnal years as her own. While her sole independent reign would have lasted for perhaps one to one and a half years from 1191 to 1189 BC, this number now appears more likely to be two full years instead, possibly longer. Excavation work by the University of Arizona Egyptian Expedition on her memorial temple ("temple of millions of years") at Gournah strongly suggests that it was completed and functional during her reign and that Twosret started a regnal year 9, which means that she had two and possibly three independent years of rule, once one deducts the nearly six-year reign of Siptah. Her royal name, Sitre Meryamun, means "Daughter of Re, beloved of Amun."

Ankhesenpepi II or Ankhesenmeryre II was a queen consort during the Sixth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the wife of Kings Pepi I and Merenre Nemtyemsaf I, and the mother of Pepi II. She likely served as regent during the minority of her son. She was buried in a pyramid in Saqqara.

She inherited the rule of Cyrene from her father, Magas in 249 BC. After a short power struggle with her mother, Berenice married her cousin Ptolemy III, the third ruler of the Ptolemaic kingdom. This marriage led to the re-incorporation of Cyrenaica into the Ptolemaic empire. As queen of Egypt, Berenice participated actively in government, was incorporated into the Ptolemaic state cult alongside her husband and worshipped as a goddess in her own right. She is best-known for sacrificing her hair as a votive offering, which led to the constellation Coma Berenices being named after her. Berenice was murdered by the regent Sosibius shortly after the accession of her son Ptolemy IV Philopator in 221 BC.

Makeda, according to lore and legend, is the mysterious and majestic Queen of Sheba, and the beloved of King Solomon of Judea. However, according to the Old Testament , she is portrayed as a chaste and unnamed queen of the land of Sheba heard of the great wisdom of King Solomon of Israel and journeyed there with gifts of spices, gold, precious stones, and beautiful wood and to test him with questions, as recorded in First Kings 10:1-13 (2 Chronicles 9:1–12).

There is no hint of love or sexual attraction between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The two are depicted merely as fellow monarchs engaged in the affairs of state. Together they had a son, Menelik I, who would become the first Emperor of Ethiopia. Based on a text The Kebra Nagast, a royal chronicle compiled in Abyssinia in the 14th century, this ancestry reestablished the Solomonic line. In 1270, with Emperor Yekuno's declaration to be the lineal descent Menelik, all succeeding Ethiopian rulers confirmed they have full filial and ruling rights by birth to Yekuno Amlak and, by that means, to King Solomon and Queen Makeda.

The Ptolemy and Berenice of the era were both Greek and Egyptian. Their heritage became a very prominent symbol in their reign taking from both of their parent cultures and intertwining it into their rule. Berenice's father was Ptolemy IX Soter, who became king of Egypt in 116 BC, with his mother Cleopatra III as his co-regent and the dominant force in government. He was initially married to his sister Cleopatra IV, but his mother forced him to divorce her and marry another sister, Cleopatra Selene, probably in early 115 BC. It is not certain which of these wives was Berenice's mother. Cleopatra IV has been favored by some modern scholarship. However, the historian Christopher Bennett notes that Berenice III's legitimacy was never questioned by ancient historians (unlike her brothers, Ptolemy XII and Ptolemy of Cyprus), and that Ptolemy IX's marriage to Cleopatra IV seems to have been considered illegitimate – making it more probable that Berenice III was the result of the legitimate marriage to Cleopatra Selene. In this case, she was probably born in late 115 or early 114 BC.Ptolemy IX and Cleopatra III eventually came into conflict with one another. In 107 BC, Cleopatra whipped up the Alexandrian mob against Ptolemy IX, causing him to flee to Cyprus, abandoning Berenice and her brothers in Alexandria in the process. Cleopatra then installed Ptolemy IX's younger brother Ptolemy X Alexander on the throne, as a more pliant co-regent. Ptolemy X married Berenice's probable mother Cleopatra Selene and thus became step-father to the seven-year-old Berenice. They probably had a son together, the future Ptolemy XI, but around 103 BC Cleopatra III forced them to divorce so that Cleopatra Selene could be married to the Seleucid king Antiochus VIII.

In 197 BC, Antiochus III had captured a number of cities in Asia Minor previously under the control of the Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt. The Romans supported the Egyptian interests, when they negotiated with the Seleucid king in Lysimachia in 196 BC. In response, Antiochus III indicated his willingness to make peace with Ptolemy V and to have his daughter Cleopatra I marry Ptolemy V. They were betrothed in 195 BC and their marriage took place in 193 BC in Raphia. At that time Ptolemy V was about 16 years and Cleopatra I about 10 years old. Later on, Egypt's Ptolemaic kings were to argue that Cleopatra I had received Coele-Syria as her dowry and, therefore, this territory again belonged to Egypt. It is not clear if this was the case. However, in practice, Coele-Syria remained a Seleucid possession after the Battle of Panium in 198 BC.

In Alexandria, Cleopatra I was called the Syrian. As part of the Ptolemaic cult she was honoured with her husband as Theoi Epiphaneis. In line with ancient Egyptian tradition, she was also named adelphe (sister) of Ptolemy V. A synod of priests held at Memphis in 185 BC transferred all honours that Ptolemy V had received in 196 BC (written on the Rosetta stone) to his wife. In 187 BC, Cleopatra I was appointed vizier.

Arsinoë was the third, possibly fourth daughter of Ptolemy XII by an unknown woman (presumably since Cleopatra VII's probable mother Cleopatra V had died or been repudiated not long after Cleopatra VII was born.) When Ptolemy XII died in 51 BC, he left his eldest son and daughter, Ptolemy and Cleopatra, as joint rulers of Egypt, but Ptolemy soon dethroned Cleopatra and forced her to flee from Alexandria.

She ruled at first with her mother Cleopatra II and husband Ptolemy VIII from 142 to 131 BC and again from 127 to 116 BC. She then ruled with her sons Ptolemy IX and Ptolemy X from 116 to 101 BC.

After the death of Ptolemy VIII in 116 BC Cleopatra III ruled jointly with her mother Cleopatra II and her son Ptolemy IX. Her mother died late into the same year or early into the next year (115 BC). Cleopatra III expelled Ptolemy IX from Alexandria in 107 BC and replaced him as co-regent with her second son Ptolemy X. After 6 years of joint rule Ptolemy X had his mother Cleopatra III murdered in 101 BC. Cleopatra III was succeeded by Ptolemy X, possibly in joint rule with his wife Berenice III, who was Cleopatra III's granddaughter

Cleopatra I died around 176 BC. The year after her death, her son Ptolemy VI and her daughter Cleopatra II married.

She was the sole ruler of Egypt from 131 to 127 BC, the first woman to do so since Twosret over a millennia before.

In year five of her father Akhenaten's reign, Meritaten appears on the boundary stelae designating the boundaries of the new capital to which her father moved the royal family and his administrators. During Akhenaten's reign, she was the most frequently depicted and mentioned of the six daughters. Her figure appears on paintings in temples, tombs, and private chapels. Not only is she shown among images showing the family life of the pharaoh, which were typical of the Amarna Period, but on those depicting official ceremonies, as well. The two structures most associated with Meritaten at Amarna are the Northern Palace and the Maru-Aten. The Maru-Aten was located to the south of the city limits of Amarna. The structure consisted of two enclosures containing pools or lakes and pavilions set in an area planted with trees. An artificial island contained a pillared construction that held a painted pavement showing scenes from nature. Meritaten's name seems to replace that of another royal lady in several places, among them in the Northern Palace and in the Maru-Aten. This had been misinterpreted as evidence of Nefertiti's disgrace and banishment from the royal court but, more recently, the erased inscriptions turned out to be the name of Kiya, one of Akhenaten's secondary wives, disproving that interpretation.

Roberta Alexander is an internationally famous American opera soprano. After performing in numerous operas in the United States and Europe, she established herself as one of the leading American sopranos in the latter quarter of the twentieth century, both on the operatic stage and as an orchestral soloist. Over her career, Alexander has recorded for most of the major labels of that musical genre, including BMG, Philips, Sony, and Teldec.

Roberta Alexander was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, on March 3, 1949. She was born into a musicians’ family: her father was a choral conductor and her mother was a singer. When she was two, her family moved to Ohio where she grew up. She studied music in three institutions: Central State University, then at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor from 1969 to 1971, receiving a Master’s Degree in Music in 1971, and finally at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague in the Netherlands with Herman Woltman, beginning in 1971.

At the age of twenty-three, Alexander moved to the Netherlands where she made her debut in the Netherlands Opera in 1975 in La cambiale di matrimonio (Rossini). In 1980 (at the age of thirty-one), she interpreted Pamina in The Magic Flute (Mozart) in the Houston Grand Opera: it marked her debut in the United States as a recognized opera singer. She then made her debut performance with the Santa Fe Opera under conductor John Crosby, singing Daphné (Strauss) in 1981. She played Elettra in Idomeneo (Mozart) in Zürich, Switzerland in 1982. In November 1983, she joined the Metropolitan Opera in New York City to interpret the role of Zerlina in Don Giovanni (Mozart). She made her debut at the Royal Opera in London, UK in 1984 with La bohème (Puccini).

In the 1990s, Roberta Alexander was often cited as one of the most important American sopranos. Her career history as a black singer in an overwhelmingly white opera environment led her to face occasional prejudices and discriminations as in 1996 when people advised her not to do the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier

Bonds was born in Chicago, Illinois on March 3, 1913.

Carole Gist crowned first black Miss USA.

The first African American Woman dentist, was born in Clarksville, Tennessee, on March 4, 1867.She became an orphan when her mother, Jennie Gray, died in her early teens. Rollins’ white father, whose name is unknown, played no role in her childhood or education. After her mother’s death, Ida was raised by her aunt, Caroline Gray, who had three other children, one son and two daughters.

Caroline Gray was thirty-five, uneducated, and unable to read or write when she moved from Clarksville, Tennessee, to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1867 with her four children.  In Ohio, Gray supported the family by working as a seamstress and housing foster children. All the Gray children contributed to the family’s income. While in high school, Ida Gray worked as a seamstress and in the dental office of Jonathan and William Taft.  She graduated from Gaines Public High School in 1887.

The part-time job in the dental office was instrumental in her desire to become a dentist.  Jonathan Taft was the dean of the Ohio College of Dentistry. In 1875, he became the first dean of the Dental College at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  As dean, he was a staunch supporter of admitting women to dental school, and the first women graduated in 1880.

The mentorship provided by William Taft set the foundation for Gray to become the first African American woman to graduate from a dental school.  Her ability to pass the entrance exam into the University of Michigan was aided by the experience she gained working in his dental office. Gray enrolled in October 1887, and three years later, she became the first African American woman to graduate with a Doctor of Dental Surgery in the United States.

After graduation in 1890, Gray returned to Cincinnati, Ohio, and opened a private dental practice. She remained in this practice until 1895, when she married Sanford Nelson, a Spanish-American War veteran. The couple moved to Chicago, Illinois where Rollins set up a practice serving a clientele of men and women of all races. She soon became the first African American, male or female, to practice dentistry in Chicago. Her husband died on March 11, 1926, and three years later, she married William Rollins, a waiter.

Ida Gray Nelson Rollins participated in a number of women’s organizations and served as president of the Professional Women’s Club of Chicago. She retired from her dentistry practice sometime in the mid-1930s. On June 20, 1944, her second husband died from injuries sustained in a motor vehicle accident. She did not have any children from either marriage and remained a widow until her death.

Rollins died on May 3, 1953 in Chicago, Illinois. She was 86 years old.

The first African-American woman to become a bishop within the Methodist denomination.

Described by those who knew her as exotic, flamboyant, and colorful, Zoë Dusanne, was an art dealer and collector who opened Seattle’s first professional modern-art gallery, the Zoë Dusanne Gallery in 1950, and who worked tirelessly to both introduce modern art to a northwest audience and to promote northwest art and artists to a larger international art community.

Dusanne was born Zola Graves on March 24, 1884 in Kansas to Letitia Denny and John Henry Graves, a stonemason.  Although she was self-taught with respect to modern art, her artistic bent was nourished early in life by her parents.  When the Graves family lived in Iowa at the turn of the 20th century, for example, Letitia took the young Zoë on summer trips to Chicago to attend the theater and to visit the Art Institute of Chicago.

In 1903 Zoë spent one year at Oberlin College followed by a semester at the University of Illinois, Urbana.  It was during this time that Zoë met her first husband, George Young, whom she married in 1904.  The union produced Zoë’s only child, Theodosia, in 1909.  By 1912 Zoë was separated and decided to follow her parents to Seattle.  A divorce from George followed after her arrival in Seattle.  Zoë’s second marriage, in 1919 to Dr. Frederick Boston, lasted only a few years.

In 1928 Zoë and then teenaged Theodosia left Seattle for New York.  Sometime during her residence in New York, Zoë began using the last name Dusanne.  While living in Greenwich Village, Zoë’s passion for collecting modern art began in earnest.  At the height of the Great Depression Zoë found that artists were the first to feel the impact of hard times, and often sold their works at a fraction of their earlier value.  Little by little during these years Zoë amassed a collection of modern art which she brought back to Seattle in 1942.

In 1947 at age 63, Zoë built a home overlooking Seattle’s Lake Union that was specifically designed to double as an art gallery, and on November 12, 1950, Dusanne opened her collection to the public.  From the mid-1940s until the late-1950s, Zoë was a force to be reckoned with as she worked to introduce modern art to a Pacific Northwest audience and to promote northwest art internationally.  She sold and donated her own works to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM), and facilitated the donation of many others.  She lent works to the Henry Art Gallery and to SAM for exhibition.  At Zoë’s urging, Life magazine featured the four artists who would later became known as the “mystical” painters of the “Northwest School”—Mark Tobey, Kenneth Callahan, Guy Anderson, and Morris Graves—in its September 28, 1953 issue.  The Life magazine article propelled the “Northwest School” to national prominence.  Zoë also traveled to Europe, persuading Peggy Guggenheim to donate a Jackson Pollock to SAM.

Despite her influence within the greater Seattle community, Dusanne could not stop the 1958 demolition of her home and gallery necessitated by the building of the Seattle Freeway.  In 1959 she reopened in a new location but was unable to recapture the luster and glory of her original gallery.  In 1964 she closed the gallery permanently spending the remaining few years of her life with her daughter.  In 1977, five years after her death on March 6, 1972, the Seattle Art Museum honored Zoë Dusanne with an exhibition of contemporary art that included works by many of the artists whom Zoë had promoted.  It was a fitting way to honor a woman whose influence on culture in Seattle was considerable.

The Mary McLeod Bethune commemorative stamp is issued by the U.S. Postal Service as the eighth stamp in its Black Heritage USA series.

Alice Ruth Moore, educator, author and social activist, was born on July 19, 1875 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Patricia (Wright) Moore and Monroe Moore.  She attended public school in New Orleans and enrolled in the teacher training program at Straight University in that city in 1890. Two years later she graduated and began teaching in New Orleans.    

Moore developed her literary skills while teaching and soon became a prolific writer.  Her first book, Violets and Other Tales, a collection of short stories, was published in 1895. Later that year she published The Goodness of St. Rocque, and Other Short Stories.  Through her career Alice Moore wrote four novels, two volumes of oratory, dramas, newspaper columns, two collections of essays, poems, short stories and reviews, many of which drew on her extensive knowledge of Creole culture.  In all of these collections, Alice Moore proved to be a perceptive critic of American society.  

Alice Moore was married three times.  Her first marriage was to Paul Laurence Dunbar, the poet.  Dunbar noticed her picture and one of her poems in the Boston Monthly Review in 1895, and was instantly infatuated.  They began a two year correspondence and finally met in February 1897. They were married on March 6, 1898 in New York City, New York and moved to Washington, D.C.  The marriage initiated a tumultuous relationship and they separated in 1902.  As husband and wife they shared literary pursuits and celebrity status in Washington, but their life together was marred by Paul’s physically abusive treatment of Alice.  In one incident she was sent to a Washington, D.C. hospital where she nearly died after his attack.  

After the separation Alice Moore Dunbar moved to Wilmington, Delaware.  She worked at Howard High School in an assortment of positions, and was involved in several intimate relationships with both men and women.  She secretly married fellow teacher Henry A. Callis in 1910, but divorced him shortly after.  It was not until her third marriage in 1916 to Robert J. Nelson,

She served a two-year term as U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas from 2009 to 2011. President Barack Obama nominated her for the position in 2009 and after U.S. Senate confirmation, Hilary Clinton, then Secretary of State, swore her into office on September 9, 2009.  Avant arrived in Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, and presented her credentials on October 22, 2009.

Avant, born on March 6, 1968, is the daughter of Clarence Avant and Jacqueline Avant, both veterans of the music recording industry.  She graduated from California State University Northridge with a B.A. in communications in 1984.  Soon afterwards she joined A&M Records in Los Angeles and worked in its promotions division until 1998 when she was named Vice President of Interior Music Publishing. Avant was also an actress who had appeared in television shows such as JAG, Moesha and the Bernie Mac Show.

Because of her connections to the film, recording, and television industries, she emerged as a leading west coast fundraiser for the 2008 Barack Obama Presidential Campaign. In one night she and her husband, Netflix executive Ted Sarandos, raised over $500,000 for the Obama campaign. She had earlier played a similar fundraising role for Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford, Jr.

Unlike most ambassadors who had extensive foreign policy experience before they rose to the ambassadorial rank, Avant was a political appointee with no previous diplomatic experience. Nonetheless she announced that her ambassadorship focused on five initiatives: Education, Economic and Small Business Development, Women’s Empowerment, Providing Awareness on Physical and Mental Disabilities, and Developing Alternative Energy initiatives.  Avant was the first black woman and at 41, the youngest American to hold an ambassador assignment to the Bahamas.

Partly because of her background, the reviews of her effectiveness as U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas were mixed. During her tenure she received accolades for bringing famous African American businessmen, educators, entrepreneurs, and activists to the country. Earvin “Magic” Johnson, for example, a notable entrepreneur and NBA Hall of Famer, was brought to Nassau to advise the Bahamian Chamber of Commerce on business development and trade with the United States. Former NFL quarterback, Rodney Peete, and his wife, actress Holly Peete, were brought to the island to discuss parental strategies for raising autistic children.

Avant, however, also faced criticism for poorly managing her office. According to a U.S. Department of State Inspector General report released in 2012 Avant often missed work and her office was ineffective in addressing issues of counter terrorism, crime, drug smuggling, and illegal immigration.  Despite the report Avant was nominated for the Department of State’s Sue M. Cobb Award for Exemplary Diplomatic Service. She was also recognized at the 20th Annual Trumpet Awards for her work in foreign diplomacy. A 2012 editorial in the Bahamas Tribune described her as among the most popular U.S. Ambassadors to be posted to the Nassau Embassy.

In 2011 Ambassador Avant resigned from her post to begin fundraising for the 2012 Barack Obama Presidential Campaign. Today Ambassador Nicole Avant lives in Los Angeles, California with her husband, Chief Content Officer of Netflix, Inc.

Is an American actress, comedian, writer, and voice artist. She is best known for her recurring role as Barbara Baran on the CBS primetime show The New Adventures of Old Christine, and for her comedic roles in such films as Monster-in-Law and My Super Ex-Girlfriend.

Sykes is the daughter of Marion Louise, a retired banker, and Harry Ellsworth Sykes, a retired U.S. Army colonel.  She was born in Portsmouth, Virginia on March 7, 1964, but raised in the Washington, D.C. area.

Sykes attended Arundel High School in Gambrills, Maryland, and later Hampton University, where she pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and graduated in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing. Upon graduation, she worked as a procurement officer for the National Security Agency (NSA) but soon realized she wanted to become an entertainer.

In 1987, at the age of 23, Sykes took to the stage for the first time in a talent show in Washington. While she did not win the contest, she honed her stand-up skills at various comedy clubs while retaining her position at NSA.

In 1992, Sykes relocated to New York to work the comedy circuit and soon got her first big break by being selected as the opening act for comedian Chris Rock at Caroline’s Comedy Club. In 1997, she joined The Chris Rock Show as a writer, made guest appearances, and won an Emmy Award for her writing in 1999.

Other television appearances followed.  She hosted the 2002-2003 season of Comedy Centrals Premium Blend and had recurring roles on The Drew Carey Show and Curb Your Enthusiasm. She was a skit comedian on Inside the NFL, an HBO series for which she won Emmy Awards in 2002 and 2004.

Sykes made her film debut in a supporting role in Tomorrow Night in 1998 and starred in Pootie Tang and Down to Earth in 2001. She has been a voice artist in Over the Hedge, a 2006 film, and Ice Age: Continental Drift, a 3-D computer-animated comedy adventure film in 2012.

The ballerina was born in New Orleans, Louisiana

Mattiwilda Dobbs, an accomplished opera star, was born July 11, 1925 in Atlanta, Georgia. Although she was the fifth of six daughters and her father worked as a mail clerk, he was able to provide her and all of her sisters with a college education.  Dobbs began singing and playing the piano as a child. As a young adult, she studied voice under Naomi Maise while attending Spelman College. She graduated in 1946 as valedictorian, then moved to New York to study music under Mme. Lotte Leonard; she also enrolled at Columbus University, where she earned an M.A. in Spanish in 1950. While in school she received several musical scholarships, and after graduating in 1950 she went to Paris on a two year fellowship to study with Pierre Viernac. In 1951 she won first prize at the Geneva Competition in Switzerland.

In 1952, Dobbs began her professional career with appearances as Stravinsky’s Nightingale at the Holland Festival in Amsterdam. She also performed several other prestigious leading roles between 1952 and 1954 including the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute at Genoa, Zerbinetta in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos at the Glyndebounce Opera Festival, Gilda in Rigoletto, and Olympia in The Tales of Hoffman at the Royal Opera House in London, as well as the Queen of Shemakhan in Le Coq d’Or. For this last performance, she was awarded the Swedish Order of the North Star by King Gustav VI.

Dobbs sang the role of Zerbinetta again in her first appearance in the United States at New York’s Town Hall on March 8, 1954 and received great critical acclaim. Throughout her career, she received praise for her exceptional range and skill at interpreting her roles, as well as her pioneering appearances as the first black singer to sing at La Scala and the first black soprano to sing at the Metropolitan Opera, where she appeared as Gilda in 1956.

After her appearance in New York, Dobbs embarked on an around the world tour that included cities in the United States, Australia, and Europe. She also produced several recordings,

The youngest of the Pitter sisters, was born March 8, 1921, to Edward A. Pitter and Marjorie Allen Pitter, in Seattle, Washington. When she graduated from Garfield High School, she joined her sisters at the University of Washington to study for an accounting degree in the College of Economics and Business. Like her father, she had a passion for numbers, business and the value of a dollar. So, to help the family with college expenses for her and her sisters, she came up with an entrepreneurial venture called “Tres Hermanas,” or “Three Sisters.” Together they earned money by typing, printing and writing speeches to help pay for their books, tuition and the like. Aside from having fun with her sisters, she enjoyed herself at the University. She worked for a sociology professor who counseled students in and outside of his discipline, including Pitter (later King). According to her, he always seemed to have a receptive ear for her concerns and tried to advise her as best he could, knowing little about her major. Commercial Law, Anthropology and Statistics were her three most enjoyable courses, because of the creative manner in which they were taught—interactive, with a team approach.

However, Marjorie Pitter King experienced difficult, hurtful moments as well. Frequently she was on academic probation because of low grades. Since few women of any race studied accounting during the Great Depression, her experiences may have been related to sexism, too. She was called unkind names and often ignored by her professors during her stay there. In 1942, she transferred in her senior year to Howard University in Washington, D.C. to complete her graduation requirements. Later she returned to Seattle and established a successful tax business called M and M Tax and Consultant Services. Extremely active in politics, she was appointed to the State Legislature in 1965, becoming the first African American in that body.  King served until 1966. She served as Chair of the 37th District Democratic Party.

The, first of four African American Navy nurses to serve active duty in WW II receives her commission as an ensign in the Navy Nurse Corps.

Harriet Tubman (c. 1820–March 10, 1913) was an enslaved woman, freedom seeker, Underground Railroad conductor, North American 19th-century Black activist, spy, soldier, and nurse known for her service during the Civil War and her advocacy of civil rights and women's suffrage.

Tubman remains one of history's most inspiring African Americans and there are many children's stories about her, but those usually stress her early life, escape from enslavement, and work with the Underground Railroad. Less known are her Civil War service and her other activities in the nearly 50 years she lived after the war.

Fast Facts: Harriet Tubman

Known For: Participation in the North American 19-century Black activist movement, Civil War work, civil rights

Also Known As: Araminta Ross, Araminta Green, Harriet Ross, Harriet Ross Tubman, Moses

Born: c. 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland

Parents: Benjamin Ross, Harriet Green

Died: March 10, 1913 in Auburn, New York

Spouses: John Tubman, Nelson Davis

Children: Gertie

Notable Quote: "I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other; for no man should take me alive."

Early Life

Tubman was enslaved from birth in Dorchester County, Maryland, in 1820 or 1821, on the plantation of Edward Brodas or Brodess. Her birth name was Araminta, and she was called Minty until she changed her name to Harriet—after her mother—as an early teen. Her parents, Benjamin Ross and Harriet Green were enslaved Africans who saw many of their 11 children sold into the Deep South.

At age 5, Araminta was "rented" to neighbors to do housework. She was never good at household chores and was beaten by her enslavers and "renters." She wasn't educated to read or write. She eventually was assigned to work as a field hand, which she preferred to housework. At age 15, she suffered a head injury when she blocked the path of the overseer pursuing an uncooperative enslaved person. The overseer flung a weight at the other enslaved people, hitting Tubman, who probably sustained a severe concussion. She was ill for a long time and never fully recovered.

In 1844 or 1845, Tubman married John Tubman, a free Black man. Shortly after her marriage, she hired a lawyer to investigate her legal history and discovered that her mother had been freed on a technicality upon the death of a former enslaver The lawyer advised her that a court wouldn't likely hear the case, so she dropped it. But knowing that she should have been born free led her to contemplate freedom and resent her situation.

In 1849, Tubman heard that two of her brothers were about to be sold to the Deep South, and her husband threatened to sell her, too. She tried to persuade her brothers to escape with her but left alone, making her way to Philadelphia and freedom. The next year, Tubman decided to return to Maryland to free her sister and her sister's family. Over the next 12 years, she returned 18 or 19 times, bringing more than 300 people out of enslavement.

Underground Railroad

Tubman's organizing ability was crucial to her work with the Underground Railroad, a network of opponents of enslavement that helped freedom seekers escape. Tubman was only 5 feet tall, but she was smart and strong and carried a rifle. She used it not only to intimidate pro-enslavement people but also to keep enslaved people from backing out. She told any who seemed ready to leave that "dead Negroes tell no tales" about the railroad.

When Tubman first reached Philadelphia, she was, under the law of the time, a free woman, but the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 made her a freedom seeker again. All citizens were obligated to aid in her recapture, so she had to operate quietly. But she soon became known throughout the North American 19th-century Black activist circles and freedmen's communities.

After the Fugitive Slave Act passed, Tubman began guiding her Underground Railroad passengers to Canada, where they could be truly free. From 1851 through 1857, she lived parts of the year in St. Catherines, Canada, and Auburn, New York, where many North American 19th-century Black activists lived.

Other Activities

In addition to her twice-yearly trips to Maryland to help freedom seekers escape, Tubman developed her oratorical skills and began speaking publicly at anti-enslavement meetings and, by the end of the decade, women's rights meetings. A price had been placed on her head—at one time it was as high as $40,000—but she was never betrayed.

Tubman freed three of her brothers in 1854, bringing them to St. Catherines. In 1857, Tubman brought her parents to freedom. They couldn't take Canada's climate, so she settled them on land she bought in Auburn with the aid of North American 19th-century Black activists. Earlier, she had returned to rescue her husband John Tubman, only to find he'd remarried and wasn't interested in leaving.

Tubman earned money as a cook and laundress, but she also received support from public figures in New England, including key North American 19th-century Black activists. She was supported by Susan B Anthony, William H. Seward, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Mann, the Alcotts, including educator Bronson Alcott and writer Louisa May Alcott, William Still of Philadelphia, and Thomas Garratt of Wilmington, Delaware. Some supporters used their homes as Underground Railroad stations.

John Brown

In 1859, when John Brown was organizing a rebellion he believed would end enslavement, he consulted Tubman. She supported his plans at Harper's Ferry, raised funds in Canada, and recruited soldiers. She intended to help him take the armory at Harper's Ferry, Virginia to supply guns to enslaved people they believed would rebel against their captivity. But she became ill and wasn't there.

Brown's raid failed and his supporters were killed or arrested. She mourned her friends' deaths and continued to hold Brown as a hero.

Civil War

Tubman's trips to the South as "Moses," as she'd become known for leading her people to freedom, ended as the Southern states began to secede and the U.S. government prepared for war. Once war started, Tubman went South to assist with "contrabands," freedom seekers attached to the Union Army. The next year, the Union Army asked Tubman to organize a network of scouts and spies among Black men. She led forays to gather information and persuade enslaved people to leave their enslavers. Many joined regiments of Black soldiers.

In July 1863, Tubman led troops commanded by Col. James Montgomery in the Combahee River expedition, disrupting Southern supply lines by destroying bridges and railroads and freeing more than 750 enslaved people. Gen. Rufus Saxton, who reported the raid to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, said: "This is the only military command in American history wherein a woman, Black or White, led the raid and under whose inspiration it was originated and conducted." Some believe Tubman was allowed to go beyond women's traditional boundaries because of her race.

Tubman, believing she was employed by the U.S. Army, spent her first paycheck on building a place where freed Black women could earn a living doing laundry for soldiers. But she wasn't paid regularly or given rations she believed she deserved. She received only $200 in three years of service, supporting herself by selling baked goods and root beer, which she made after she completed her regular duties.

After the war, Tubman never got her back military pay. When she applied for a pension—with the support of Secretary of State William Seward, Colonel T. W. Higginson, and Rufus—her application was denied. Despite her service and fame, she had no official documents to prove she had served in the war.

Freedmen Schools

After the war, Tubman established schools for freedmen in South Carolina. She never learned to read and write, but she appreciated the value of education and supported efforts to educate formerly enslaved people.

She later returned to her home in Auburn, New York, which was her base for the rest of her life. She financially supported her parents, and her brothers and their families moved to Auburn. Her first husband died in 1867 in a fight with a White man. In 1869 she married Nelson Davis, who had been enslaved in North Carolina but served as a Union Army soldier. He was often ill, probably with tuberculosis, and frequently couldn't work.

Tubman welcomed several children into her home, raising them as her own, and supported some impoverished formerly enslaved people, financing her efforts through donations and loans. In 1874, she and Davis adopted a baby girl named Gertie.

Publishing and Speaking

To finance her life and her support of others, she worked with historian Sarah Hopkins Bradford to publish "Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman" in 1869. The book was initially financed by North American 19th-century Black activists, including Wendell Phillips and Gerrit Smith, the latter a supporter of John Brown and first cousin of suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Tubman toured to speak about her experiences as "Moses."

In 1886, Bradford, with Tubman's help, wrote a full-scale biography of Tubman titled "Harriet Tubman: Moses of Her People." In the 1890s, she finally was able to collect a pension as Davis' widow: $8 a month.

Tubman also worked with Susan B. Anthony on women's suffrage. She attended women's rights conventions and spoke for the women's movement, advocating for the rights of Black women. In 1896, Tubman spoke at the first meeting of the National Association of Colored Women.

Continuing to support aged and poor African Americans, Tubman established a home on 25 acres next to her home in Auburn, raising money with help from the AME Church and a local bank. The home, which opened in 1908, initially was called the John Brown Home for Aged and Indigent Colored People but later was named for her.

She donated the home to the AME Zion Church with the proviso that it would be kept as a home for the elderly. She moved into the home in 1911 and died of pneumonia on March 10, 1913.

Legacy

Tubman became an icon after her death. A World War II Liberty ship was named for her, and in 1978 she was featured on a commemorative stamp. Her home has been named a national historic landmark.

The four phases of Tubman's life—an enslaved person; a North American 19th-century Black activist and conductor on the Underground Railroad; a Civil War soldier, nurse, spy, and scout; and a social reformer—are important aspects of her dedication to service. Schools and museums bear her name and her history has been told in books, movies, and documentaries.

In April 2016, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew announced that Tubman would replace President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill by 2020, but the plans were delayed.

Dies March 10. 1996

Daisy Lampkin, founder of the National Council of Negro Women, died from the effects of a December 1964 heart attack.

Through the 12th - three thousand delegates and five thousand observers attended the first Black political convention in Gary, Indiana. The NAACP and other groups withdrew from the convention after the adoption of resolutions critical of busing and the state of Israel.

While Harriet Tubman (about 1820 - March 10, 1913) remains one of historys best-known African Americans, until recently there have been few biographies of her written for adults. Because her life is inspiring, there are appropriately many childrens stories about Tubman, but these tend to stress her early life, her own escape from slavery, and her work with the Underground Railroad.

Less well known and neglected by many historians are her Civil War service and her activities in the nearly 50 years she lived after the Civil War ended.

In this article, youll find details about Harriet Tubmans life in slavery and her work as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, but youll also find information about Tubmans later and less-known work and life. For the basics on Tubman, see Harriet Tubman Facts

Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in Dorchester County on the Eastern shore of Maryland, in 1820 or 1821, on the plantation of Edward Brodas or Brodess. Her birth name was Araminta, and she was called Minty until she changed her name to Harriet - after her mother - in her early teen years. Her parents, Benjamin Ross and Harriet Green, were enslaved Ashanti Africans who had eleven children, and saw many of the older children sold into the Deep South.

At five years old, Araminta was rented to neighbors to do housework. She was never very good at household chores, and was beaten regularly by her owners and those who rented her.

She was, of course, not educated to read or write. She eventually was assigned work as a field hand, which she preferred to household work. Although she was a small woman, she was strong, and her time working in the fields probably contributed to her strength.

At age fifteen she sustained a head injury, when she deliberately blocked the path of the overseer pursuing an uncooperative fellow slave, and was hit by the heavy weight the overseer tried to fling at the other slave.

Harriet, who probably sustained a severe concussion, was ill for a long time following this injury, and never

On March 10, 2010, Beatrice Wilkinson Welters was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Ambassador to the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, having been named to that post by President Barack Obama.  Prior to that, she was a philanthropist and senior employee of IBM, where she worked from 1977 to 1991, holding several positions, including systems engineer.

Welters was seven when her mother died.  Five years later, her father also passed leaving her to be raised in foster care in Brooklyn, New York. Setting her sights on academic excellence, she earned an A.A. from Ulster County Community College in New York State, a B.A. from Manhattanville College in New York City, and an M.A. from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at City University of New York.

Her experience in foster care later spurred Welters, along with her husband, Anthony, an attorney and executive with United Healthcare, to found the AnBryce Foundation in 1995 to provide opportunities for underprivileged children. The Foundation acquired land in Virginia, where they hold an annual summer academy teaching life skills to disadvantaged young people.  The couple later founded the Vincent Wilkinson Foundation (2004), also to provide opportunities for underserved youth.

As Chairman and President of the AnBryce Foundation, Welters met then Illinois Senator Barack Obama in 2007.  Senator Obama, hearing of their work, invited her and her husband to have breakfast with him on Capitol Hill.  That meeting would later persuade President Obama to select Welters as the diplomat to represent the United States in the island republic of Trinidad and Tobago.

After her confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Welters and her husband arrived in Port-of-Spain, the capital. Soon afterwards she became actively involved in the social and educational life of the country, notably bringing the National Symphony Orchestra from Washington, D.C. to Port-of-Spain to help that country celebrate its 50th anniversary of independence in August of 2012.  She also supported the effort to create

Virginia Hamilton, juvenile fiction writer!