Brush up your knowledge this Sunday and quiz yourself on how many of these incredible Black activists you know!
Mary Mcleod Bethune
Mary was an American educator, stateswoman, philanthropist, humanitarian, womanist, and civil rights activist. She founded the National Council for Negro Women in 1935, established the organisation’s flagship journal ‘Aframerican Women’s Journal’. She is also well known for starting a private school for African-American students in Daytona Beach, Florida; it later continued to develop as Bethune-Cookman University.Â
Alice Coachman
Alice was the first black woman to win an Olympic Gold Medal. In 1958, she broke the world record for the high jump, she then went on to help support young athletes and older, retired Olympic veterans through the Alice Coachman Track and Field Foundation.
Daisy Bates
Daisy Bates was an African American civil rights activist and newspaper publisher who documented the battle to end segregation in Arkansas. Bates became president of the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP and played a crucial role in the fight against segregation, which she documented in her book The Long Shadow of Little Rock.
Wangari Maathai
Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan political and environmental activist and her country’s assistant minister of environment, natural resources and wildlife. In 1971, Wangari Maathai received a Ph.D., effectively becoming the first woman in either East or Central Africa to earn a doctorate. She was the first African Woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, which she won for her “holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights, and women’s rights in particular.”Â
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Tharpe was a musical prodigy in her local church when she was just four-years-old! She was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and recording artist. She attained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterised by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and rhythmic accompaniment that was a precursor of rock and roll.Famous artists such as Elvis, Johnny Cash and Aretha Franklin all credit her as an influence to their music.
