Marian Anderson

touring her song hit number one on the radio. From their she was famous and

Known as the “Empress Of Blues”, Bessie Smith was said to have revolutionized the vocal end of Blues Music. She showed a lot of pride as an independent African-American woman. Her style in performance and lyrics often reflected her lifestyle. Bessie Smith was one of the first female jazz artists, and she paved the way for many musicians who followed.

Shirley Chisholm, first African American woman to be elected to Congress was born in Brooklyn on November 30, 1924. She is one of the most profound and admired women that challenged society not only as a woman, but a woman of color. She made many contributions to the women's movement and society.

She has risen from a poor background and was ranked the richest African American of the 20th Century, the greatest black philanthropist in American history and was once the world’s only black billionaire. She is also known as the most influential woman in the world, both older generations and young.

Wells was on of the founding members of the NAACP. In 1930, Wells was disgusted by the nominees for the state legislature, so she decided to run for Illinois State Legislature. This made her one of the first black women to run for public office in the U.S. The Harlem Renaissance exalted the unique culture of African-Americans and redefined African-American expression. She was a person who never stopped believing in what she thought or knew was important to her and other people of her race and gender. She had to have a large amount of courage to do all that she has accomplished in her time, and this is why she is an important figure to the Harlem Renaissance.

In 1934 Fitzgerald’s singing career began to take off. Fitzgerald’s first big debut was at the Apollo Theatre in New York City. (THIRTEEN). Ella sang “Judy” and “The

Dorothy Dandridge may seem to be like a beautiful and strong African American woman on the outside, but on the inside she held in a lot of pain. Dorothy Dandridge is an actress, singer, and entertainer, who no longer walk this green Earth, but when she did, she made history. Dorothy was the first African American actress to achieve a leading-role status. Dorothy also had a deeply troubled life and racism didn’t make her life any easier especially when it came to achieving her dreams, but she got through it and during her time, the early 1930’s through the 1960’s, that was saying something. Racism was a lot worse then what it is now, but it made it harder for African Americans to achieve their goals, especially African American women. Dorothy was very worth looking up to now and when she was alive. Dorothy Dandridge is a contribution to African American history because she was the first African American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for best actress, how she fought all odds against her, mainly racism, and she made it possible to for other African American women to follow in her footsteps and look up to her as a role model.

February of every year is known as National Black History Month. There are many African American people who made a great impact on all African-Americans today. In honor of this month, though, I have chosen to write about Marian Anderson. Marian Anderson was a singer who had made a great impact on many of the black singers in the past. She was one of the first female African-American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1955. Some of Marian’s last words to the public were “I have a great belief in the future of my people and my country.”

Annie Easley was born on April 23,1933, In Birmingham Alabama. Easley and her brother were raised by thaier single mother Mary Melvin Hoover. Her mother was one of her greatest inspirations and her role model, she always encouraged her to get a good education. In an oral history interview with NASA, she said that her mother always used to tell her "You can be anything you want to. It doesn't matter what you look like, what your size is, what your color is. You can be anything you want to, but you do have to work at it." Annie Easley attended school in Birmingham and graduated as the valedictorian of her grade. At that time Easly Wanted to become a nurse because she thought it was one of the only careers open to black women. However, later on

Marian Wright Edelman was born on June 6, 1939. Edelman is an American activist for the rights of children. Edelman’s mother and father who was a Baptist minister taught her and her siblings that serving in their community was life’s duty. Edelman’s parents also taught her and her siblings that poverty nor racism should ever get in their way of trying to achieve something. The way Edelman was raised was an inspiration to her and she knew she wanted to make a change for the better in this country. In 1973 Edelman founded the Children’s Defense Fund. The purpose of the organization is to “to ensure every child a healthy start, a head start, a fair start, a safe start, and a moral start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.” (Wikipedia)

Another amazing African American women leader and voice for her feminist activist audience was Sojourner Truth who spoke from within

Evelyn was born on May 1, 1924 in Washington, DC. Her father, William Boyd, had many jobs to help support her family. Her mother, Julia Boyd, was a secretary and also support her family. When she was just five years old, she and her family lived through the Great Depression which caused her father to have many jobs. A little after, her parents separated. Her mother had an older sister and moved in with her and brought Evelyn as well. She began to attend Elementary, Junior high, and high school as she got older. She wanted to

Florence mills was the first black international female star. She traveled around the world to do shows.That made her known for doing shows everywhere and stared to get more popular. She have done numerous of performances like a hit musical called ‘Shuffle Along’. And she did a all-black performance as well. This point gives her a historical credibility because she was the first black woman to do international shows.Now that she was the first international female star everyone would know her and like her and really appreciate her for being the first female to do internacional with dancing.

Crowned as "The Queen of Soul", Aretha Franklin is one of the most honored female vocal artists of the last 50 years. She is an American soul singer, songwriter as well as a pianist. Her soulful, soaring voice has earned her mythic status over the years. It has been said that Aretha was a child prodigy of the golden age of gospel and was the anointed successor to gospel singers Clara Ward and Mahalia Jackson. Many idolize her and her musical intelligence to this day. She is said to be one of the most quintessential sounds of America alongside The Beetles, The Stones, and Louis Armstrong.

She was idealized by every young African American girl in the 70's. She produced number one hits one after the other and became a social icon.