A Compilation of Influential Figures in Black History Table of Contents Introduction Key Terms Sojourner Truth Harriet Tubman Maggie Lena Walker Septima Clark Thurgood Marshall Robert Johnson Rosa Parks Fannie Lou Hamer Katherine Johnson Jackie Robinson Malcolm X Maya Angelou Martin Luther King Jr. Barack Obama Andrea Jenkins Kamala Harris Crossword Activity Source List drivenbyco.com ⬣ [email protected] Introduction Today systemic racism still permeates our society. Racist attitudes still exist. It is OUR responsibility to UNLEARN and LEARN, and to expand our perspective, for the purpose of building a better future for ALL. This month, we invite you to do more than just participate in a trending hashtag (#), and learn about the journey of what brought us to where we are today and why we need a month to recognize Black History. In this package, we have identified just SOME of the many influential figures who made enormous contributions throughout history. However, in order to make the many advancements achieved throughout the last couple of centuries, there were tens of thousands of unnamed others who contributed to the movements, the marches, the boycotts and the organization behind the events that we know today. We hope that you appreciate this compilation as some of the highlights of the achievements made, while still recognizing that there is much more work to do. Key Terms RACISM The belief that people possess different behavioural or character traits based on the colour of their skin, facilitating the classification of superior or inferior races. PREJUDICE Preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. DISCRIMINATION The unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age or sex. SYSTEMIC RACISM Also known as institutional racism describes racism embedded as normal practice within society or an organization. drivenbyco.com ⬣ [email protected] Sojourner Truth Women’s Rights Activist, Abolitionist 1797 - November 26, 1883 Born: Rifton, New York USA SUMMARY Sojourner Truth was born as Isabelle Bomfree, a slave in New York in 1797. She was bought and sold 4 times and subjected to harsh physical labour and violent punishments. An abolitionist family bought Sojourner Truth’s freedom for twenty dollars in 1827. Although never learning to read or write, Sojourner became a charismatic speaker and gave speeches about the evils of slavery. In 1851, Truth began a lecture tour that included a women’s rights conference in Akron, Ohio, where she delivered her famous “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech. In it, she challenged prevailing notions of racial and gender inferiority and inequality. During the 1850’s, Truth continued speaking nationally and helped slaves escape to freedom. When the Civil War started, Truth urged young men to join the Union and organized supplies for black troops. After the war, she helped freed slaves find jobs and build new lives. FACTS ● Sojourner Truth’s Civil War work earned her an invitation to meet President Abraham Lincoln in 1864. ● Sojourner Truth was the first black woman to successfully bring a lawsuit against a white man when she sued a slaveholder for illegally selling her 5-year-old son Pete, after the New York Anti-Slavery Law had passed. ● Although she never learned to read or write, Sojourner Truth became widely recognized as a preacher, national speaker and for her published autobiography which she dictated. drivenbyco.com ⬣ [email protected] Harriet Tubman American Abolitionist, Political Activist March 1822 - March 10, 1913 Born: Dorchester County, Maryland USA SUMMARY Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in 1822 and escaped to freedom in the North in 1849. She was the most famous “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safehouses used by enslaved African-Americans to escape to free states and Canada. Her codename was “Moses” and she helped to free an estimated 3,000 slaves and never lost one. During the Civil War from 1861-1865, Harriet Tubman helped the Union Army working as a spy. After the Civil War ended, she dedicated her life to helping impoverished former slaves and the elderly. FACTS ● Harriet Tubman risked her life to lead hundreds of family members and other slaves from the plantation system to freedom through the Underground Railroad. ● In Harriet Tubman’s early life, when sent to the store for supplies, she encountered a slave who had left the fields without permission. The man’s overseer demanded that Tubman help restrain the runaway. When she refused the overseer threw a 2 lb weight at her head. Following this incident Tubman endured seizures, headaches and narcoleptic episodes for the rest of her life. She also experienced intense dreams which she described as religious experiences and messages. ● Harriet Tubman was the first woman to lead a combat assault during the Combahee River Raid in South Carolina in 1863. drivenbyco.com ⬣ [email protected] Maggie Lena Walker Civil Rights Leader, Bank President, Education Leader July 15, 1864 - December 15, 1934 Richmond, Virginia, United States SUMMARY Maggie Lena Walker in spite of humble beginnings in post-Civil War Richmond, Virginia was able to achieve national prominence as a businesswoman and community leader. She joined the Independent Order of St. Luke, an organization dedicated to the advancement of African Americans in both financial and social standing. At the Order she established a youth program to inspire social consciousness in young African Americans. When the Order was on the verge of bankruptcy, she delivered a speech in 1901, with her plans to save it. She followed through with every item she described in her speech and became the first African American woman in the United States to found and charter a bank (St. Luke Penny Savings Bank). FACTS ● Maggie Lena Walker was the first African American woman to charter a bank. ● In 1902 Walker established a newspaper called “The St. Luke Herald,” which was a publication that promoted closer communication between the Order and the public. ● Walker was first a grade school teacher for three years, but after 1886 she married and was forced to leave her job, due to the school's policy against married teachers. She decided to put her efforts into her family life and her publication. drivenbyco.com ⬣ [email protected] Septima Clark Civil Rights Activist and Teacher May 3, 1898 - December 15, 1987 Charleston, South Carolina, United States SUMMARY Septima Poinsette Clark was an African American educator and civil rights activist. The racial inequity of teachers’ salaries and facilities she experienced while there motivated her to become an advocate for change and to strengthen the African-American community through literacy and citizenship. Clark was active in several social and civic organizations, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), where she campaigned, along with attorney Thurgood Marshall, for equal pay for black teachers in Columbia. Clark developed the literacy and citizenship workshops that played an important role in the drive for voting rights and civil rights for African Americans in the Civil Rights Movement. FACTS ● Septima Clark taught many women to read so they could pass literacy tests and vote. ● Septima Clark started her career as a teacher at the young age of 18. ● Clark was instrumental in founding nearly 900 citizenship schools which helped African Americans work through the procedure and register to vote through education and literacy. drivenbyco.com ⬣ [email protected] Thurgood Marshall American Lawyer, Civil Rights Activist, Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States July 2, 1908 - January 24, 1993 Born: Baltimore, Maryland USA SUMMARY Thurgood Marshall, born as Thoroughgood Marshall was encouraged by his mentor Charles Hamilton Houston to view the law as a vehicle for social change. Upon his graduation from Howard Law School, Marshall practiced law in Baltimore. Throughout the 1940’s and 50’s, he distinguished himself as one of the country’s top lawyers, winning 29 of the 32 cases that he argued before the Supreme Court. Marshall’s victory in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka case, established his reputation as a formidable legal opponent and advocate for social change. This victory of this case led to the determination that racial segregation in American public schools was unconstitutional. President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated Marshall to the Supreme Court in June of 1967, which was confirmed in August of 1967. During his tenure from 1967-1991, Thurgood Marshall stressed the need for equitable and just treatment of the country’s minorities by the state and federal governments. FACTS ● Thurgood Marshall was rejected from the University of Maryland Law School because he was not white. He instead attended Howard University Law School, receiving his degree in 1933, ranking first in his class. ● Thurgood Marshall was the first African American Supreme Court Justice. ● Thurgood Marshall had many contributions to the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) including becoming the lead chair in the legal office and serving as the chief of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. drivenbyco.com ⬣ [email protected] Robert Johnson American Blues Guitarist, Singer, Songwriter May 8, 1911 - August 16, 1938 Born: Hazelhurst, Mississippi USA SUMMARY Robert Johnson is best known as one of the greatest blues performers of all time, having a massive influence on rock n’ roll music throughout the following decades. Robert Johnson had a very brief career, traveling and playing wherever he could and writing and recording 29 songs in Texas from 1936-1937. Robert Johnson’s life is filled with mystery. As legend has it, Robert Johnson had been a decent harmonica player but a terrible guitarist until he disappeared for a few weeks in Mississippi, where he allegedly took his guitar to the crossroads of Highways 49 and 61 to make a deal with the devil.