This Black History Month, more than any other, is a time to celebrate our brilliance and our invaluable contributions to this country and our communities throughout the diaspora. As efforts emerge to erase Black history, we celebrate the women who have inspired us and will continue to bring us through this challenging time.
Of course, we have far too many fabulous Black women to celebrate in just 28 days, but we have selected a few very special sisters from the past through the present to add here throughout the month. Enjoy this extraordinary, musical tribute to Black women from Ledisi (below), and check back periodically to see amazing women who remind us of our accomplishments and our joy … because we are Fierce!
— Sheree Crute and Yanick Rice Lamb, Co-Founders
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1800s
Let us not forget how long we have been a force in America.
A twisted narrative is being shared about our history in America today. There is an effort to rewrite the history of slavery. It is up to us to make sure the generations to come never forget the truth.
Harriet Tubman (1822-1913)
The legacy of Harriet Tubman in leading legions of our ancestors to freedom is well known, but let us all be sure to share her story once again with our grandchildren and great grandchildren — especially our fierce daughters. Let us remember our incredible resilience — what it took for us to survive, and to set us free.
Harriet Tubman’s parents, Ben and Rit Ross. named her Araminta when she was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in 1822. (Photo from 1868 or 1869: Library of Congress)
Ida B. Wells (1862-1931)
The work of Ida B. Wells epitomizes the importance of telling our stories. Wells did this in the classroom and as a columnist writing under the name Iola in Memphis. But she went deeper when three friends were lynched at the Black-owned People’s Grocery, thrusting her in a role as a pioneering investigative journalist.
As newspaper editor and co-owner of the Free Speech and Headlight, she continued to investigate lynchings and other atrocities in the 1890s. Undeterred by threats, she pushed forward even as her headquarters was destroyed while she was out of town. Wells was also a suffragist and civil rights activist, who was instrumental in the founding of the NAACP.
Her legacy lives on through her granddaughter, Alfreda Ferrell; journalists following in her footsteps through the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting; and each of us who tries to make a difference in our own ways, small or large.
Ida B. Wells, left, with Maurine Moss, widow of Tom Moss, lynched in Memphis on March 9, 1892, and their children. Moss, owner of People’s Grocery, was lynched with two of his workers. (Photo: Ida B. Wells Papers, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)
TAKE A TRIP: Learn more about our history at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, D.C. The tagline on the museum’s welcome page says it all: “A People’s Journey, A Nation’s Story.” It’s best to start your tour by taking the elevator to the bottom while watching a visual timeline. The “Blacksonian,” as the museum is affectionately called (you know how we do), offers too much to absorb in a day. So you’ll need to return again and again. The museum also has a series of in-person, virtual and interactive activities for Black History Month.
