The women

We always seem to hear about the men during Black History Month, but what about the women? Here are just a few I think people should know about:

Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler - the first African-American woman physician in the United States

Ella Baker - civil rights activist who worked for a number of organizations throughout her lifetime.

Dorothy Height - called the matriarch of the civil rights movement

Shirley Chisholm - first African-American Congresswoman, and one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus

Lois Mailou Jones - a highly regarded artist and teacher whose career spanned seven decades and influenced generations of Black modernists.

Marsha P. Johnson - an LGBTQ activist and transwoman who was one of the first drag queens to walk into the Stonewall Inn

Jane Bolin - the nation's first Black woman judge

Alice Allison Dunnigan - the first African American female White House correspondent

Daisy Bates - a civil rights activists best known for her work on behalf of the Little Rock Nine.

Diane Nash - organized and led Freedom Rides and sit-ins

Claudette Colvin - at age 15, refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a bus home from school (this was nine months before Rosa Parks)

Irene Morgan Kirkaldy - refused to give up her bus seat (she was before both Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks)

Amelia Boynton Robinson - first African-American woman in Alabama to run for Congress in 1964 (the following year, she helped Martin Luther King Jr. plan the march from Selma to Montgomery)

Belva Davis - first African-American woman to become a television reporter on the West Coast. (winner of eight Emmy Awards and recognized by the American Women in Radio and Television and National Association of Black Journalists)

This is not a complete list by any means, and urge you to take a closer look at these women and others over the years who have truly made a difference.  There are also five women, whom I won't mention by name, who are making a tremendous difference in my life and in the lives of others by dedicating time each morning in prayer for their church and the world.  It is a great joy to join with them every day.