It’s evident, throughout many years, how there is inequality between white and black individuals. Even though the imbalance has lessened in recent years, it doesn’t mean it’s non-existent.
The topics of segregation and racism are themes individuals fight hard for. Change has shown. However, the shift in how people of color were treated took many minds to finally get justice.
Shirley Chisholm
Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was born on Nov. 30, 1924. Chisholm was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, NY. She was on the debate team at Brooklyn College, where she graduated in 1946. Chisholm also earned a master’s degree in early childhood education from Columbia University in 1951.
Chisholm worked her way up by starting off as a nursery school teacher to becoming the first Black woman to be elected to the United States Congress. She sat proudly at her seat in Congress from 1968 to 1983. Throughout those years, Chisholm passed over 50 pieces of legislation.
She was passionately fighting for the food stamp program to be expanded and for gender and racial equality and even helped to form the WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.
Robert Sengstacke Abbott
Robert Sengstacke Abbott was born in St. Simons Island, Georgia. Sengstacke was one of the children of Flora and Thomas Abbott. Robert Abbott was an aspiring lawyer but had difficulty finding employment due to the color of his skin. He rerouted to journalism and founded the Chicago Defender.
This newspaper was a hit for Chicago and became an important and anticipated news source for African Americans. In 1905, history was made by introducing the Chicago Defender to the world. This was Abbott’s way of speaking on racial injustice and allowing the world to be aware of it. He became a hero to all Black people fighting to have their voice heard.
Ethel Waters
John Waters and Louise Anderson brought Ethel Waters into this world on Oct. 31, 1896. Waters was born in Chester, Pennsylvania. She lived a poor childhood and was first married at the age of just 12 years old.
Waters’ childhood moved at an extremely rapid pace, working at 13 years old as a chambermaid and a nightclub singer. Along the years, she became more and more popular, leading her to big stages like Broadway. After musicals like Blackbird and Africana, Waters was featured in movies as well.
Waters was the first Black woman to star in a TV show, the first Black person to star in her own TV series, and the first to receive equal billing with white actors on Broadway.
Jane Bolin
Born in 1908, Jane Bolin grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York. Ever since she was a child, Bolin always wanted to pursue a career in law. She graduated from Wellesley College, being at the top of her class, and enrolled in the Yale Law School program.
Bolin was the only Black woman out of the three women in the class. She successfully became the first African-American woman to graduate from Yale Law School. She also was the first Black woman to work in the city’s legal department and join the New York City Bar Association.
She advocated for the end of segregating donated blood, public housing, race-based assignments of probation officers, and segregated childcare facilities.
Jesse Owens
The tenth son of Henry and Emma Alexander Owens, Jesse Owens, was born on Sep. 12, 1913. The athlete was born in Alabama, yet at the age of nine, he grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Owens was invested in running track from a young age.
In his high school years, Owens won most of the sporting events he competed in and set records at the National Interscholastic meet in Chicago. In college, he held three Ohio State championships in consecutive years.
At Ohio State University (OSU), Owens took the school into the Big Ten Championship in Ann Harbor on May 25, 1935. In only 45 minutes, Owens was able to set three world records.
He accomplished those world records while suffering back pain from a stair-fall incident. In the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Owens achieved his biggest accomplishment when becoming the first American track and field athlete to win four gold medals in a single olympiad.
