Black History Month is the time to honor the role and achievements of African-Americans in the United States. While some groundbreaking heroes are well-known, there are many unsung heroes worth celebrating—particularly African-American women. Here, we rounded up 10 African-American women whose accomplishments and tireless efforts transformed our country.
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Photo | Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler
Photo | Amelia Boynton Robinson
Photo | Amelia Boynton Robinson
Amelia Boynton Robinson was a civil rights pioneer who championed voting rights for African Americans. She was brutally beaten for helping to lead a 1965 civil rights march, which became known as Bloody Sunday and drew national attention to the Civil Rights Movement. She was also the first black woman to run for Congress in Alabama.
Amelia Boynton was born on August 18, 1911, in Savannah, Georgia. Her early activism included holding black voter registration drives in Selma, Alabama, from the 1930s through the ’50s. In 1964, she became both the first African-American woman and the first female Democratic candidate to run for a seat in Congress from Alabama. The following year, she helped lead a civil rights march during which she and her fellow activists were brutally beaten by state troopers. The event, which became known as Bloody Sunday, drew nationwide attention to the Civil Rights movement. In 1990, Boynton won the Martin Luther King Jr. Medal of Freedom. She died on August 26, 2015 at the age of 104. (Biography.com).
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