By Chardonnay Beaver
Constance B. Motley was the first Black woman federal judge in the United States of America. Appointed by Lydon Johnson in 1966, just one year after the signing of the Voting Rights Act, she served the Southern District of New York.
Claudette Colvin was a pioneer in the Civil Rights Movement in Alabama. At the age of 15, she refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a city bus in Montgomery months before Rosa Parks was defined by local law and became famous for her actions. Her story often goes untold…
Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield- also referred to as “The Black Swan”- was the nation’s first Black concert singer, became the first Black singer to give a command performance before royalty when she appeared before Queen Victoria on May 10, 1853.
