Sara Saartjie Baartman 1789-1815. One of the first Black women yo be human Trafficked. AKA “Hottentot Venus”. Exhibited as a freak show attraction.

Odessa “OJ” Jenkins born 1980. In 2014, co-founded the Texas Elite Spartans and later the Women’s National Football Conference (WNFC), which broke barriers as the first women’s tackle football league sponsored by major global sports brands like Adidas.

John Ewing Jr. born 1961 in 2025 was elected to be the first Black Mayor of Omaha, Nebraska.

Maryanne Loom-Martin built and furnished Jnanr Tamara, Morocco’s first and only Black female hotelier.

Pat Spearman, born 1955, first openly lesbian member of the Nevada state legislature in 2012. Founded “Resurrection Faith Community Ministries”, a church in North Vegas.

Toni Tipton, who in the ’90s became the first Black food editor for a major American daily newspaper, investigated why mixology disappeared from the pages of Black cookbooks for her book ‘Juke Joints, Jazz Clubs & Juice.’