Breaking Barriers

Biography

Margaret Sanger

Margaret Sanger founded the birth control movement and became an outspoken and life-long advocate for women’s reproductive rights.

Biography

Mary Baker Eddy

Mary Baker Eddy founded a popular religious movement during the 19th century, Christian Science.

Biography

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Author, lecturer, and chief philosopher of the woman’s rights and suffrage movements.

Biography

Fannie Lou Hamer

Fannie Lou Hamer was one of the most important, passionate, and powerful voices of the civil and voting rights movements .

Biography

Lucretia Mott

Lucretia Mott argued as ardently for women’s rights as for black rights, including suffrage, education, and economic aid.

Biography

Lucy Stone

A leading suffragist and abolitionist, Lucy Stone dedicated her life to battling inequality on all fronts.

Biography

Mary Church Terrell

Mary Church Terrell was a well-known African American activist who championed racial equality and women’s suffrage.

General

March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom

More than 250,000 people gathered in Washington, DC on August 28, 1963 for a political rally known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

Biography

Condoleezza Rice

Condoleezza Rice is the first African American woman to hold several positions, including Secretary of State.

Biography

Coretta Scott King

Although best known for being the wife of famed civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Coretta Scott King created her own legacy.

Biography

Daisy Bates

Bates' work with the NAACP transformed the Civil Rights Movement.

Biography

Dorothy Height

Dorothy Height was the president of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement.

General

Freedom Summer

During the summer of 1964, hundreds of college students flooded Mississippi to register African Americans to vote.

Biography

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a prominent journalist, suffragist, activist, and researcher.

General

Little Rock Nine

Imagine showing up to your first day of school and being greeted by an angry mob and the National Guard.

Biography

Maggie Lena Walker

Maggie Lena Walker was one of the foremost female business leaders in the US and the first woman to own a bank.

Biography

Maria Tallchief

Maria Tallchief was one of America's most popular ballerinas.

General

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Colvin and Parks along with other early protestors sparked a yearlong boycott of the Montgomery bus system.

Biography

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and set in motion one of the largest social movements in history, the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

General

The Sit-In Movement

Being served at a lunch counter was normal for whites, but African Americans were not allowed to sit at lunch counters throughout the South.