10 History-Making Black Moms Whose Amazing Stories Everyone Should Know
Making history as a woman has never been an easy feat, but being a Black woman making history comes with a whole other level of unique (and often infuriating) roadblocks. (Read: A whole lot of racism, sexism, discrimination, and downright BS.) Now imagine adding in the everyday struggles of being a mom, which — as every mother knows — are hard enough. Talk about tenacity and sacrifice!
These amazing Black mothers — who aren’t talked about and praised nearly enough — overcame all the challenges sent their way and flourished. And so, despite what mainstream history books would rather focus on, we should all know the names of these women … and their outstanding stories.
There’s Congresswoman Yvonne Brathwaite Burke who became the first member of Congress to give birth while in office (and the first to be granted maternity leave!), there’s Ann Lowe who designed Jackie Kennedy’s wedding dress, and there’s Allyson Felix, who is the most decorated woman in Olympic track and field history.
From Sojourner Truth to Ketanji Brown Jackson, these inspiring and iconic women have led, and are leading, truly exceptional lives. The fact that these women were able to accomplish such momentous and record-breaking goals while facing the everyday hardships of raising children and being a Black woman in America is just mind-blowing. And that’s without even getting into the Black maternal health crisis in this country.
Their examples can inspire any mother to continue pursuing their personal goals and make their own impact on history — while making dinners, drying tears, and picking up dirty socks.
A version of this article was published in 2022.
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Sojourner Truth
Many of us know Sojourner Truth as an abolitionist and activist for women’s rights. However, many don’t know that Sojourner escaped slavery with her infant daughter in 1826. She then discovered that her 5-year-old son, Peter, was illegally sold to an enslaver in Alabama, and Sojourner sued her former owner to gain custody of her son. She won her case, becoming one of the first Black women to sue a white man in court and win. She went on to pursue her work as an abolitionist and activist and delivered the speech she became famous for, “Ain’t I A Woman?“
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker was the first Black woman ever to star in a major motion picture, 1927’s Siren of the Tropics, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this amazing woman’s accomplishments. In addition to being a huge star in the entertainment world (and an iconic symbol of the Jazz Age and the Roaring Twenties), Baker aided in the French resistance during World War II (though she was American-born, she adopted France as her home country and married a French man). She was awarded several medals and prestigious honors as a result.
During the 1960s, Baker refused to perform for segregated audiences and is renowned for her contributions to the civil rights movement in the U.S. and worked closely with the NAACP.
Throughout all this, Baker began adopting children — 10 sons and 2 daughters in all — of different ethnicities, whom she dubbed “The Rainbow Tribe.” She felt it was important to raise them all in accordance with their unique heritages, and wanted to show everyone that love and the bonds of family know no race or religion.
Ann Lowe
Fashion designer Ann Lowe didn’t begin her career in fashion until she was a mother. After separating from her first husband, Lowe and her son moved to New York City, where she enrolled at S.T. Taylor Design School. Being the only Black student at the segregated school, Lowe attended classes in a room alone. But that didn’t deter her. She opened her own design studio, gaining a reputation as “society’s best-kept secret” with a client roster that included the Duponts, Roosevelts, and Rockefellers.
In 1953, as a twice-divorced mom of two, Lowe was tapped to design the future First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier’s bridal gown and bridesmaid dresses for her marriage to then-senator John F. Kennedy in 1953. Lowe’s studio was flooded ten days before the wedding, and the wedding gown was destroyed. But Lowe rallied, because if anything, moms know how to get things done. Unfortunately, Lowe didn’t receive credit for designing Jackie Kennedy’s wedding dress until after John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
Rep Yvonne Brathwaite Burke
American politician and lawyer Yvonne Brathwaite Burke was the first African American woman to represent the West Coast in Congress. And in 1973, Burke became the first member of Congress to give birth while in office and the first to be granted maternity leave by the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
In 1979, Burke became the first female and first African-American supervisor when Governor Jerry Brown appointed her to fill a vacant seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Her daughter Autumn Yvonne was elected to the California State Assembly in 2014, making the pair the first mother and daughter to both serve in the California Assembly.
Dr. Mayme Agnew Clayton
Mayme Clayton is a history-maker because she was a history preserver. As a law librarian at UCLA, she was an instrumental part of establishing the African American Study Center Library. But when her request for a budget to purchase rare and out-of-print books by and about Black Americans was denied, Clayton knew she had to do something else to preserve this fundamental piece of Black history — so she ramped up her efforts on what had previously been her hobby of collecting such books. In the garage of her Los Angeles home, Dr. Clayton amassed what has been called “one of the finest collections of African-American literature, manuscripts, films, and ephemera in private hands,” consisting of more than two million pieces chronicling Black history and culture in the United States. She opened up her garage to students, scholars, researchers, and anyone who held interest — including notable authors Langston Hughes and Alex Haley.
Dr. Clayton’s accomplishments are too numerous to name them all here, but her most important was raising three sons. Upon her death, her collection was moved out of her garage into what is now known as the Mayme A. Clayton Library & Museum. Her sons continued her legacy, and are still involved with her life’s passion to this day.
Wilma Rudolph
As a child, world-record-holding Olympic champion Wilma Rudolph survived several critical illnesses, including pneumonia, scarlet fever, and polio. However, she went on to qualify for the Olympics in 1956 — while still in high school — making her the youngest member of the U.S. Olympic team. Rudolph then gave birth to her first daughter in 1958, shortly after graduating. In 1960 she attended the Summer Olympics, where she became the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Olympic game. Unfortunately, Rudolph felt pressured at the time to choose her Olympic dreams over being present for her daughter. Her daughter Yolanda shared with the Washington Post, “She told me it made her sad because she missed a lot of my milestones.”
Katherine Johnson
If you are familiar with the Oscar-winning film Hidden Figures, you have probably heard of Katherine Johnson. She was one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist and was often referred to as a “human computer.”
Johnson began her career as a teacher at a Black public school in Virginia. She was later hand-picked by West Virginia State’s president to integrate the graduate program, becoming the first Black female enrolled in the graduate math program. However, at the end of the first session, she decided to leave school to start a family with her first husband, James Goble. In 1953, Goble died of an inoperable brain tumor, and Johnson continued working for NASA as a widowed mother of three children. Three years later she married James Johnson, and continued making essential contributions to NASA programs for almost 30 years.
Allyson Felix
Olympian Allyson Felix is the most decorated woman in Olympic track and field history — and the most decorated athlete, male or female, in the World Athletics Championship. Just ten months after giving birth to her first child, Felix broke Usain Bolt’s record for gold medals after winning her 12th gold medal at the 2019 World Championships. Felix bravely called out Nike in an op-ed in the New York Times that same year. She shared that she was pregnant during her contract negotiations and Nike offered her a 70% pay cut in the new contract and failed to grant her maternity protections she requested. Needless to say, Felix declined to sign the contract, instead moving on to sign with Athleta, and starting her own shoe and lifestyle brand called Saysh.
In 2024, the retired athlete worked to make the Paris Olympics more comfortable and enjoyable for athletes with kids. As a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Athletes’ Commission, she posed the idea of opening a nursery at the Olympic Village.
“And they were receptive,” the mom of two said while speaking at an event with The Lactation Network. “And I was shocked because anything happening at the IOC is very slow-moving. I was I was blown away that they thought we could put something together for parents.”
“For parent athletes competing at Paris 2024, it’s important to find a balance between preparing for your big moment and caring for your children,” the IOC said in their statement about the nursery and the “ongoing commitment” to “care for and support” parent athletes during the Games.
Shonda Rhimes
If you watch any TV these days, it’s nearly impossible not to know about Shonda Rhimes. She is the first Black woman to create and executive produce a Top 10 network series —the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. Her company, Shondaland, has also produced Private Practice, Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder, and Bridgerton, arguably making her one of the most successful producers in all of television. The award-winning writer and producer has three daughters by way of adoption and surrogacy, and has openly discussed her views on motherhood throughout her career. In an interview with Redbook magazine, Rhimes stated, “Part of what’s important about motherhood is that you be happy. Your kids need to see a happy, fulfilled mother. The worst thing you can do is provide your children with an unhappy, put-upon, bitter self. If I’m pursuing my goals, my kids are seeing me at my best.”
Ketanji Brown Jackson
The first Black woman to be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is a force to be reckoned with. She has said that her earliest memories of law were sitting alongside her dad, him studying law books and her hard at work on coloring books. Most Supreme Court judges have backgrounds as prosecutors or corporate lawyers; Jackson has a more varied background, working at various law firms both large and small, as a public defender, and as a federal judge. According to NPR, “Jackson, if appointed, would be the first Supreme Court justice since Thurgood Marshall to have represented indigent criminal defendants.”
Equally important to Jackson is her other role: mother to two daughters with her longtime husband, Patrick Jackson. She has spoken candidly about the struggles of raising kids, especially teens. “During the workday, I am a federal judge, which means that people generally treat me with respect. … But in the evening … all of my wisdom and knowledge and authority evaporate,” she said in a candid 2017 speech entitled Reflections on My Journey as a Mother and a Judge. “My daughters make it very clear that as far as they’re concerned I know nothing, I should not tell them anything, much less give them orders – that is, if they talk to me at all.”
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