Diane Abbott was the first black woman ever elected to the British Parliament in 1987. She has since built a distinguished career as a Labour MP, broadcaster and commentator. Abbott was born in London in 1953. She attended the grammar school Harrow County and then went on to Newnham College Cambridge where she obtained a …
This weeks Illustrated Woman in History was drawn by Lily Grace Stewart (age 6) and submitted to be a part of the next Illustrated Women in History zine and exhibition in April 2017. Mary Eliza Mahoney was the first black professional nurse in the U.S. She co-founded the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN), …
Lorraine Hansberry was an American playwright, civil rights activist and writer. Her groundbreaking play, A Raisin In The Sun was the first to be performed on Broadway written by a black woman and performed by a black cast. Hansberry was born in 1930 in Chicago, Illinois to politically active parents. Eight years later, after her …
Ruth Ellis was an African-American LGBT civil rights activist who became the oldest known American lesbian when reaching the age of 101. Ellis was born in 1899 in Springfield, Illinois. Her parents had been born in the last years of slavery, and her father would become the first African-American mail carrier in Illinois. Ellis and …
Gladys Bentley was an American blues singer, pianist, entertainer and lesbian icon during the Harlem Renaissance. She became one of the best known and financially successful black women in the U.S. during the 1920s and 1930s for the pioneering way she dealt with gender, sexuality, class and race in her act. Bentley was born in …
Charlotte Forten Grimké was an African-American teacher and one of the most influential anti-slavery activists of her time. She wrote extensive diaries covering the Civil War and post-war years which give an insight into the life of a free black woman in the North in the antebellum years. Grimké was born in 1837 in Philadelphia, …
Leyla Hussein is a Somali psychotherapist and social activist. She is Chief Executive of Hawa’s Haven, and a co-founder of Daughters of Eve, a non-profit organisation which campaigns for greater awareness of female genital mutilation (FGM) and works to support young women and girls. Hussein was born in 1980 in Somalia. At the age of …
Nimko Ali is a Somali social activist. She is the co-founder and Director of the Daughters of Eve non-profit organisation which campaigns for greater awareness of female genital mutilation (FGM) and works to support young women and girls. She is also a founding member of the Women’s Equality Party. Ali was born in Somalia, at …
Hafsat Abiola-Costello is a Nigerian human rights, civil rights and democracy activist, founder of the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND), which seeks to strengthen civil society and promote democracy in Nigeria. Abiola was born in 1974 in Lagos, Nigeria to Nigerian politician and philanthropist Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola and Alhaja Kudirat Abiola. She was …
Florynce Kennedy was an American lawyer, activist, civil rights advocate, lecturer and one of the pioneers of second-wave feminism. Kennedy was born in 1916 in Kansas City, Missouri. She grew up in a mostly white neighbourhood, and as a young child was arrested as the police didn’t believe she lived in the neighbourhood. On one occasion, …