Across
- 3. Was a major activist in the late 1960s and early '70s. Profoundly affected by her childhood in the segregated city of Birmingham, Ala., she joined the Communist Party and became an affiliate of the Black Panthers as a young woman, and ran as the Communist vice-presidential candidate in 1980 and 1984.
- 8. Unlike many African-American female changemakers on the list, Mary Church Terrell came from an affluent background — her father was one of the South's first Black millionaires — and she leveraged that status to fight racial injustice.
- 10. Was one of the greatest American contraltos of the 20th century and the first African-American to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera.
- 12. the first Black billionaire, with a net worth of about $2.6 billion; was the host of a very popular daytime talk show that ran for 25 years,
- 13. Dubbed The "Moses of her people," Is one of the most famous abolitionists ever. A slave herself, she escaped in 1849 and helped others gain freedom via the Underground Railroad.
- 14. founded a school for girls and women, the National Training School for Women and Girls in 1909. She served as the school's president until her death in 1961.
- 18. She was the first Black woman to attend Columbia Law School. In 1964 she became the first African-American woman elected to the New York State Senate.
- 19. While sitting on the House Judiciary Committee, the congresswoman eloquently explained why she supported articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon.
- 20. Educator and activist; became the highest ranking African-American woman in government in 1936 when President Franklin Roosevelt named her as director of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration.
- 21. She was the first Black woman to serve as an American ambassador when she represented the United States in Luxembourg from 1965 to 1967
- 23. Was a teacher and civic leader in Cambridge, Mass. She became master of the Agassiz School, a public school for middle-class white children, in 1916.
- 24. The widow of Dr. Martin Luther King; continued the work of her slain husband.
- 25. In Missouri; became one of the most respected teachers in that state, becoming the first Black woman to become chair of a college science department (she had been trained in chemistry) and possibly the first to be named a full professor at any institution of higher learning in the country.
Down
- 1. The daughter of Mississippi sharecroppers, she was arrested and beaten for sitting in a whites-only section of a bus station restaurant. She gained national attention in 1964 when her Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party challenged the Democratic Party's efforts opposing Black participation.
- 2. Became New Bedford's first African-American teacher, founded the community's NAACP chapter, helped open the New Bedford Home for the Aged and contributed to its design.
- 4. Was profiled in the film “Hidden Figures” as a NASA mathematician whose trajectory calculations helped astronaut Alan Shepard become the first American in space.
- 5. Television viewers are familiar with the work of Charlayne Hunter-Gault. She joined the well-respected PBS news program MacNeil/Lehrer Report in 1978
- 6. The daughter of slaves who grew up in Canada, Brown taught in plantation schools in Mississippi and South Carolina. She became a famous lecturer and toured Europe in the 19th century
- 7. She was one of the greatest singers of the 20th century, despite racial bias that kept her out of famous performing venues for much of her early career; performed with the greatest performers of the 20th century, among them Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, and Benny Goodman.
- 9. "Fighting Shirley," was the first African-American woman elected to Congress, serving the first of seven terms beginning in 1969
- 11. One of the greatest jazz singers of the 20th century. Holiday started working with Artie Shaw and his orchestra in 1938, becoming one of the first female African-American vocalists to work with a white orchestra.
- 15. Gave singing lessons to such artists as Marian Anderson, Roland Hayes, and R. Nathaniel Dett. Co-founder of the Colored Women's League, she combatted racial discrimination all her life.
- 16. Was a change agent in American dance in the 1930s, tapping into the origins of Black dance and Caribbean choreography and integrating them into American entertainment.
- 17. was an influential educator and activist who was a staunch advocate for freed slaves in the South.
- 22. Overcame racial bias to become the first African-American tennis player to win a Grand Slam tournament — the French Championships in 1956.