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HISTORY The Blue Triangle (formally the first branch of Houston’s YWCA), was founded (1919) during World War I. This basis of this organization grew out of the pressing need for a central meeting place where women and girls of color could safely meet, learn and recreate. It opened at 806 Clay Ave. in the oldContinue reading “The Blue Triangle (formally the first Branch of the YMCA)”

At YWCA, our mission is inspired by the perspectives of Black feminists who have consistently transformed the fights for gender equity and racial justice. During Black Herstory Month, we’re celebrating Black feminism and centering the work of powerful Black sheroes past and present doing the critical work to eliminate racism and empower women. As leadersContinue reading “YMCA:The Unsung Legacy of Black Feminism: From Jane Crow to Intersectionality”

Observed throughout the United States since the 1980s, Women’s History Month was born out of a feminist push for equal access to jobs and education—one of the main demands of the Strike for Equality march that filled New York City streets to capacity on August 26, 1970. To commemorate the day and stand in solidarity, manyContinue reading “National Women month”

Phillis Wheatley Despite spending much of her life enslaved, Phillis Wheatley was the first African American and second woman (after Anne Bradstreet) to publish a book of poems. Born around 1753 in Gambia, Africa, Wheatley was captured by slave traders and brought to America in 1761. Upon arrival, she was sold to the Wheatley familyContinue reading “Black History Month day #28 Phillis Wheatley Americas first Black Poet”

Madam C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove; December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919) was an African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist. She is recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the Guinness Book of World Records. Multiple sources mention that although other women (like Mary Ellen Pleasant) might have been the first, their wealthContinue reading “Black History day #27 Madam C. J. Walker”

Entrepreneur and inventor Sarah E. Goode was one of the first African American women to receive a United States patent. Who Was Sarah E. Good? Born into slavery in 1850, inventor and entrepreneur Sarah E. Goode was one of the first African American women to be granted a patent by the U.S. Patent and TrademarkContinue reading “Black History day #25 Sarah E. Goode”

Peterson was born in Metuchen, New Jersey. His father, also named Thomas, worked for the Mundy family. His mother, Lucy Green, was a slave of Hugh Newell (1744–1816) of Freehold Township, New Jersey. She was manumitted at age 21 by Newell’s will. After moving to Perth Amboy, Peterson’s father married Daphne Reeve, whos parents had also been slaves onContinue reading “Black History Month day #25 Thomas Mundy Peterson”

A graduate of New York City’s Music & Art High School, Billy Graham was influenced artistically by the work of Al Williamson, Frank Frazetta, Burne Hogarth, and George Tuska. One of his earliest comics projects was illustrating writer Don Glut‘s “Death Boat!” in Vampirella #1 (Sept. 1969), one of Warren Publishing‘s influential black-and-white horror-comics magazines. Graham would pencil and self-ink a story in nearly each of the first dozenContinue reading “Black History day #24 Comic Artist Billy Grahm”

On February 14, 1920, Smith recorded “That Thing Called Love” and “You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down” for the Okeh label in New York City, after African-American songwriter and bandleader Perry Bradford persuaded Fred Hagar to break the color barrier in black music recording. Okeh Records recorded many iconic songs by black musicians. Although this was the first recording byContinue reading “Black History day #23 Mamie Smith”

In her fiction debut, Destiny O. Birdsong offers three different stories of Black women coming of age in Shreveport, Louisiana while navigating albinism. While each character has something to lose, Birdsong shapes each story around what they have to gain, which is their own internal magic. With an exquisite attention to southern visuals and vernacular,Continue reading “Black History day #22 Kindred Stories”