He won four gold medals at the Olympics that year in the 100- and 200-meter dashes, along with the 100-meter relay and other events off the track. In 1976, Owens received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1990.

Jesse Owens (1913-1980)
Owens was a track-and-field athlete who set a world record in the long jump at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin—and went unrivaled for 25 years.

She was a leader in the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) and the president of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) for more than 40 years. She was also among the few women present at the 1963 March on Washington, where Dr. King delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

Dorothy Height (1912-2010)
Hailed the “godmother of the women’s movement,” Height used her background in education and social work to advance women’s rights.

2/2 Touting her constitutional rights to remain seated near the middle of the vehicle, Colvin challenged the driver and was subsequently arrested. She was the first woman to be detained for her resistance. However, her story isn't nearly as well-known as Parks's.

Claudette Colvin (1939- )

Before Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955, there was a brave 15-year-old who chose not to sit at the back of the bus. That young girl was Colvin. Touting her constitutional rights to remain seated near the middle of the vehicle, 1/2

She represented New York's 12th District from 1969 to 1983, and in 1972, she became the first woman to run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. Her campaign slogan "Unbought and unbossed" rings even louder today.

Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005)
Congress is more diverse now than it's ever been. However, when Chisholm was attempting to shatter the glass ceiling, the same couldn't be said. During the racially contentious period in the late '60s, she became the first Black woman elected to Congress.

On a friend's post on FB, someone shared a letter to the Defense Intelligence Agency ordering a pause on various celebrations throughout the year. In response, I intend to work extra hard to honor ALL of those paused celebrations, beginning today with Black History Month.

Boro Pride is hosting a social at Eagle Creek tonight at 6pm if anyone wants to join.

“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly now, love mercy now, walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it” -- from a loose translation of the Pirkei Avot, Micah 6:8