This woman was the Mother of Shaka, the famous King of the Zulu people, was put in charge of the military, and governed in King Shaka’s place while he was away.

This woman was the first female pharaoh of Egypt to obtain full power, ruled peacefully, but built the greatest army in the world during her lifetime.  

Best known for her impressive military skills and her ability to lead the cavalry, this 16th-century warrior Queen of present day Nigeria is accredited as a brilliant architect who constructed strong earthen walls around the cities she built and seized. She was the inspiration for the television series Xena Warrior Princess.

This powerful Nubian Warrior Queen of Kush (present-day Sudan) fought alongside her husband and son in a war against Kush’s larger and more powerful rival, the Roman Empire. She and her army used gruesome tactics against the enemy, including attacking with war elephants and feeding captives to her pet lion. She reached a peace treaty with Rome because of her successful military attacks, which led to 400 years of peace and prosperity for Kush.

This all-female military regiment of the kingdom of Dahomey were all formally married to the King but remained celibate throughout their lifetimes. They went through extreme and gruesome training in which they were forced to scale thorn hedges, survive in the woods, and execute prisoners. They used weapons but were known for their excellent hand-t-hand combat skills.

This poet, novelist, and author of African and feminist literature traveled from Nigeria to the US to further her education in communication, political science, and African studies. She penned the prize-winning novel Purple Hibiscus as well as several books of poetry and other novels, and was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

This poet, feminist, womanist, and Civil Rights activist worked as a professor in the 1950s and 1960s , where she furthered her self-acceptance as a #!!##!!##!!##!!##!!##!!##!!# woman and influenced students to think more deeply. She empowered African women living in Europe to become more conscious through an Afro-German movement she started in Berlin.

Born into an interracial, upper-class family in Jamaica where she was formally educated, this pioneering journalist and publisher advocates for the improvement of African-American lives through Black Nationalism. She continued her husband, Marcus Garvey’s work after he went to prison, speaking nationally on the importance of Black Nationalism, separation from European society, and African independence.    

This poet and author contributed to the Civil Rights Movement as a fundraiser and organizer, working with both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Malcom X. She authored the first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings as well as a number of poems, novels, and autobiographies spanning over fifty years. She has received many honor over the years, including the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The first African-American poet to publish a book in the English colonies, she was forced into slavery as a personal servant after being taken from West Africa in 1753. She learned English, Latin, Greek, and theology, in addition to pursuing literary work, which was a rarity in times where most slaves were forbidden from learning to read or write.     

Her works and passion for solving the problem of racism in the US were influenced by her experience growing up on segregated schools. She published her first book, Ain’t I a Woman, which was a feminist discussion on racism and sexism, and taught at Yake and several other colleges after earning a doctorate in English literature in the 1970’s. She continues to be a voice for educational reform and critical thinking.

Born a slave, she gained her freedom at the age of twelve and eventually studied at Oberlin College in Ohio, the first college in the US to accept both Black and female students. She taught math, Greek, and Latin at Philadelphia's Institute for Colored Youth (now Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, and became principal of the same school in 1969, making her the first African-American woman to serve in this role.

This professor was first African-American woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature and recipient of many awards including the Pulitzer Prize, the NAACP Image Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She wrote many novels with strong, African-American women including the award-winning the novel Beloved, based upon the life of a runaway slave who killed her daughter rather than have her return to slavery.

She spent her early years studying and collecting folklore throughout the South and the Caribbean as she worked to record the stories and tales of many cultures, particulary African-American. She wrote her most famous novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937) while studying voodoo practices in Haiti.

This media network owner, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist is listed by Forbes as the richest African-American and one of only ten Black billionaires in the world, as of 2017. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Color Purple, one of many movies she has starred in or produced.  

As the Empress of Ethiopia, she was educated and spoke more than one language, was a military strategist, and bravely commanded both men and women on the battlefield to bring her country to victory.

Forced into hiding with her son after her husband was killed by his stepmother, she became the leader of the mountain people and led an anti-colonial struggle against the Germans and British, who were trying to take over the region. Her powr scared the British, who put the Witchcraft Act of 1912 into place in Rwanda to try to reduce Her power once she was captured and exiled.

Kidnapped in her teens and sold into slavery to sealers, she was intent on getting revenge against British Whites. She used her time in captivity to learn how to use firearms and how to speak English fluently. She escaped enslavement, returned to Tasmania, killed anyone who tried to come against her in power, and led both men and women Tasmanians in the “Black War” against the British colonists until her eventual capture and death from influenza in 1831.

A celebrated Jamaican war hero and community leader born in Ghana, she escaped slavery and organized many raids against the British and is credited with helping free over 1,000 slaves.      

She is best remembered for her resistance against the Portuguese and setting her people free from slavery in the 1600’s.

This organizer is considered by many to be the most influential woman of the Civil Rights Movement because of the work she did with the NAACP and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She worked beside some of the most prominent male Civil Rights leaders, serving as an organizer on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and guided students who were leading campus sit-ins.

A member of the Black Panther Party, she was regarded as a hero for her protests against racism and her role in the 1970s black Liberation Army. She helped the poor by organizing a free breakfast program and free health clinic, and became the first woman to be placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list after escaping to Cuba from prison, where she was serving a life sentence for the 1973 murder of a police officer. Many people believe her to be a political champion who is innocent of the criminal accusations against her.

This Civil Rights Leader, feminist, crusader for justice, and former slave became an activist after being forcibly removed from a train in 1884 because she refused to leave her first-class seat and move to the back. She formed the National Association of Colored Women in 1896 and later co-founded the NAACP. She used her platform as a journalist to lead an anti-lynching crusade in the US in the 1890s.

An activist for African Independence and the rights of African women, she owned a jazz club and produces shows where other activists would gather to discuss Pan-Africanism. She co-founded the Association for the Advancement of Coloured People in 1958 and served as director of the Black Star Line shipping company.

She began her speaking career in high school as an anti-lynching activist, and broadened her activism after the founder of the National Council of Negro Women, Mary McLeod Bethune, and the US first lady Eleanor Roosevelt came to visit the YMCA where she worked. She co-organized the March on Washington in 1963 and ran the YMCA in Harlem and the National Council of Negro Women for twenty years.

Born in Ghana, she moved to Washing DC in her early twenties to work at Ghana's embassy and became an American citizen in 1997. In 2008 she was suprised to find that she was decended from royalty and had been chosen to be King of Otuam, a Ghyanaian village of 7,000 souls on the west coast of Africa. She believes that the future of Africa lies in the hands of its women.