Little Girl Recreates Iconic Women Of Black History In this Incredible Photo Series

To teach her daughter about inspiring African American women, Chauncia Boyd Rogers dressed Ava Noelle up as some of the most influential ladies in American history. Despite the fact that they’re just taken with a cellphone, these photos give us all an adorable HER-story lesson. 

Phillis Wheatley is both the second published African-American poet and first published African-American woman. 

Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was the first black, female pilot. She was also the first African-American to hold an international pilot license. 

Mary Eliza Mahoney was the first African-American to study and work as a professionally trained nurse in the United States. In 1908, she co-founded the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) with Adah B. Thoms.

Michelle Obama is an American lawyer and writer. And, she is the first African-American First Lady of the United States.

Angela Davis is an American political activist, scholar, and author. She emerged as a prominent counterculture activist and radical in the 1960s. And she was actively involved in the #CivilRightsMovement.

Zora Neale Hurston was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author. Her most celebrated work is Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Ella Fitzgerald was an American jazz vocalist.  She was the first African-American woman to win a #Grammy and she earned 13 throughout her career.

Fanny Jackson Coppin was an African-American educator and missionary. She was born into slavery, but was able to read and study after her freedom was purchased at age 12. In 1860, she enrolled in Oberlin College, she graduated with a Bachelors degree in 1865. In 1869, she became the first African-American woman to become a school principal.

Condoleezza Rice served as the 66th United States Secretary of State. Rice was the first female African-American secretary of state. And she was President Bush’s National Security Advisor during his first term, making her the first woman of any race to serve in that position.

Ida B. Wells was an African-American journalist, editor, suffragist, and sociologist. She was also an early leader in the civil rights movement who documented lynching in the United States.  

Harriet Tubman was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and a Union spy. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made about thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved people. She later helped struggle for women’s suffrage.

Marian Wright Edelman is an activist for children. She was the first African-American woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar and she has been an advocate for disadvantaged Americans her entire career. She is president and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund.

 

 

 

Ella Baker was an African-American civil rights and human rights activist. Ella has been called, “One of the most important African American leaders of the twentieth century and perhaps the most influential woman in the civil rights movement.”

 

 

Alice Ball was an African-American chemist who developed an injectable oil extract that was the most effective treatment of leprosy until the 1940s. 

 

 

Robin Roberts is an African-American television broadcaster. She was ESPN’s first on-air black anchorwoman, the first black female host of “Wild World of Sports,” and the first woman (of any race) to host a network televised NFL pre-game show. 

 

 

Virginia Proctor Powell Florence was the first Black woman in the United States to earn a degree in library science and she was the first Black woman to become a professional librarian.

 

 

Edna Lewis was an African-American chef and author. Lewis was not the first African-American female chef, but many consider her the first prominent African-American female chef. 

 

 

Keija Minor is an African-American journalist. In 2012, she made history when she became the first African-American woman to lead any of Condé Nast’s 18 consumer magazines in the 103 years of the company’s existence.

 

 On February 26, 2015 the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate confirmed Loretta Lynch‘s appointment to succeed Eric Holder as Attorney General of the United States. She will be the first African-American woman to hold the office of Attorney General of the United States of America.

 

All images c/o Chauncia Boyd Rogers