Rulette “Rue” Mapp, is a pioneering leader in outdoor advocacy, transforming how communities of color engage with nature. Born on October 6, 1971, in Oakland, California, she is the founder and CEO of ‘Outdoor Afro,’ a national nonprofit that reconnects Black people with the outdoors and inspires more inclusive narratives around nature. Born to a mother who struggled with mental […]

Terry Bellamy, the first African American and second woman to serve as mayor of Asheville, North Carolina, was born Terry Michelle Whitmire on July 9, 1972, to Floyd Smith, a factory worker, and Luella Whitmire, an administrative assistant. Whitmire has three siblings. She graduated from Asheville High School in 1990. Afterward, she enrolled at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte […]

Cameroonian feminist advocate, Dr Zoneziwoh Mbondgulo-Wondieh, was born March 26, 1985. After excelling in her early education, she earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science from the University of Buea in Cameroon. She continued her education at Buea and earned a Master of Social Sciences degree in Sex and Gender studies. She then earned a Master of Social Sciences in […]

Ron Finley is the founder and CEO of the non-profit Ron Finley Project which teaches communities how to transform food deserts into food sanctuaries. Finley grew up in an impoverished South Central Los Angeles neighborhood that would today be considered a food desert. He inspired individuals in South Central to regenerate their lands through gardening, which he argues becomes a […]

Ruth Dorothea Kennedy Ellington, the only sister of jazz composer and band leader Edward “Duke” Kennedy Ellington, is significant in her own right. In 1941, Ellington and the “Duke” established Tempo Music, Inc., and he appointed Ruth Ellington president of the company, allowing her to oversee her famous brother’s copyrights, contracts, publishing, recordings, and financial affairs. She focused on Tempo’s […]

Nancelia Elizabeth Scott Jackson was one of the early Black residents of North Cherry Creek, a suburb of Denver, Colorado. Her grandfather, William Pitts, was born into slavery in Missouri. Eventually, Pitts settled in Denver and encouraged his daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth Pitts Scott and Paris, to move from Chicago to Denver.  They had six children including Nancelia, who was […]

Business executive, tech entrepreneur, and activist Damilola Odufuwa, a Yoruba woman, born in 1991 and reared in Lagos, Nigeria, has emerged as a prominent figure advocating for women rights across Africa. Odufuwa grew up in a society marked by a deeply ingrained male supremacist culture but she was born into a family that emphasized education and social justice.  She has […]

Tekesha A. Martinez, born April 2, 1978, is an American politician who was the first Black mayor of Hagerstown, a city of 44,000 in western Maryland, from 2023 to 2024. Martinez, the daughter of Delores A Martinez, was born and raised in Hagerstown, Maryland. Prior to her mayoral appointment in Hagerstown, Martinez was elected to a seat on the City […]

Charles E. Bussey Jr., was the first African American mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas. He was also the first African American elected to serve on the Little Rock City Board of Directors (City Council) since Reconstruction and the first African American deputy sheriff of Pulaski County. Bussey was born in Stamps, Arkansas on December 18, 1918, to Charles Bussey Sr. […]

Carolyn M. Finney, storyteller, actress, columnist, environmental advocate, and geographer who focuses on cultural awareness, competency, race, gender, and the environment, was born in 1959, adopted when she was six months old, and reared on a 12-acre estate owned by a wealthy, Jewish family in Mamaroneck, New York by an African American couple Henry L. Finney and Rose E. Finney […]