by Chanell Gautreaux

Created on: December 16, 2011   Last Updated: December 18, 2011

Throughout history, numerous Black women have become famous by making a name for themselves in the United States alone in a variety of areas of achievement ranging from entertainment to science to politics. Many have merely enjoyed their “fifteen minutes”, here today and soon forgotten; while others have had true staying power over multiple decades, and have even affected change on a global scale, inspiring and influencing others along the way.

One of the most famous, and quite possibly the most influential, Black woman of all time, Oprah Winfrey is most widely recognized for her nationally syndicated television program that debuted in the 1980s, which was both the longest running and highest rated talk show in history. She built a media empire and was one of the first African American Billionaires.

Her achievements activities are almost too many to account for accurately. Named the greatest woman in American History in 2005, she has helped to catapult others to fame, created a philanthropic network, and in 2007, she started the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, a boarding school in South Africa.

Before Oprah Winfrey, there was Madame C.J. Walker, believed to be America’s first self-made Black woman Millionaire. Born Sarah Breedlove McWilliams in 1867, just nine years prior to the inception of Jim Crow, the daughter of former slaves overcame great adversity and a lack of education to become a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist. Pulling herself up from poverty, she went from selling her products door to door to building a hair care empire that included a factory and beauty colleges, and which grew to eventually employ over 3,000 people.

One of the most significant Black women in United States history was born a slave on a Maryland plantation in the early 1820s. Illiterate and without any economic power, Harriet Tubman managed to directly liberate and indirectly influence the escape of hundreds of slaves, including members of her own family. Her courage, determination and faith, and her Civil War Military Service earned her the respect and admiration of everyone from her fellow abolitionists to heads of state.

As the struggle for civil rights in the United States continued into the twentieth century, a quiet act of defiance propelled a relatively unknown NAACP secretary to national prominence after her arrest for not giving up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama public bus sparked a city-wide boycott

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