Browse Items (35 total)

Esther Gleaton joined the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) in 1966, because it offered her opportunity to travel beyond her Atlanta, Georgia, hometown and made her eligible to receive the G.I. Bill for college. She needed her parent’s permission, which they…

Harriet Tubman seized her freedom from enslavement in Maryland in 1849. As a child, Tubman suffered physical abuse from her enslavers, including a severe head injury which caused lifelong health issues. Overhearing her enslaver discussing “selling…

During the Civil War, Cathay Williams lived enslaved at a plantation near Jefferson City, Missouri. The Union Army camp occupied the city in 1861, captured Cathay and other enslaved people and forced them as “contraband” to serve in support roles.…

Bridgette (Smith) Arnold served 24 years in the Air Force mostly supporting Special Operations Forces and national-level intelligence agencies as a counter-terrorism subject matter expert. After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Arnold was…

Emily (Tatum) Perez, one of two children born into a military family, lived much of her youth in Germany. She returned to the United States in 1998, graduating from high school in Maryland in 2001. Realizing her life-long dream of becoming a soldier,…

The first Black Army nurse, Susie King Taylor served for the Union during the Civil War, tending to an all-Black Army regiment. Like many African American nurses during the war, Taylor was never compensated for her work. She worked as a laundress and…

Marine Warrant Officer Annie L. Grimes became first African American Woman Marine officer to retire after a 20-year career.

Phyllis M. Daley became the first African American Navy Nurse.

The Coast Guard opened the SPARs (from the Coast Guard motto Semper Paratus, "Always Ready") to African-American women.

Lieutenant (junior grade) La’Shonda Holmes became the first African American woman Coast Guard helicopter pilot.