Flowers are due today and every day to these powerful Black women
Though it may sound cliche, there is a reason why this powerful group has been linked to the term “strong Black woman.” Black women in this country have historically experienced several setbacks and unfair treatment as a result of racial and gender disparities. Regretfully, a lot of those injustices still exist today. Because of this, it takes extraordinary fortitude to overcome obstacles and hurdles in order to endure and achieve unthinkable levels of achievement.
Table of Contents
This extensive list of well-known Black women will inspire, educate, and delight you. It includes everything from Oscar-winning singers and performers to trailblazing political activists and medical professionals.
Settle in and get ready to be wowed!
Beyoncé
How she is known to us: Performer, actor, director, and businesswoman
Why she’s deserving of praise: Beyoncé is rightfully referred to as the Queen Bee. To begin with, since the 1990s, fans have been chanting the Houstonian’s name.
The former member of Destiny’s Child has also had a remarkable 20-year solo career. With 79 career nominations, she holds the record for most female artist nominations in Grammy history. She has also won 32 of the highly sought-after prizes.
Her Renaissance World Tour earned about $579 million in revenue globally in 2023. With $21 million in its first weekend, Beyoncé’s documentary, Renaissance: A Film, which is based on the ground-breaking tour, topped the box office.
Issa Rae
How she is known to us: Author, filmmaker, actress, producer, businesswoman
Rae is deserving of appreciation since she embodies the multi-hyphenate term. It seems as though she is capable of anything. She’s one of Hollywood’s most inventive people, as anyone who has followed her career since her online series would attest.
The well-known “awkward Black girl” gained notoriety for her five seasons on the popular HBO sitcom Insecure from 2016 to 2021. The highly praised program was nominated for 14 Emmys and took home one. Rap Sh!t, a dramedy she created for HBO Max, is her follow-up to Insecure and is currently in its second season. In addition, Rae has acted in over a dozen feature films, the most recent of which was American Fiction.
She is starting a number of enterprises while she isn’t making appearances on screens or writing scripts. She currently owns a several businesses, including a vegan haircare line called Sienna Naturals, a media company called HOORAE, a local hub for creatives, a Prosecco brand called Viarae, and co-owner of Hilltop Coffee + Kitchen.
Michelle
How she is known to us: Author, businesswoman, philanthropist, and former first lady
Obama’s commendable quality is that she became the first Black First Lady upon her husband Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2008. She led programs like Let’s Move while she was in Washington, D.C., and she also worked to assist military families and veterans.
She also concentrated on her primary responsibility as a mother, which she regards as her greatest job. Her daughters, who she raised for eight years in the White House, became successful young ladies.
In addition, Michelle is the author of multiple books, including the critically acclaimed memoir Becoming, which on its first day of release sold over 725,000 copies in the United States and Canada.
The Obamas currently collaborate with Netflix, through which their Higher Ground Productions company creates films and television shows.
Sha’Carri Richardson
How she is known to us: athlete in track and field
Richardson has outperformed other track and field athletes, which is why she deserves commendation.
The sprinter from Texas breaks records in both the 100 and 200-meter events. In 2019, while she was still a freshman at Louisiana State University, she made her claim to fame. She ran an incredible 10.75 seconds to break the collegiate record in the 100 meters during this period in the NCAA Division I Championships.
At the 2023 World Athletics Championships, the 23-year-old broke Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s event record to win the women’s 100m world gold in 10.65 seconds. This was her first major outdoor international event.
Halle Bailey
How we know her: Singer and actress
Why Bailey is deserving of praise: Despite having begun her career performing covers on YouTube, Bailey is now a Grammy Award nominee and the star of a Disney picture.
Racist remarks and criticism surrounded her portrayal of Ariel in the Little Mermaid remake, but it didn’t take away from her experience.
“I wasn’t surprised by the racism,” she stated to the Los Angeles Times. It is rather disheartening, but inevitable. I chose to ignore it and concentrate only on the encouraging feedback I was receiving. All of that is so small compared to this moment. It’s crucial that they see themselves in the Black and Brown babies, in particular, so I hope they feel full of love and confidence in who they are.
Oprah Winfrey
How she is known to us: Producer, writer, actress, and media mogul
Winfrey is deserving of recognition because she has been well-known since the 1980s. She may be well-known to the public from her 25-year run of a highly regarded chat show on television. But for this multi-talented billionaire, that achievement is merely the tip of the iceberg.
The native of Mississippi started her own publication, O, The Oprah Magazine, in 2000, and for 20 years, she adorned the cover every month. She founded the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), a cable channel with a primary concentration on content for women of African American descent, in 2011.
Production of The Color Purple, a reimagining of the feature film starring Taraji and Fantasia, is Winfrey’s most recent endeavor.
Vice President Kamala Harris
How she is known to us: Attorney and Vice President of the United States
Harris is deserving of recognition because she is the country’s first female vice president. That in and of itself demonstrates why she deserves a spot on this impressive list.
Parents who immigrated from India and Jamaica raised Harris in Oakland before she was known as Madame VP. Following her graduation from the University of California, Hastings College of Law and Howard University, she worked as a prosecutor for child sexual assault cases at the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.
She was chosen to serve as San Francisco’s district attorney in 2003. She went on to become a U.S. senator after that position. She now leads the country in collaboration with President Joe Biden as Vice President.
Rihanna
How we know her: She is a philanthropist, singer, and businesswoman.
Why she deserves praise: Despite being a pop and R&B chart-topper, Rihanna is a Barbadian beauty that is more than just a lovely face with vocal talent. The mother of two has sold more than 60 million albums and 215 million digital tracks worldwide since making her musical debut in 2005.
Her financial sense is equally as outstanding as her music career. Her company, Fenty Beauty, was founded by her, and as of 2023, its net worth was estimated to be $2.8 billion. In addition, Rihanna owns the lingerie brand Savage x Fenty, which boasts over 5 million social media followers.
In memory of her parents, she established the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF), a nonprofit organization that supports climate justice efforts in the US and the Caribbean and aids in community preparedness and resilience to natural disasters.
Kizzmekia Corbett
How she is known to us: Immunologist for viruses
Why she deserves praise: Corbett’s efforts was essential in helping the populace receive a vaccination during the global Covid-19 outbreak.
Her team’s vaccine concept was integrated into mRNA-1273 and quickly distributed to industry partner Moderna, Inc. She is a research fellow and the scientific lead for the Coronavirus Vaccines & Immunopathogenesis Team at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Vaccine Research Center (VRC).
In addition to her research, Corbett is an active supporter of STEM education and vaccine awareness, serving as a member of the NIH Fellows Committee.
Tracee Ellis Ross
How she is known to us: Entrepreneur, producer, and actress
Why she deserves praise: Ross is a multi-talented force in her own right, despite being the daughter of renowned singer-actress Diana Ross.
Apart from his eight seasons as a lead in ABC’s popular sitcom Black-ish, Ross holds a managerial position. She established Pattern Beauty in 2019 as a hair care line specifically for Black individuals with curly hair characteristics. There are currently over thirty goods in the range since it launched.
According to Ross, on the Pattern Beauty website, “I wanted to create a line of products that gave our hair the support it needed to be its true self.”
Robinson Fatima
How she is known to us: Creative Director and Choreographer
Why she deserves praise: Before TikTok, people were imitating Robinson’s motions in front of the mirror. Even while she might not have been the performer in front of the camera, she was the creative force behind some of your favorite musicians’ dance moves.
Robinson is the go-to person for projects requiring striking, memorable movement, having choreographed some of the most well-known films by the late Aaliyah and providing creative direction for well-known commercials for Target and the Gap.
Her most recent choreography credits are Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour and the musical film The Color Purple.
Gayle King
How she is known to us: Author, television personality, and broadcast journalist
Why she’s deserving of praise: King and Oprah Winfrey first bonded as teenage journalists in the 1970s, however most people are only aware that she has been Oprah Winfrey’s best friend for over 40 years. Actually, Winfrey invited King to stay at her house after a snowstorm that left her stranded while the two were working at Baltimore’s WJZ station.
In a 2006 interview with O, The Oprah Magazine, King stated, “We became friends that first night because for the first time, I met somebody who I felt was like me.” “I’d never encountered someone like that. Not another Black chick, for sure. In my all-white community, I grew up.
She also spent twenty years as the editor-at-large of O, The Oprah Magazine. King became a member of CBS News in 2011 and presently co-hosts CBS Mornings.
Yara Shahidi
How she is known to us: Producer, activist, and actress
Why she deserves praise: Shahidi started off as a kid model and soon after that she started getting jobs in movies and television shows. In the latter, she starred with legendary actor and comic Eddie Murphy in the 2009 film Imagine That.
She landed the much sought-after part of Zoey on ABC’s Black-ish for eight seasons as a teenager. Grown-ish, a spin-off starring Shahidi on Disney’s Freeform network, was inspired by that character.
Apart from her aspirations in Hollywood, Shahidi holds a Harvard degree.
Angela Bassett
How she is known to us: Director, producer, and actress
Why she deserves praise: Bassett has spent decades gracing both large and small screens.
Throughout her career, the Academy Award-nominated actress has starred in over 50 films, ranging from her role as Tina Turner in the 1993 box office success What’s Love Got To Do With It to her portrayal as T’Challa’s mother in Marvel’s Black Panther saga.
Serena Williams
How we know her: She’s a tennis champion and an Olympic gold medallist.
Why she deserves praise: Williams, who was up in Compton, California, is renowned for revolutionizing women’s tennis through her inventive play and distinct flare. In addition, she is the only female player to have won more Grand Slam singles titles during the Open Era.
The praise doesn’t end there. Venus and Williams’ sister, Serena, shared three Olympic doubles gold medals and fourteen Grand Slam doubles victories.
2022 saw Williams retire in September.
