She is memorialized for all eternity! Dr. Maya Angelou is set to become one of the first women featured on the United States quarter, The Grio reports.  The iconic poet, performer, civil rights activist, and one of the most influential literary voices is now part of the U.S. Mint's program honoring history-making women. Over the course of her lifetime, she accomplished a laundry list of history-making endeavors. In 1969, Angelou became the first Black woman author to have a nonfiction bestseller with her autobiography, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." She continued to published more than 30 literary works and garnered over 30...

She’s here to bring about actual change! Amma Agyei was just elected as Tufts University new Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate president, making her the first Black woman to hold the title in the school’s 160-year history, The Tufts Daily reports. Agyei was born in Ghana, moving to the U.S. during her junior year of high school. As a student at Tufts University, she has been instrumental in bringing about change, focusing on diversifying the student body and advocating for more students of color in campus organizations. Agyei is a pre-med student majoring in biomedical engineering. She is also the...

Time to celebrate! Dr. William Tate has been appointed as the next president of Louisiana State University (LSU). He will be the first Black person to hold the position at LSU and in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The board voted May 6, 15-0, in favor of Tate, the university announced. “This is a very pivotal time at our university, from economic, environmental, social challenges, but we are doing great things at this place. From our academic achievements, our enrollment, our diversity, I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished,” LSU Board Chair Robert Dampf said. “We set about to find a great...

Free Slurpees for the culture! Johnathan Lacy is making history as the first Black owner of a 7-Eleven store in Nevada, Fox 5 Vegas reports. He didn’t set out to make history; he just focused on making a dream of his a reality, saving up all the money he could to invest in his business.  “What I did was just save every dollar I got, and I put everything I had towards it. My family came together. Gave me jobs here, gave me jobs there, just to keep me going,” Lacy said.   After a year of planning, the state’s first Black-owned 7-Eleven...

She’s the first at the school and in the state! A James Madison University (JMU) student is making history as the first Black woman to earn a biophysical chemistry degree in Virginia, WHSV news reports.  Jay-Anne Johnson didn’t initially know what she planned to major in when she went to college. She enjoyed several subjects, particularly in the sciences, coming across biophysical chemistry as a major when she was still in high school.  “I couldn’t really decide, ‘Do I want to do physics? Do I want to do chemistry? Do I want to do biology?’ So, I was like, ‘Let me see...