The People Who Paved the Way

Trailblazers

Pioneers, barrier-breakers, and history-makers who changed what's possible.

All A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Faith Ringgold

Faith Ringgold transformed the American quilt — a domestic craft traditionally associated with women’s labor — into one of the most powerful storytelling mediums in contemporary art. Her painted story quilts, which combine acrylic painting, quilted fabric borders, and narrative text, hang in the most prestigious museums in the world and have inspired millions of […]

Fannie Barrier Williams

Civil Rights & Activism

Fannie Barrier Williams was an educator, activist, and public intellectual who fought for Black women’s inclusion in the institutions and opportunities of American life during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 1893, she delivered a landmark address at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, speaking to an international audience about the unique challenges […]

Fannie Lou Hamer

Civil Rights & Activism

A sharecropper who became one of the most powerful voices of the civil rights movement — Fannie Lou Hamer told America she was "sick and tired of being sick and tired" and fought for voting rights with her life.

Florence Griffith Joyner

Sports

Florence Griffith Joyner — Flo-Jo — is the fastest woman who ever lived. Her world records in the 100 meters (10.49) and 200 meters (21.34), set at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, have stood for over 35 years and may never be broken. She won three gold medals and a silver at those Games. But Flo-Jo […]

Fred Hampton

Civil Rights & Activism

Fred Hampton was twenty-one years old when he was assassinated by Chicago police in a predawn raid on December 4, 1969 — but in his brief life, he had already become one of the most effective organizers the Black Panther Party ever produced. As chairman of the Illinois chapter, Hampton built the Rainbow Coalition, an […]

Frederick Douglass

Civil Rights & Activism

Born into slavery, Frederick Douglass taught himself to read and became the most powerful orator and abolitionist of the 19th century — proof that freedom is not given but seized.

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Trailblazers

Faith Ringgold

Fannie Barrier Williams

Fannie Lou Hamer

Florence Griffith Joyner

Fred Hampton

Frederick Douglass

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