We’re only three months into the new year and already we’ve seen many historic acts! From the historic presidential inauguration where Vice President Kamala Harris was sworn in and Amanda Gorman performed an amazing poem. To Bianca Smith and Maia Chak taking the sports world by storm. The five women on this list have broken many barriers as they journey to achieve their dreams. Read about them below!
- Bianca Smith
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Bianca Smith made history in the first month of 2021 when The Red Sox hired her as a Minor League Coach making her the first black woman to serve as a coach in the history of professional baseball at just 29 years old.
Smith’s mom, Dawn Patterson introduced her to baseball when she was 3 years old, and she was the first person she thought of when she was hired. (Smith’s mom passed away in 2013) Even though she despised the Red Sox, she would’ve been proud of her daughter’s achievement. If not for her mother, she wouldn’t be pursuing a baseball career, one that has recently gained her national attention; sponsorships from companies like Nike, Oakley and Topps; and an offer to write her autobiography. She even has her own baseball card in the works, said her agent, Lonnie Murray, The New York Times reports.
Smith has an Ivy League education with two graduate degrees, one in sports business and the other in sports law. She has interned with the Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers and has college coaching experience.
“The opportunity is amazing,” Smith said in an interview on MLB Network’s Hot Stove program on Monday. “I’m still wrapping my head around it. I probably won’t really have it sink in until I’m actually there.
- Maia Chak
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The sports world continues to make advancements with women as the NFL hired Maia Chaka as a game official making her the first black woman to join the league’s on-field officiating staff. Chaka is also the only other woman besides Sarah Thomas to officiate an NFL game.
Chaka graduated from Norfolk State University in 2006 with a degree in education. She enters the NFL after working in the Pac-12 and Conference USA. She was selected in 2014 for the NFL’s Officiating Development Program, which identifies college officiating talent with the goal of showing them some of the same experiences as NFL officials before determining if they have the ability to succeed as an NFL official.
In a statement released by the league, Chaka said: “I am honored to be selected as an NFL official. But this moment is bigger than a personal accomplishment. It is an accomplishment for all women, my community, and my culture.”
- Kamala Harris
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Our very own Vice President made history this year when she was sworn in as the first Black and Asian-American woman to become the Vice President of the United States.
A graduate of Howard University, Harris went on to earn her law degree and began her career in the Alameda County District’s Attorney Office. Harris’s political career has included many historical moments, such as serving as California’s first Black female attorney general and being the second Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate.
Harris launched her presidential candidacy in early 2019 but dropped out later that year. Once President Biden was chosen as the democratic nominee, he made Harris his Vice President calling her “one of the country’s finest public servants”.
- Amanda Gorman
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At just 22 years old, Amanda Gorman made history at President Biden’s inauguration by becoming the youngest inaugural poet in American history when she recited her poem “The Hill We Climb.” At this year’s Super Bowl she became the first-ever poet to perform as well.
First Lady Dr. Jill Biden was actually the one who came across Gorman’s work. She was watching a reading Gorman gave at the Library of Congress, according to the Times, when she asked if Gorman might read something for the inauguration. Over a Zoom call, she was told she’d been picked to present, and she’d need to be on a flight to Washington, D.C., soon.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Gorman plans to run for president in 2036, the first election cycle when she’ll be old enough to campaign. Watching Vice President Kamala Harris’s historic win solidified her plans.
“It makes it more imaginable,” she told the Times of Harris’s election. “Once little girls can see it, little girls can be it. Because they can be anything that they want, but that representation to make the dream exist in the first place is huge—even for me.”
- Marcia Fudge
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Ohio’s very own Congresswoman Marcia Fudge was sworn in on March 10 as the nation’s new Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). She is the second black woman and the third woman ever to hold this position.
Fudge, who represented parts of Cleveland and Akron in the House since 2008, is a former mayor and a longtime advocate for the poor.
“I can think of no one better to lead us out of this pandemic and create strong communities for the future than Marcia Fudge,” Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, told The Hill.
These women are dominating many areas including entertainment, sports and politics! They’re truly inspirations to little girls of color who have big ideas and big dreams.