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Three Influential Women in Black History

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Southern Miss chapter.

By Ashley Simon, Contributor

As we celebrate black history this month, it’s important to remember the women who played such a vital role in paving the way for African American women then, now, and the women to come.  Key figures like Fannie Lou Hamer, Harriet Tubman, and Rosa Parks fought for what they thought was right, for not just women, but for the African American people as a whole.  

Fannie Lou Hamer, a former American voting rights activist and civil rights leader became instrumental in organizing Mississippi Freedom Summer for Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Her belief in the Biblical righteousness of her cause gained her a great reputation as a speaker and civil rights activist. Hamer was known for singing Christian hymns wherever she traveled.

She song songs like “Go Tell it on the Mountain” and “This Little Light of Mind.”  She also spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Washington. Hamer continued to work in Mississippi for the Freedom Democrats and for local civil rights causes. She ran for Congress in 1964 and 1965, and was then seated as a member of Mississippi’s official delegation to the Democratic National Convention of 1968, where she was an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War.

She continued to work on other projects, including grassroots-level Head Start programs, the Freedom Farm Cooperative in Sunflower County, and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Poor People’s Campaign.  

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Harriet Tubman was an African American woman who was full of courage and determination. She was born into slavery in Maryland and broke away to freedom in Canada. She influenced a lot of slaves to escape and find freedom.  

What she did had such an impact on the other slaves. She was just so influential. Not only did Harriet Tubman free herself from slavery, but also after she was free, she returned home to free other members of her family.   

Tubman’s escape route was known as the Underground Railroad. She was believed to have conducted at least 300 people to their freedom. Harriet Tubman had great success in helping others escape slavery.

Harriet Tubman received several honors and rewards after she died.  Freedom Park was also a tribute to her memory in 1994 in Auburn, New York where Harriet Tubman had lived with her husband before her death in 1913.

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It would not be right to talk about great African American women of history without mentioning Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks is one of the country’s most historical figures. She was the spark that set off the Montgomery Bus Boycott Movement.

Rosa Parks is most greatly remembered for what she did on December 1, 1955. This was the day that Parks, a seamstress and NAACP leader at the time, loaded a Montgomery bus to go home, blacks were to sit in the back but instead, Rosa Parks set in the middle and when a white passenger loaded the bus and told Parks to move to the back, she would not get up.

She was arrested and convicted with violating the laws of segregation.  Park’s actions stirred up a lot within the communities, so African Americans begin boycotting the busses where blacks had made up 75 percent of the bus population.

The boycotts caused an economic problem for the busses at that time because the blacks that normally ride were boycotting. When Rosa Parks refuse to give up her seat for a white man, she was standing up for African Americans all over.  

She fought for us and was arrested for us. She received national recognition in 1979 for the things she did.  Rosa Park’s refusal to move will always be a part of history. That was the start of change and purpose for the African American people of that time and she is greatly admired for what she did.   

Photo Credit: dcspolight.com, hiphopwired.com, americanradioworks.publicradio.org

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Crystal Garner

Southern Miss

Crystal Garner is a sophomore at the University of Southern Mississippi studying Broadcast Journalism and Computer Science. She is the Campus Correspondent and Editor-In-Chief for the Southern Miss Chapter of HerCampus.com, the on-air host of Southern Miss Today at WUSM 88.5, a Campus Editor at Uloop.com, a former English TV/Africa production intern at Voice of America, and an ambassor for Freshmansupport.com. She enjoys writing, reporting, and traveling. Her work has been publish by USA TODAY, Huffington Post, Uloop.com, and local newspapers in her hometown of Meridian, Miss. She hopes to one day serve as an international correspondent.  Keep up with her at Shesagarner.com