Black History Month: Pauli Murray

Pauli Murray’s exemplary career as a civil rights lawyer began with a seat on a bus in the whites-only section and a subsequent arrest. The experience of being arrested drove her to begin work with the Workers’ Defense League, which propelled her dream of law school, resulting in a law degree from Howard University, a…

Black History Month: Florynce Kennedy

A cowboy hat, pink sunglasses and fake eyelashes…those were the trademark accessories for Florynce Kennedy, a woman who was recognized equally by her staple uniform as she was by her activism. Growing up in Missouri during a time when the Ku Klux Klan was locally operating, she was no stranger to local prejudice and her…

Black History Month: Dr. Edgar Bass Keemer, Jr.

Recognizing that abortions had been illegally performed in hospitals under the guise of “therapeutic abortions” but always attached to a large check, Dr. Edgar Bass Keemer, Jr. was the sole Detroit physician who provided abortions to poor black and white women who were welfare recipients or Medicaid card holders. The son of a doctor and…

Black History Month: Kimberle Crenshaw

“Intersectionality.” The term, coined by Kimberle Crenshaw, has become a hot topic and a rallying cry for those on the front lines of the fight for human rights. With an undergraduate from Cornell, a JD from Harvard Law School, and an LLM from University of Wisconsin, she began her career at the UCLA School of…

Black History Month: Byllye Avery

On the final Friday of Black History Month, RHAP is taking the time to highlight black women’s health pioneer and lifelong activist Byllye Avery. Avery’s path first led her to a career in education, where she taught children with special needs in Jacksonville, Florida while pursuing a Master’s in Education. After being diagnosed with an…

Black History Month: Combahee River Collective

On our third Friday, RHAP’s #BlackHistoryMonthFeature focuses on the radical, lesbian, black feminist organization Combahee River Collective. The group, founded by sisters Barbara and Beverly Smith and Demita Frazier in 1974 was named after the historic raid on the Combahee River, where Harriet Tubman led a campaign in the rescue of over 700 slaves in…

Black History Month: Dr. Percy Julian

RHAP’s second #BlackHistoryMonthFeature is Dr. Percy Julian, a revolutionary organic chemist who set the tone for the future of contraception and family planning. Dr. Julian was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1899. With the rural south prohibiting African American students from attending high school due to Jim Crow laws, Julian went to DePauw University with…

Black History Month: Dorothy Roberts

RHAP’s first #BlackHistoryMonthFeature is Dorothy Roberts; a law professor, essayist, and social justice scholar focusing on the intersections of race, gender, socio-economic conditions and the law. Her work primarily focuses on African Americans, women, and children through the lens of public policy, bioethics and health. In 1997, Roberts’ groundbreaking book “Killing the Black Body: Race,…

Native American Heritage Month: Minnie Kellogg

Laura “Minnie” Cornelius Kellogg was an activist, author, orator, and leader of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. To this day, Kellogg remains one of the most prominent – and controversial – figures in American Indian history, acting as a driving force behind political issues and land rights in the U.S. and Canada, founding the Society…

Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month: Rosa Alicia Clemente

“We must fight for our reproductive rights and our human rights now more than ever before. Too many women in history fought for us to have the ability to have control of what we do with our own bodies. This is not just a fight for women we need men to also stand with us and…