Dominique Dawes
Dawes is one of the exceptional black women featured in the book, Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History. She started her gymnastics career at the tender age of six. Coach Kelli Hill saw her potential and decided to train her. After immense training and perfection, Dawes entered the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and became the first African American woman to compete in the Olympic Games. Her team took home a bronze medal.
In the year 1996, Dawes and her team competed and made history after winning a gold medal. Dawes also stole the heart of Americans after she became the first black woman to win an individual gymnastics medal. Following her triumph, Dawes became a public figure and appeared in several cereal boxes, music videos, and television shows. Dominique’s success is an inspiration to everyone. From Gold Medalist to celebrity and President of the Women’s Sports Foundation, Dawes has proved that women, particularly African American, can achieve whatever they desire.
Oprah Winfrey
Born into poverty, Oprah Winfrey has surpassed all odds to become one of the most influential women in the world. Oprah was raised by a single teenage mother who invited different lovers to her house. These boyfriends molested Oprah which led to her pregnancy at the age of fourteen years old. Unfortunately, her baby was born prematurely and later died.
Oprah moved out of her mother’s house and went to live with her father, Vernon Winfrey, a barber in Tennessee. She worked different jobs as a teenager which landed her a job in radio. At the age of nineteen, she became a co-anchor at a local television channel. The owner of the television saw her potential and transferred her to the daytime talk show which became the birth of Oprah Winfrey; the mogul.
Her revolutionary talk shows gained popularity and after she built enough momentum, she formed her network, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). She has won numerous awards and recognition from learning institutions, media, and heads of state like Barack Obama.
Sojourner Truth
Truth was born in the year 1797. Her parents James and Elizabeth Baumfree were slaves hence their children were also the property of the white owner. After her owner died, she was sold as a slave to different estates where she was raped and mistreated.
In the year 1815, Truth fell in love with a slave in the neighboring estate. However, the young man was brutally beaten and later died in the hands of his owner. She later got married to another slave and bore five children, one as a result of rape by her owner. After years of pain and suffering, she conceived another child. At the time the abolition of slavery had begun and a new law was being enacted to stop slavery. After she gave birth, she took her infant son and ran away. She found a young couple who were kind enough to take her and the child in exchange for her services. They also agreed to pay her.
After slavery became illegal, Truth went to court to fight for her elderly son who had been illegally sold by her previous owner. Truth became the first African American woman to win a case against a white man. After her triumph, she vowed to fight for other slaves and speak out against slavery.
