The Women History Forgot: Celebrating Black Women Who Shaped the World

Every October, schools and communities across the world mark Black History Month, celebrating the creativity, courage, and contributions of Black people throughout history. Yet even within that celebration, one group has too often remained in the shadows - the Black women whose achievements changed the world, but whose names were left out of the textbooks.

From freedom fighters and scientists to artists and poets, these women have shaped history in ways that continue to define our present: their stories are not just tales of struggle, but of resilience and vision.

Hidden Architects of Change

Harriet Tubman

When history remembers revolutions and movements, it often remembers men: Martin Luther King Jr. before Ella Baker, Nelson Mandela before Diane Nash, Malcolm X before Fannie Lou Hamer. Yet behind these familiar names are women who worked tirelessly often in the background - to bring those movements to life. Harriet Tubman, for instance, is remembered as the “Moses of her people,” leading enslaved people to freedom through the Underground Railroad. But fewer know that she also served as a Union spy and nurse during the American Civil War, the first woman in US history to lead an armed military operation. Across the Atlantic, in colonial

Ghana, Yaa Asantewaa rose up against the British Empire in 1900, leading an army of thousands in the War of the Golden Stool. As queen mother of the Ashanti kingdom, she fought not for personal power but for the right of her people to govern themselves. Her defiance remains a symbol of African resistance and proof that women’s leadership has always been strategic and fearless.

Black Women in Science and Innovation

For centuries, scientific achievement was seen as a man’s domain, and doubly so when it came to race. Yet Black women have always been there, breaking barriers when no one was watching. Katherine Johnson, the mathematician whose calculations sent Apollo 11 to the Moon, worked for decades at NASA without public recognition. Her story only came to light through the 2016 film ‘Hidden Figures’. Johnson once said, “We will always have STEM with us. Some things will drop out of the public eye and go away, but there will always be science, engineering, and technology - and there will always be mathematics.”

Dr Gladys West

Likewise, Dr. Gladys West, a mathematician from Virginia, played a key role in developing the GPS technology that now guides everything from smartphones to aircraft. For years, her work went uncredited, even as the world relied on her calculations every day. And then there is Mae Jemison, who in 1992 became the first Black woman to travel into space. Before joining NASA, she was a doctor, an engineer, and a Peace Corps volunteer. Jemison’s message to young people remains timeless: “Never limit yourself because of others’ limited imagination.”

Words That Moved the World

Black women have also changed history through words — writing that redefined what it meant to be free, visible, and human. In 18th-century Britain, Mary Prince, born into slavery in Bermuda, became the first Black woman to publish an autobiography. The History of Mary Prince (1831) exposed the brutal realities of slavery to a British audience and helped fuel the abolition movement. Her voice, clear and defiant, broke through centuries of silence. A century later, Maya Angelou would do something similar on a global scale. Her memoir ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ gave voice to Black womanhood in all its complexity. Angelou reminded readers that storytelling itself is a form of resistance, declaring: “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

In Britain today, writers such as Bernardine Evaristo and Zadie Smith continue this legacy, challenging ideas of race, identity, and belonging. Their success is not just literary — it’s historical. It shows how far we’ve come from a world where women like Mary Prince had to fight to be heard at all.

Fighters for Justice

Sojourner Truth

For many Black women, the struggle for equality has never been single-issue. They have fought against racism, sexism, and poverty, often all at once. Sojourner Truth, born enslaved in 18th-century America, became a preacher and activist for both abolition and women’s rights. In her famous 1851 speech “Ain’t I a Woman?”, she exposed the hypocrisy of a society that claimed to value womanhood yet denied it to Black women. Her words still echo today, reminding us that feminism must be inclusive or it isn’t feminism at all.

In South Africa, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela endured imprisonment, exile, and state surveillance while leading the anti-apartheid struggle. Her legacy remains complicated, a mixture of courage, controversy, and conviction, but she remains a symbol of endurance in the face of systemic oppression.

And in modern times, activists such as Marsha P. Johnson, a key figure in the LGBTQ+ rights movement, and Tarana Burke, founder of the Me Too movement, have continued to expand the fight for justice to new frontiers.

Why Remembering Matters

For too long, the stories of women, especially women of colour, have been treated as footnotes. But they are not supporting characters; they are central to the human story.

Every invention, every movement, every book, these are the threads that weave the larger fabric of progress. When we study the past without these women, we see only half the picture. At a time when representation still matters, in classrooms, in politics, in science, remembering the women history forgot is not just about honouring the past. It’s about making sure that the next generation of girls, whatever their race or background, grow up knowing that they too can change the world.

Women to Remember

• Harriet Tubman – Abolitionist, nurse, and military leader.

• Yaa Asantewaa – Ghanaian queen and anti-colonial leader.

• Katherine Johnson – NASA mathematician whose work

enabled space flight.

• Mary Prince – Abolitionist and first Black woman author in

Britain.

• Mae Jemison – Doctor, engineer, and the first Black woman in

space.

• Sojourner Truth – Feminist and abolitionist activist.

By Tadea del Pino (Year 12)

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