February is Black History Month, and this Friday we’re focusing on women who had a major impact on their communities and on history. 

Madam C.J. Walker is best remembered as the founder of a beauty empire and an entrepreneur. As a widow, Walker received mentorship from her fellow churchgoers. As her business grew, Walker did not forget her community. She worked with groups like The National Association of Colored Women, and funded schools and social services. You can read more about her in Madam C. J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving : Black Women’s Philanthropy During Jim Crow by Tyrone McKinley Freeman; and follow it up with the Netflix limited series Self Made, featuring Octavia Butler.

Nellie McKay has numerous accolades, however, she is best known for the work she did with Henry Louis Gates Jr. on the Norton Anthology of African American Literature. McKay is credited with making sure that female authors had their works presented as an equal part of this collection. As a professor at the University Of Wisconsin, McKay is credited for promoting and pioneering the study of African American Literature. McKay had numerous publications in works such as The Sleeper Wakes: Harlem Renaissance Stories by Women and Interpreting Women’s Lives: Feminist Theory And Personal Narratives, as well as academic journals, academic books, and the like. How McKay managed to keep so much of her life private while being such a public figure is a mystery.

After McKay’s death in 2006, certain aspects of her life became known to the public and surprised even those who felt they knew McKay. Half In Shadow by Shanna Greene Benjamin explores McKay’s motivations for certain omissions, as well as provides an in-depth history of McKay’s life and work.

Along with being a jazz pianist, Hazel Scott was an outspoken advocate against segregation and racial discrimination. Some might consider Scott a prodigy, as she began studying at Julliard at the age of eight.  As a teenager she preformed at Café Society and on the radio. As Scott’s star power grew, she was offered roles in films. She turned down several roles as she felt they where demeaning and racially insensitive. In the 1950s, Scott became the first African American to host their own television program with The Hazel Scott show. 

In June of 1950, Scott’s name appeared on Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television. Scott did testify that she was not a communist, nor in support of anyone who was in front of the House of Un-American Activities. Despite this testimony, she was blacklisted, and her show was cancelled a week later. While Scott tried to stick it out in America, she spent a decade abroad, returning to America in 1967 – the advent of the Civil Rights movement.

You can learn more about Hazel Scott in Karen Chilton’s book Hazel Scott: The Pioneering Journey of a Jazz Pianist, From Café Society to Hollywood to HUAC. We also have two CDs of her music in our media collection for those of you who are jazz aficionados, or just curious about this talented woman.