Olive Ann Beech was born on September 25, 1903 in Waverly, Kansas to Franklin Benjamin Mellor and Susannah Miller Mellor. She was the youngest of four girls and would become the co-founder, president, and chairwoman of Beech Aircraft Corporation. Her career spanned 50 years prior to her retirement in September 1982, she was the first woman to head a major aircraft company.
Considered to be one of the first African American women to become a millionaire, Annie Turnbo developed and manufactured her own line of hair straighteners, special oils, and hair-stimulant products for African-American women. At the time of her death in 1957, Poro beauty colleges still operated in over thirty cities across the nation.
Born Freda Josephine McDonald in St. Louis, MO, Josephine Baker joined the cast of Shuffle Along in 1922, which became the first successful African American musical. She took part in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom with 250,000 other civil rights supporters in 1963. The following year, the U.S, Congress would pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
It’s believed that Elizabeth Freeman, Mumbet, was born between 1742-1744, to enslaved African parents in Claverack, New York. Ruled in their favor, Mumbet and Brom became the first enslaved African Americans to be freed under the Massachusetts constitution of 1780 in Brom & Bett v. Ashley which was argued before a county court in August 1871.
Marie Antoinette was born Maria Antonia Josephina Johanna on November 2, 1755 in Vienna, Austria. As queen, she supported the composers whose work she appreciated and was patron of many artists. With her indifference to rules and social classes, she bore witness to new ideas in a court which still stoutly upheld tradition. One account of her life is that she became a toy in the hands of much older politicians or intriguers, without ever encountering serious or sincere friendship. She was executed by guillotine in 1793.
