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Curated playlist

African-American feminists

  • Barack ObamaObama rejected a plan to bomb a compound in Pakistan and sent Navy SEALs instead. The 2011 raid killed Osama bin Laden.
  • Janet JacksonJanet Jackson was seen at the 1983 American Music Awards wearing a hoop earring with a key attached to it. She has worn variations of that earring in music videos and live shows ever since. The pair she wore between 1987 and 1990 is now on…
  • BeyoncéOn the 13th of December 2013, Beyoncé released a complete album on the iTunes Store with no warning and no promotion. Within six days it had sold one million digital copies, a record for any album on iTunes at the time. The artist behind…
  • Aretha FranklinOtis Redding said Aretha Franklin took his song "Respect" away from him. Her version hit number one in 1967.
  • Queen LatifahQueen Latifah picked her name from a book of Arabic names at age eight. She added the title "Queen" herself.
  • Coretta Scott KingIn October 1960, Coretta Scott King telephoned her friend Harris Wofford and wept. "They're going to kill him. I know they are going to kill him." Her husband, Martin Luther King Jr., had been sent back to jail for four months of hard…
  • ZendayaAt 24, Zendaya became the youngest person ever to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She took the prize at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards in 2020, for her work in the HBO series Euphoria. Zendaya…
  • Kelly RowlandKelly Rowland spent the first years of her fame as one voice in a trio. A single duet in 2002 made critics ask whether she belonged at center stage. The song was "Dilemma", recorded with the rapper Nelly. It topped charts around the world,…
  • Halsey (singer)Halsey, the stage name of Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, once looked at a bank account holding nine dollars. She spent it on a four-pack of Red Bull. The caffeine kept her awake for two or three days, because she judged sleeping somewhere…
  • Harriet TubmanHarriet Tubman, born Araminta Ross, never forgot the moment she first felt free. Years later she described it this way: "When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory…
  • Angela DavisAngela Davis was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, then acquitted by an all-white jury.

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