Molly Williams, the first recorded female firefighter on record in the United States, began her life as a slave in New York City in the late 1700s. She was held by Benjiman Aymar, a merchant, and she worked as a part of Oceanus Engine Company #11 starting in 1815. Called "Volunteer 11" by those she worked and lived with, Molly gained a reputation for being smart, tough, and a great firefighter, and was once called "as good a fire laddie as many of the boys" by another member of her company. She often went above and beyond what was expected of both herself and the other firefighters in her firehouse, and her efforts at saving lives (and property) were particularly noted in 1818, when she was one of just a few rescuers working a fire during one of the worst blizzards in NYC's history.

In addition to gaining her own reputation, Molly's courage also paved the way for a number of other female firefighters in the 1800s and later.

Rose Fortune, future law enforcement officer and businesswoman of Canada, was born into slavery in Philadelphia, PA in 1774. In 1783, her parents fled with her to the British side of the American Revolution. The British promised freedom to slaves and former slaves seeking a new life, and Fortune's family -- one of Black Loyalists (freed and former slaves who escaped their plight by fighting alongside the British) -- heard the call.

Fortune's family later moved to to New York City, and from there made their way to Nova Scotia, where they eventually settled. In the late 1700s, while running a successful luggage transport business,  Rose became a policewoman for the Annapolis Royal. Self-appointed and determined to keep the good life she had built for herself, she worked to keep both her clients' bags and the city streets safe.

A serious businesswoman with a toughness that made others respect her, Rose often wore mens' waistcoats over her dress, and her hand-painted shoes bore heels that were a few inches high. She commanded attention wherever she went, and had a long life as a successful entrepreneur.

Rose Fortune died 1864 at the age of 90, and she is buried at the Royal Garrison Cemetery. The husband of her granddaughter Ambrezene Francis took over the family business, which was black-owned for over 100 years, until 1960.

*photo credit - AAR

Mood:  bright

After being enslaved by Ambrose Smith for over 5 decades (he had purchased her at an auction not long after her birth), she was released in 1857 after Smith died. His daughters granted Clara her freedom, and upon doing so Clara immediately headed west to find the rest of her family, all of whom were split up at different times by the slave trade. She especially wanted to find her daughter Eliza Jane, figuring she would have been caught up in the gold rush, and Clara's instincts led her to Colorado.

Clara Brown secured passage as a cook in the employ of Colonel Wadsworth and a group of gold rushers in Leavenworth, KS in 1859, and because she had led the harsh life of a slave for so long, the journey proved easier for her to make than others traveling with them. Upon arriving in Colorado, Clara moved to Denver and worked as a baker. She later opened her own laundry business for the mining community, and made a mint! She saved her money, and from there relocated from town to town in a search for her daughter before finally settling in Central City.

She opened another laundry business for miners in the town, and invested in several mines. As her financial acumen and business skills earned her more money and freedom, she began using her good fortune as a way to help others. She ran her own Sunday school, helped people down on their luck (including 16 former slaves), and held religious services at her home.

In the early 1880s, she learned that Eliza Jane was alive and well in Iowa, and the two were reunited nearly 50 years after first losing touch.

Clara Brown was inducted into The Society of Colorado Pioneers in 1885, and died later that same year. She is buried in Colorado's Riverside Cemetery.

Mood:  chillin'

Cathay Williams was born in 1844 to a freed man of color and a so-called woman of bondage, making her legal status that of a slave in the state of Missouri. In 1861, Union forces took over the town of her birth, Independence, and pressed her into service. Ironically, captured slaves were designated as contraband, and Cathay was forced to serve in the military as a part of the 8th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

After traveling as a cook with the infantry for a few years and witnessing many battles (including the Battle of Pea Ridge and the Red River Campaign),  she decided to conceal her gender and enlist as a man in 1866 in The United States Army. Seeing many African American men serve inspired her own tenure with the military, and she gave her name as William Cathay. During her three year engagement, she served in St. Louis. Only her cousin and one close friend were privvy to her gender, and they kept her secret.

In 1868, after an illness that required surgery put her under medical care, she revealed her gender to a post-operative surgeon. In 1868, she was discharged by her commanding officer, Captain Charles E. Clarke.

After her discharge, Cathay married and moved to Fort Union, NM and later to Pueblo, CO. While in Pueblo, her husband stole her money and a team of horses in the town. As she was infuriated with the theft and was probably afraid of being associated with him, she turned him in. Later, she moved to Trinidad, Colorado, where she worked as a seamstress and operated a boarding house. In 1876, a reporter heard about her story and interviewed her for The St. Louis Daily Times.

Mood:  a-ok

Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana (1840-1898) was a spirit medium of the Zezuru Shona people. For much of her life, she fought against colonization of Mashonaland and Matabeleland (now known as Zimbabwe) by The British South Africa Company, and for her efforts, she was martyred -- executed by the British government -- after the death of Native Commissioner Pollard, which she is said to have ordered. Pollard had thrashed a local chief for supposedly not reporting an outbreak of rinderpest among his animal herds.

Things weren't always bad between the English and the people of Mashonaland and Matabeleland. Trade started off amicably, but the more the British enroached upon the territory of the Zezuru Shona, the more strained relations became. Eventually, after the colonizers began enacting taxes, forced relocations and labor upon the natives of the land, they demaded that the British leave. A rebellion ensued, and in the end, both Nehanda and her husband -- also a powerful spiritualist -- were hanged. Just before her hanging, a Catholic Priest attempted to convert her, but she refused, choosing instead to die true to her own religion and people.

Today, Nehanda is remembered by the Shona as a heroine of Zimbabwe, and there are songs, poems, and books written about her bravery in the face of colonial takeover.

Mood:  hungry

Myriam Merlet, Magalie Marcelin, and Anna Marie Coriolan were three of the main voices behind Haiti's women's movement, which worked with local populations, the judiciary, and the government at large to improve the lives of Haitians until their untimely deaths on January 12th, 2010 when a 7.0 earthquake struck Port Au Prince.

Myriam was hard at work on addressing rape culture, and served as the Chief of Staff of the Haitian Ministry of Women’s Affairs. She was also one of the founders of the humanitarian organization Enfofamm. Magalie was an artist who had recently completed work on David Bell's film Madame Ti Zo. Anna Marie worked with the ICAE, an educational network that aided central and South Americans working for the betterment of native populations.

Mood:  a-ok

Last February, I decided to spend the last part of the month highlighting black women who have made a difference over the decades. I had recently read two books and seen a documentary highlighting the American civil rights movement of the 1960s, but all were lacking a serious element in their retelling of history: the women! Even with all of the accomplishements of women in America and other countries around the world, there was very little said in mainstream books and other media, at least with what I read and saw.

This year, I'm starting my salute to great black women at the beginning of Black History Month, rather than the end, and to kick off this month of glorious, beautiful, strong black women, I'd like to highlight Mariama Bâ, the Senagalese feminist, writer, and professor who broke gender and racial stereotypes by becoming a lawyer, celebrated author and feminist scholar. 

Born in 1929 into a wealthy family in Dakar, she was raised by her mother and father until her mother's death. After this tragic event, she was sent to live with her grandparents, who attempted to raise her in a more "traditional" fashion, with limited education and training to be a wife rather than to pursue the same path as the men in her family. However, her father saw Mariama's potential and insisted she receive an education; she eventually graduated from Ecole Normale, where she was trained to become a teacher.

During her lifetime, she wrote a number of essays and three books about her life as an African Muslim women. She wrote eloquently about sexism, racism, and intersectionality. She witnessed the effects of racism and sexism first hand, and spent much of her life trying to healthe rift between human beings. So Long A Letter, her first novel, is still read in high schools and on college campuses today.

 *photo credit: public domain.

Mood:  bright

A Softer World is the comic brainchild of Emily Horne and Joey Comeau. Emily creates a lot of the art, and Joey creates the words. Both maintain blogs that are alternately hilarious, touching, and soulful, and Joey is a published writer whose book Overqualified touches on a dilemma faced by college grads faced with roaming the job world for that next position: you're too qualified to work entry level, but the next position available requires 10 years of experience you don't necessarily have.

Mood:  celebratory

Between simply bucking up and making use of a simple weight loss program, I have managed to lose nearly 15 pounds since June 2009, which is when I started using Lose It!, an app put out by FitNow for the iPhone. While I still have the pain of fibromyalgia and its associated sleep issues (I also have a touch of sleep apnea that my doctor and I are working together to combat) to deal with on a daily basis, I have been able to fit back into a lot of my clothing, and getting around is a lot easier than it was when I was at 160 pounds last summer (I'm now at 145.6).

For anyone seeking to lose weight gained during a long illness or after the birth of a child, Lose It! might be a good program for you, too. I haven't found that I needed to change my diet all that much (I still enjoy the occasional burger and fries) as much as I had to change the portions, though I do sometimes eat more greens and staples than I used to, as the caloric intake is less and they fill me up more. I've also found that cutting out the number of candy bars and bags of chips I used to eat also helped, but that particular issue was also brought on by the fact that I couldn't sleep, and as a result I craved a lot more sugar thinking it would help me manage my wakefulness and time. ProVigil and a change in pain medication have helped me manage this particular issue, and my path has been fairly steady overall. 

Mood:  chatty

Claw Money, fashion designer and entrepreneur, started her art career as a graffiti artist in New York City during the late 1980s. Her signature mark -- an iconic paw with three claws -- appeared all over the city during her near decade-long tenure with TC5 and FC, two male-dominated graffiti groups. Eventually, she formed her own group, called PMS.These days, she has her own clothing line, and has dressed such celebrities as Santogold, M.I.A., and Kanye West. Her designs have appeared in hundreds of magazines, including Vogue, Bust, High Times, Paper, Nylon, and Vibe, and she has worked with Clavin Klein, Mark Ecko and Nike, among others. A book about her life called Bombshell: The Life and Times of Claw Money, was published in 2007.