10 Fascinating Black Woman History Facts, Courtesy of Black Twitter's #WeHelpOurselves

After the Rachel Dolezal controversy broke out, there was much talk from within and outside of the black community of how she should be thanked for helping black people. North Carolina State University professor Blair Kelley started the hashtag #wehelpourselves to shift conversation away from Rachel Dolezal and towards a deeper understanding of what African American women have done to advance their own cause. Here are 10 fascinating facts we discovered in the process.

1. Sculptor Selma Burke did the bust of Franklin Delano Roosevelt that is on the American dime.

2. Dr Alexa Canaday became the first black neurosurgeon in the US in 1976 at age 26.

https://twitter.com/xoxojasminem/status/611231445202432000

3. Jackie Ormes was the first African American cartoonist

https://twitter.com/bencomics/status/611200986904961024

4. Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi founded #blacklivesmatter

5. Marilyn Mosby is the country’s youngest state prosecutor

https://twitter.com/BlackGirlFlyMag/status/611190158390497280

6. Mary McLeod Bethune started Bethune-Cookman University with six students and $1.50

7. Marsha P Johnson was a transgender activist and a key player in the Stonewall riots.

https://twitter.com/THELadyDane/status/611259433327403008

8. Gwendolyn Brooks was the first black woman to win a Pullitzer Prize for literature.

9. Dorothy Lee Bolden founded the National Domestic Worker’s Union of America.

10. Clara Brown is a former slave who, after winning her freedom at age 56, started a successful laundry business, helped other freed slaves get established and searched for a daughter who was taken from her in slavery.

https://twitter.com/datgirlcshelle/status/610799912016576512

Fascinating! Ladies were you aware of the women mentioned above?