In 1820, Harriet Tubman was born to enslaved parents in Maryland. It wasn’t until 1849 that she was able to escape slavery in the South to become a leading abolitionist before the American Civil War. That’s almost 30 years she endured slavery.

Not only did she fight for her own freedom, but she returned to the South many times to bring hundreds of enslaved people to freedom along the route of the Underground Railroad.

Billionaire Oprah Winfrey is best known as host of The Oprah Winfrey Show, which aired for 25 seasons, her own TV network, the Oprah Winfrey Network, her highly successful monthly magazine, O: The Oprah Magazine and launching the careers of numerous other authors and professionals (yeah, we’re talking about you, Dr. Phil).

What you might not know is that she was fired from her evening news reporter gig with Baltimore TV station and reportedly told by a producer she was "unfit for television news."

The Grammy-winner singer rose to fame in the 1960s with hits like "What's Love Got to Do With It," "Better Be Good to Me," "Private Dancer" and "Typical Male." She survived a physically abusive relationship with her musical partner and husband Ike Turner.

Eventually she divorced him, but even after a successful career going solo proved to be difficult. She even resorted to cleaning houses to support her and her children at one point, but eventually bounced back with successful album after album. Her story is documented in her autobiography, I, Tina, that was later adapted in the 1993 film What's Love Got to Do with It. 

In 1983, Vanessa Williams made history as the first African-American Miss America. But soon after, nude photos on the pages of Penthouse magazine of the pageant queen resulted in her being dethroned. She began a singing career, and then branched into acting, where she was praised for roles in Ugly Betty and more.

The beloved anchor of ABC’s Good Morning America, took a leave of absence in August 2011  in order to undergo treatment for a rare blood disorder that she contracted as a complication of the chemotherapy she received for breast cancer in 2007. She received a bone marrow transplant.

On February 20, 2013, Robin Roberts made an emotional and triumphant return to Good Morning America. She’s since won a Peabody Award, an ESPY and numerous other accolades for her work in broadcast journalism.

At 6 years-old, Ruby Bridges was the first African-American child to attend an all-white public elementary school in the American South. It was September 8, 1954, in Tylertown, Mississippi, that she was escorted to class by her mother and U.S. marshals due to violent mobs.

She was threatened, ostracized, and white parents refused to have their children in a classroom with her, but every day she marched right on into the school. Ruby visited President Barack Obama to see Norman Rockwell's painting of her walk to school on the day of integration all those years ago hanging outside of the Oval Office.

The activist, scholar and writer who advocated for gender equity, prison reform and alliances across color lines was born on January 26, 1944, in Birmingham, Alabama. She’s faced much adversity throughout her life while fighting for civil rights. She was fired from a teaching position at the University of California, Los Angeles for having communist ties, but she fought them in court and got her job back.

During an escape attempt at George Lester Jackson's trial in August 1970 where several were killed, Davis was brought up on several charges. After spending roughly 18 months in jail, Davis was acquitted in June 1972. The civil rights leader still continues her work today.

The acclaimed American actress was once a model and beauty queen, but now is one of the highest paid actress in Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for best actress for her performance in Monster's Ball in 2001, becoming the first African-American woman to ever win. Growing up and attending a nearly all-white public school, she constantly was subjected to discrimination, but her early encounters with racism greatly influenced her desire to excel. 

The Activist Entertainer fought for racial equality as a performer in the 1920s and '30s. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri where she spent most of youth in poverty, she moved to France and went on to become one of Europe's most popular and highest-paid performers and worked for the French Resistance during World War II. During the 1950s and '60s devoted herself to fighting segregation and racism in the United States.