Post by NAWBO San Antonio

In honor of #BlackHistoryMonth we are celebrating the achievements made by pioneering black women in American history. Here are just four African American women through history that have charted their course for all women business owners in this country. ✨ Clara Brown, though born a slave in Virginia, Clara Brown established a successful laundry business in the late 1850s during the American gold rush. Brown pooled her money to invest in various real estate, eventually owning a substantive portfolio in Colorado. In 1885, the last year of her life, Clara Brown was voted into the Society of Colorado Pioneers for her role in Colorado’s early history. ✨ Maggie Lena Walker was the first African American woman to charter a bank in the United States. Maggie Lena Walker had a vision to make tangible improvements in the way of life for African Americans and women. In 1903, she chartered the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank for which Walker also served as the bank’s first president. ✨ Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner filed five patents — the most of any African American woman to this day — for items she created with the goal of making people’s daily lives easier. Her most notable invention in 1957 the sanitary belt, a precursor to the maxi pad. Kenner’s invention was a crucial step for women’s comfort that revolutionized menstrual hygiene during a time when women had limited options. ✨ Janice Bryant Howroyd founded her employment staffing firm, ACT-1, in 1978 with just $1,500, a small office and a telephone. 34 years later, ACT-1 is the largest American company of its kind owned by a woman of color, with over 70 branches nationwide. Howroyd is most well known as being the first African American woman to build and own a multi-billion dollar company. #NAWBOSA #WinningWomenWednesday