Black History Month Day 11: Black Women Have Always Carried the Load
Black History Fact:
Black women were essential organizers of the Civil Rights Movement, yet were routinely excluded from leadership recognition and media coverage.
Black women have always been at the center of change—and pushed to the margins of credit.
They organized boycotts, built networks, sustained movements, and absorbed extraordinary risk. They did the work while being denied authority, safety, and acknowledgment.
Black history forces us to confront how gender and race intertwine to determine whose labor is visible—and whose is exploited.
That pattern continues.
Black women remain among the most politically engaged, most underpaid, most burdened groups in America. Their leadership is relied upon, then overlooked.
History asks us not just to celebrate icons—but to question systems that depend on invisible labor.
Recognition is not cosmetic.
It is justice.
Here are named Black women of prominence who have been removed or targeted in their roles since the administration returned to office last year — based on credible reporting and public records:
Carla Hayden — Served as the first African American and first woman Librarian of Congress. She was abruptly fired in May 2025, months before her term would have expired, after decades of leadership modernizing the Library of Congress and expanding access to underserved communities.
Lisa Cook — The first Black woman to serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. In August 2025, the administration attempted to remove her from the Federal Reserve — a move now the subject of federal litigation, with experts arguing the dismissal may be unlawful and politically motivated.
Gwynne Wilcox — The first Black woman confirmed twice by the Senate to the National Labor Relations Board. She was fired from the NLRB in early 2025 along with other top labor officials, a removal that legal analysts called unprecedented under the statute governing board member protection.
These aren’t routine personnel changes. They are historic firsts, roles that mattered for democratic institutions — and their removal has sparked lawsuits, civil rights complaints, and criticism from leaders across the political spectrum.
It’s also important to note that broader policy choices and workforce cuts under the administration — including the dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and major layoffs in federal agencies — have disproportionately affected Black women in the public workforce. Independent analyses show that hundreds of thousands of jobs held by Black women were lost or eliminated amid federal staffing reductions.
Julie Bolejack, MBA
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