Today, TIME magazine released its list of ‘Firsts’, which highlights 46 women who broke the glass ceiling in politics, athletics, medicine, business, the entertainment industry and more. Might we add, the list features a whole lot of Black girl magic. From media mogul Oprah Winfrey, to pioneering astronaut Mae Jemison, to visionary filmmaker Ava DuVernay, to tennis great Serena Williams.
“Our goal with Firsts is for every woman and girl to find someone whose presence in the highest reaches of success says to her that it is safe to climb, come on up, the view is spectacular,” said TIME of their new multimedia project.
Check out the groundbreaking Black women named on the list below:
1. Patricia Bath- first person to invent and demonstrate laserphaco cataract surgery
2. Ursula Burns -first Black woman to run a Fortune 500 company
Photo credit: Lonnie Major
3. Mo’Ne Davis- first girl to pitch a shutout and win a game in a Little League World Series
4. Gabby Douglas – first American gymnast to win solo and team all-around gold medals in a single Olympics
5. Ava DuVernay- first Black woman to direct a film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar
6. Aretha Franklin- first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Photo credit: Taylor Hill
7. Mae Jemison- first Black woman to travel into space
8. Ilhan Omar- first Somali-American Muslim person to become a legislator
Photo via: Daily File
9. Loretta Lynch- first Black woman to become U.S. Attorney General
10. Issa Rae- first Black woman to create and star in a premium cable series
Photo via: Getty Images
11. Oprah Winfrey- first woman to own and produce her own talk show
Photo via: Getty Images
12. Shonda Rhimes- first woman to create three hit shows with more than 100 episodes each
13. Rita Dove- first black U.S. poet laureate
14. Serena Williams- first tennis player to win 23 Grand Slam singles titles in the open era
15. Carla Hayden- first woman and first African American to be Librarian of Congress
See full list and interviews here.