As February comes to a close, the celebration of Black history does not end. We must continue to celebrate the making of new history… of Black futures.
In Black Fatigue, Mary-Frances Winters imagined this future:
As February comes to a close, the celebration of Black history does not end. We must continue to celebrate the making of new history… of Black futures. Click To Tweet“Where we would never again see the anguish and pain of Black mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters; where Black people would not have to navigate life always ‘on guard;’ where our children would see themselves portrayed in books and media; where white discomfort is not prioritized over Black comfort; where liberty and justice for all would be a reality.”
With inspiration from The Movement for Black Lives, we want to honor the Black dreamers and visionaries who are building that future right now.
Below are 15 young Black people who are expanding what is possible for our world and affirming, celebrating, and defending Black lives through their resistance and their joy. They are keeping the conversations of Black History Month going all year long.
Here are 15 young Black people who are expanding what is possible for our world and affirming, celebrating, and defending Black lives through their resistance and their joy. Click To Tweet
1.) Marley Dias, 17
Marley Dias is the founder of #1000BlackGirlBooks and the author of Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You! She launched the #1000BlackGirlBooks drive in 2015 when she was just 10 years old with a goal of collecting 1,000 books featuring Black female protagonists. She has since collected over 13,000 books and been named the youngest member of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list to date. She said, “I’m working to create a space where it feels easy to include and imagine Black girls and make Black girls like me the main characters of our lives.”
2.) Trude Lamb, 17
Trude Lamb was the fastest runner on (formerly) Robert E. Lee High School’s cross country team but refused to wear a uniform with the Confederate leader’s name. Along with her classmates, she wrote letters to the administrators and school board to change the school’s name. Eventually the school board complied and renamed it Tyler Legacy High School (the school is located in Tyler, Texas).
3.) Cheick Camara and Ermias Tadesse, 21
Cheick Camara and Ermias Tadesse are the co-founders of BlackGen Capital, Cornell University’s first Black investment fund. Their goal is to close the access gap by creating pipelines for talented BIPOC students interested in the financial services industry. They created BlackGen Capital “as a means to expand access to financial literacy education, resources that can empower students to get internships and learn about investing and budgeting.” BlackGen provides its members with a 10-week finance training program, along with hands-on experience in pitching and managing investment ideas.
4.) Najah Aqeel, 15
Najah Aqeel was a high school freshman when a referee told her she couldn’t compete in a junior varsity volleyball game because she was wearing a hijab. The referee cited a rule that student athletes are not allowed to wear “hair devices” more than three inches wide without prior approval. Working with the ACLU of Tennessee, she fought for a national rule change to allow student athletes to compete wearing hijabs. The state association agreed, and the National Federation of State High School Associations followed suit thanks to Najah’s activism.
5.) Aalayah Eastmond, 20
Aalayah Eastmond is a graduate from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which suffered a school shooting in 2018. Since Aalayah’s graduation in 2019, she has stepped up to speak out on gun violence in America, specifically as it affects young Black people. She is a national administrator and executive council member for Team ENOUGH, a co-founder of Concerned Citizens D.C., and an intern with PayOurInterns to make internships more accessible to Black youth. Her hope is to open the conversation beyond mass shootings to address how gun violence, police brutality, and poverty impact Black communities.
6.) Chanté Davis, 18
Chanté Davis is an environmental justice activist and lead organizer with the Sunrise Movement. She is part of JEAO — Justice, Equity, and Anti-Oppression — to teach anti-racism and environmental injustice. Chanté is urging lawmakers in Texas to take climate action and understand the intersection of climate justice and racial justice, even leading rallies at the Texas capitol.
7.) Jay’Aine Patton, 16
Photo credit: Dos Coco Locos Productions
Jay’Aine Patton designed and built Photo Patch at age 13, a mobile app that allows children to send photos and letters to incarcerated parents for free. Since then, she has also founded Unlock Academy with her father Antoine to mentor young people interested in STEM careers. Her goal is to bring 10,000 women of color into the technology field.
8.) Tony Weaver Jr., 27
Tony Weaver Jr. is CEO of Weird Enough Productions, an educational technology firm dedicated to addressing media misrepresentation of young Black men through original video creation and media literacy education. His mission is to create diverse stories that make young people feel seen and valued and that challenge the status quo. He developed The UnCommons, a webcomic with over 800,000 readers and became the first comic writer to ever be selected for Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. Tony hopes to show everyone “that as long as you pursue your truth, you’re never too weird, you’re just Weird Enough.”
9.) Dasia Taylor, 17
Dasia Taylor is a 17-year-old student in Iowa that created color-changing sutures that detect infection. She had read about sutures coated with a conductive material that sense the status of a wound by changes in electrical resistance, but they were expensive and less applicable to people in developing countries, especially for mothers in African countries giving birth. Dasia conducted research for a year to develop this life-saving invention of color-changing sutures. She said, “When I was presented with this opportunity to do research, I couldn’t help but go at it with an equity lens.”
10.) Nupol Kiazolu, 21
Nupol Kiazolu is a 21-year-old civil rights activist, reigning Miss Liberia USA, Hampton University student, and president of the Black Lives Matter Youth Coalition and Black Lives Matter Greater New York. She has led the group’s activism on civil rights, domestic and sexual violence, and youth homelessness. Her activist career began when she was 12 years old and learned of the murder of Trayvon Martin. She has since organized hundreds of marches, saying, “It just showed me that it doesn’t matter where you come from or who you are, your voice does matter, and you’re more than capable of making change.”
11.) Jahkil Jackson, 14
Jahkil Jackson is a 14-year-old Chicago philanthropist, author, and anti-bullying activist. At age 8, he helped his aunt distribute food to those who are homeless in Chicago and knew he wanted to do more to make a difference. He started Project I Am that distributes “Blessing Bags” to those who are homeless filled with wipes, socks, deodorant, hand sanitizer, granola bars, toothbrushes, toothpaste, bottled water, and more. He has raised over $275,000 and organized distribution to those in need in Chicago, Los Angeles, Oklahoma, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Virginia, Idaho, and more.
12.) Winter BreeAnne, 20
At just 15 years old, Winter BreeAnne launched Black Is Lit, a social media platform to share positive stories of Black people, filling a void in Black representation. She is also a national student leader for the group Women’s March Youth Empower, an organizer for #ENOUGH: National Student Walkouts, and helped launch #PowerToThePolls to mobilize, educate, and register voters across the U.S. In 2020, she launched her Vote with Winter campaign, working with first-time voters, as well as implementing curriculum in schools around civic engagement, voting, and the electoral process. She said, “I never saw myself as an activist, I just saw myself as playing my part in shaping the world that I want to see for our future. Young people should have a say in our future.”
13.) Zyahna Bryant, 21
Zyahna Bryant was 12 years old when she organized her first protest for justice in response to the verdict that freed the killer of Trayvon Martin. At 15 years old, she spoke alongside Senator Bernie Sanders, advocating for funding of public education and grants. Later that same year, she wrote a petition to the Charlottesville City Council calling for the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue and the renaming of the park it was in, which was later successful. In 2019, Zyahna published a collection of poetry and essays titled, “Reclaim,” and continues to advocate for Black women, writing, “My plea is this: Do not wait until we have passed or reached our breaking point to honor us or to give us our well-deserved flowers. Honor us while we are well. Honor us as we are doing the work that others choose not to do. Honor us in the rooms where we are not present.”
14.) Quil Lemons, 23
Quil Lemons is the youngest photographer to shoot a Vanity Fair cover. He first gained attention in 2017 for his Glitterboy photo series that unpacked ideas around Black masculinity. He has since went on to shoot celebrities like Spike Lee, Young M.A., and Chloe x Halle before photographing Billie Eilish for Vanity Fair’s March 2021 issue. His photography “interrogates ideas around masculinity, family, queerness, race, and beauty.”
15.) Nakia Smith, 22
Nakia Smith is a 22-year-old TikToker who comes from a five-generation family of deaf people and uses the platform to educate users on Black American Sign Language (BASL). This language dialect was developed in the 1800s because schools for the deaf and hard-of-hearing didn’t admit Black people. She explained that “the biggest difference between BASL and ASL is that BASL got seasoning.” Her TikToks have started a dialogue around BASL and raises awareness of different dialects.
