#ourhistory

Today’s #RootDisruptor is Matthew Henson. Born to sharecroppers on a farm in Nanjemoy, Md., Matthew Alexander Henson became the first African-American Arctic explorer, and is credited by many as the first man to reach the North Pole, in 1909. Henson was an associate of the American explorer Robert Peary on seven voyages over a period of nearly 23 years. Henson served as a navigator and craftsman, traded with Inuit and learned their language. He was known as Peary’s “first man” when it came to tackling the arduous expeditions. #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackHistory #OurHistory #BHM #BHM2015

Today we’d like to acknowledge #RootDisruptor Claudette Colvin. On March 2, 1955, a full nine months before Rosa Parks’ famous arrest, Claudette Colvin was dragged from a Montgomery bus by two police officers, arrested and taken to an adult jail to be booked. She was only 15 years old and was the first person to be arrested for defying bus segregation in Montgomery. Her arrest and her story has long since been forgotten, but it provided the spark for the Black community in Montgomery that ultimately led to Parks’ actions, the bus boycott, and the Supreme Court ruling to end segregation on buses. #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackHistory #BHM #BHM2015 #OurHistory

Today we honor #RootDisruptor William T. Shorey. Affectionately known as the “Black Ahab,” William T. Shorey was a black whaling captain who escaped prejudice at sea. After learning navigation and moving up rapidly through the ranks, Shorey would become the only African American ship captain on the west coast. #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackHistory #OurHistory #BHM #BHM2015

In honor of Black History Month, we’re celebrating the innovators and game-changers who ‘disrupted’ our history all month long. Today we honor the legacy of Robert Smalls.

Robert Smalls was an enslaved African-American born into slavery in Beaufort, S.C., who after the American Civil War, became a sea captain and politician. He freed himself, his crew and their families from slavery on May 13, 1862, when he led an uprising aboard a Confederate transport ship, the CSS Planter, in Charleston harbor, and sailed it north to freedom. His feat successfully helped persuade President Abraham Lincoln to accept African-American soldiers into the Union Army. #RootDisruptor #BlackHistory #OurHistory #BlackHistoryMonth #BHM2015

Today we honor the legacy of Septima Poinsette Clark. Septima Poinsette Clark is perhaps the only woman to play a significant role in educating African Americans for full citizenship rights without gaining sufficient recognition. Known as the “Grandmother of the American Civil Rights Movement,” Septima Poinsette Clark developed the literacy and citizenship workshops that played an important role in the drive for voting rights and civil rights for African Americans. In 1920, while serving as an educator in Charleston, Clark worked with the NAACP to gather petitions allowing blacks to serve as principals in Charleston schools. #RootDisruptor #BlackHistoryMonth #OurHistory #Legend #BlackHistory