Willie O'Ree

Willie is known as the first professional Black hockey player as he played for the Boston Bruins. He made his historic debut on January 18, 1958 and while on the ice he could be spotted on the wing wearing number 22. Unsurprisingly, while he was in the league he faced several different obstacles of racism, much akin to other first Black professionals.

Beyond professional hockey, he also had an interesting background as the youngest of thirteen children. Getting started young, Willie started playing hockey on his family's backyard rink when he was three years old and was in organized hockey by the age of five.

To learn more about his life check out the links below and your children can color in a picture of him.

Gordon Parks

Best known for his realistic American Gothic photos and for directing the movie “Shaft”, Gordon Parks was extremely artistic. Gordon bought his first camera in 1938 and just four years later, he was working for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) as a photographer. Following a couple of years at the FSA, he started his work with Life magazine, becoming the first Black photographer in the magazine's history. In 1968 Gordan started directing his first major movie The Learning Tree, which was followed by the huge box office success Shaft. Gordon made history in almost every step of his career and can be praised as a trailblazer for others to follow suit. To learn more, check out the following links and introduce your children to a trailblazer.

Alice Paul

Alice was best known for her fight for women's suffrage. Locally educated at Swarthmore College, Paul helped form the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage and combined it with the Woman's Party to make the National Woman’s Party. Alice landed herself in jail for a variety of reasons due to leading protests and picketing for her belief in equal rights. In the end, her journey helped bring about the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. Following this huge success, Paul continued to advocate for a variety of women's issues and in 1942 she was elected chairman of the National Women’s Party. To learn more about Alice’s life check out the links below. Parents, teach your children about her fight while they color in a photo of her.