Dovey Johnson Roundtree grew up in the Jim Crow era South and carried her grandmother’s philosophy of “find a way or make one” as her armor into every challenge she faced. She became one of the first Black women in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps during World War II, then earned her law degree at Howard and built dual careers as a civil‑rights attorney and as a minister in the AME church. In 1955, she helped win a landmark bus‑desegregation case before the Interstate Commerce Commission, which was a quiet but powerful blow to the concept of “separate but equal.” She spent decades fighting for justice in Washington, D.C., and lived to 104, leaving behind a legacy of unshakable purpose and inspiration for future generations.
With Mary Bethune 1943 in Iowa, via Library of CongressEarly 1950s, via Smithsonian
Dovey talking about dealing with a segregated legal system:
Time Travel With The History Chicks
Books!
Dovey’s memoir with Katie McCabeMemoir Junior editionBiography, middle grade by Tanya BoldenDovey and Katie McCabe, children’s bookBy Juan WilliamsFor insider info on the Towpath Murder
Like true crime podcasts? There is a series with journalist Solidad O’Brien called Murder on the Towpath that covers that case Dovey argued (and won).
If you haven’t yet listened to our 2023 coverage of the life of Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, now might be a good time to fix that! We covered her in two parts: Episode 223 and Episode 224!
The Visionary Project has a series of interviews with Dovey from 2010 (as well as with other African American leaders from the 20th century.)
There was a series in the 90s that starred Cicely Tyson who let Dovey inspire her character:
There is a movie, we can’t give it a review because neither of us saw it, but we do know that Dovey’s story needs a big-budget, high-production-value film.
End music: Baby Get Up by Louna Used with permission from Epidemic Sound
Anna Mary Moses spent the last twenty years of her life as a beloved and celebrated artist after a hobby became an occupation in the most astonishing way.
Anna Mary Moses was born when Abraham Lincoln was president and died when John Kennedy was; she lived through one Civil, and two World wars, and was one of the first women in the US to legally vote. Because her life was so full, she didn’t take up painting as her primary hobby until she was in her 70s, and was on a rocketship of world fame as a celebrated artist until she was in her 80s.
Martha Gellhorn was one of the most influential war correspondents of the 20th century. Over the course of a 60-year career, she reported from nearly every major global conflict – the Spanish Civil War, World War II, Vietnam, and more. In her work, she focused a compassionate eye on the lives of ordinary people caught up in turmoil beyond their control, and this made her coverage uniquely powerful. Her personal bravery, determination, and skill as a writer made her a legend.
The image used most often of a young Sarah, but is it? Some members of her family don’t believe it is. Maybe Sarah, circa 1912, public domain
Once upon a time, an eleven-year-old girl named Sarah Rector struck it rich with a discovery that was perfectly timed for the rise of the automobile and the expansion of American manufacturing. After hitting the jackpot, she had to escape the minefields of greed, racism, politics, and public opinion to build a satisfying life for herself at last.
One wrote of her experiences during the American Revolutionary era, and the other is helping tell that story as co-director of Ken Burns’ The American Revolution documentary on PBS, starting November 16, 2025.
