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30+ Black Women & Gender Diverse Community Leaders Over 65

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I’ve been working on this list of 30+ Black women and gender diverse community leaders who are over 65. With the passing of local African Nova Scotian activist Eddie Carvery and Rev. Jesse Jackson it seems important to share rather than waiting. 

Don’t wait to give people their flowers. Everyone on this list is still alive and here to learn from, uplift, and support. They are living Black histories, presents, and futures. 

In order of age: 

  1. Lessie Benningfield Randle (1914) oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, turned 111 in November 2025 
  2. Sonia Sanchez (1934) Black Arts movement, Poet, playwright & author
  3. Dorothy Pearl Butler Gilliam (1936), journalist, educator 
  4. Jean Augustine (1937) first Black woman to serve as a Canadian federal Member of Parliament
  5. Zanana Lorraine Akande (1937) first Black woman to serve as a cabinet minister in Canada
  6. Diane Nash (1938) founding member Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
  7. Marian Wright Edelman (1939) civil & children’s rights activist, author, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund
  8. Howardena Pindell (1943) Black artist, professor and first Black curator of MoMA
  9. Elaine Brown (1943) writer, Black Panther Party chairwoman, co-founder National Alliance for Radical Prison Reform
  10. Beverly Glenn-Copeland (1944) ground breaking musician, songwriter, Black Trans elder 
  11. Angela Davis (1944) Professor, writer, Black Panther Party member
  12. Kathleen Cleaver (1945) Lawyer, professor, activist, Black Panther Party member 
  13. Barbara Smith (1946) scholar, activist, author, Combahee River Collective, Kitchen Table Press co-founder 
  14. Beverly Smith (1946) professor, health advocate, author, Combahee River Collective
  15. Marjorie Turner-Bailey (1947), African Nova Scotian Olympian, NS Sport Hall of Fame inductee and ANS community leader
  16. Ericka Huggins (1948) writer, educator, leading member of Black Panther Party
  17. Akua Njeri (1949), writer & activist, Illinois Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton fiancé
  18. Jamaica Kincaid (1949) novelist, professor 
  19. Ruth Wilson Gilmore (1950) prison abolitionist, professor, scholar 
  20. Joan Tarika Lewis (Matilaba)(1950) visual artist, musician, first woman to join Black Panther Party 
  21. Louise Delisle (1950) African Nova Scotian Environmental Justice activist, author, playwright & artist
  22. Janet Holloway Africa (1951), MOVE Philadelphia, one of the MOVE 9, incarcerated for over 40 years, released 2019
  23. Tracy Jada O’Brien (1951) Trans health advocate, community empowerment trailblazer 
  24. Demita Frazier (1952) Black Feminist scholar, Combahee River Collective & Chicago Black Panther Party’s Free Breakfast for Children Program
  25. Wanda Thomas Bernard (1953) professor, first African Nova Scotian woman Canadian Senator 
  26. Lynn Jones (1950s) civil rights and labour activist, educator, first African Nova Scotian woman to run for federal office in 1993, founder Down The Marsh Land Trust 
  27. Ruby Bridges (1954) civil rights activist, one of the first Black children to attend a previously white only school in Louisiana 
  28. Janine Phillips Africa (1955), member of MOVE Philadelphia — incarcerated for 40 years, released 2019
  29. Ramona Africa (1955) MOVE spokesperson, sole surviving member of 1985 Philadelphia police bombing 
  30. Debbie Sims Africa (1956), member of MOVE Philadelphia, incarcerated over 40 years, released 2018 
  31. Mae Carol Jemison (1956) engineer, physician, NASA astronaut first Black woman to travel into space
  32. Anita Hill (1956) lawyer, educator, author, professor, sexual violence survivor and advocate 
  33. Dr. Afua Cooper (1957) historian, artist, author, educator, Order of Canada
  34. Ms. Billie Cooper (1958) Black trans activist, veteran, and community leader
  35. Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw (1959) civil rights activist and scholar, coined the term “intersectionality” in 1989 

Who did I miss? What would you add to or change about this list? What Black women & gender diverse elders in your community deserve recognition and support for their leadership? 

Go to the people who have been fighting the longest, centre them in any movements, study their work, listen to and archive their stories. Venerate future ancestors while they are alive. Praise their names, uplift their legacies. If they want it go shovel their driveways, carry firewood and groceries, pay them reparations, show up to support in tangible meaningful ways. Defend and protect them now. 

Don’t wait.