“These Days, Black Women Are Singing Strong,” photographed by Irving Penn, originally appeared in the May 1969 issue of Vogue. For more highlights from Vogue’s archive, sign up for our Nostalgia newsletter.

Five remarkable women are featured here and on the following pages—each with sharp minds and graceful, feminine approaches. They are part of a much larger group of hundreds who, in various ways, hold the reins of power. For years, they have dedicated themselves to serving all Americans. Among them is Mrs. Elizabeth Duncan Koontz, the first Black woman to serve as President of the National Education Association before President Nixon appointed her Director of the Women’s Bureau in the Department of Labor. They stand alongside thousands of Black women who are teachers and principals, hundreds who are doctors, judges, psychologists, and medical researchers, and thousands more with bold minds working in nearly every field. They represent one of the nation’s greatest and enduring resources.

MRS. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., “classic nobility”
Coretta Scott King embodies faith, humor, beauty, and discipline—as open as a flower. A committed nonviolent activist, she has largely receded into the role of Mrs. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the year since her husband’s murder. The Kings worked together, though not always side by side, since meeting when she studied singing at the New England Conservatory of Music and he pursued his doctorate at Boston University. Today, in the Atlanta home she shares with their four children, she spends evenings with them, often singing Louisiana Creole folk songs like “Mr. Banjo.” Much of her time is devoted to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and to writing her book, My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr., set for publication in September. With energy and passion, she recently became the first woman to deliver the Sunday sermon at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Titled “The Dawn of a New Day,” she spoke from the same pulpit Dr. King used in 1964 on his way to Sweden to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, her voice low yet powerfully rhythmic.

DR. MILDRED MITCHELL-BATEMAN, “I go at whatever I do”
Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, May 1969
Dr. Bateman, Director of the West Virginia Department of Mental Health, is a modest, determined, and disciplined psychiatrist trained at Menninger. She oversees six hospitals and 2,600 employees, transforming West Virginia’s mental health system from restrictive institutions (“an expensive way to spend money”) into comprehensive centers offering pre- and post-hospital care, rehabilitation, teacher training, programs for alcoholism, and prevention of mental disabilities in children. By utilizing VISTA workers and the Federal Foster Grandparents program, she brings emergency services closer to the state’s mountain communities and encourages outreach. A physician, wife, and mother, Dr. Bateman draws on the discipline and devotion of her Presbyterian upbringing to address long-neglected social, medical, and economic issues. She speaks so softly that legislators must lean in to listen.

CONGRESSWOMAN SHIRLEY CHISHOLM, “I’m called pepper pot”
Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, May 1969
A rebel driven by a strong sense of mission, Shirley Chisholm wants to be known not just as the first Black woman in Congress, but as a politician who builds trust in public service among young people, both Black and white. After serving in New York’s State Legislature, this Democrat was elected to the House of Representatives in November by a three-to-one majority from her Brooklyn district, Bedford-Stuyvesant, where she was born and still lives when not in Washington. (She is married to Conrad Chisholm, an investigator for the New York City Bureau of Medical Services.) A skilled pianist and a talented danc…This educator, fluent in Spanish, holds degrees from Brooklyn College and Columbia University. Her solution for the power structure is to put more women in positions of authority. She remarked, “When I feel like banging the heads of the boys on the Hill, I channel that energy instead by playing ‘Clair de Lune.’”

DR. DOROTHY B. FEREBEE, who could charm birds from the trees
Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, May 1969

Strong, buxom, shrewd, and expressive, with the steadfast presence of an archetypal mother, Dr. Ferebee is an authority in medicine. For twenty years she oversaw ten thousand students as Director of the Howard University Health Service in Washington, D.C., before becoming a Lecturer in Preventive Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. (When she lectured on preventive medicine for the State Department in eighteen African countries, she attempted the local tribal languages, finding Swahili the easiest.) Visits to the health center Tufts operates in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, will return her to the area where she led a health project in 1935 for many of the same farm workers. Among seven lawyers in Dr. Ferebee’s family was the first Black judge in Massachusetts. Her own capabilities have earned her positions on so many national boards, associations, and committees (seventeen in total) that a grandson once advised against listing all her honors: “You’ll sound like an item in the Sears, Roebuck catalogue.”

ELMA LEWIS, “I am a breakthrough”
Photographed by Irving Penn, Vogue, May 1969

Dynamic and warm, as persuasive as she is passionate, Elma Lewis is a visionary challenger with faith and energy. She is transforming Boston’s Roxbury district from a deprived neighborhood into a hub of cultural celebration through her new National Center of Afro-American Artists. “We are growing as it grows,” she said of the Center, which evolved from her Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts. The Center will feature two large theatres, a museum, a library, dance and television studios, a fine arts school, and an integrated elementary school. “I believe in Black artists rather than Black art,” said Elma Lewis, a ballet and drama teacher with degrees from Emerson College and Boston University. “I am a breakthrough, and my students are now working in ballet, television, and on Broadway.” Elma Lewis campaigns for millions in funding—few of her students can afford even the modest monthly tuition. She also attracts renowned teachers and performers, such as choreographer Talley Beatty, Nigerian drummer Babatunde Olatunji, and the Boston Pops orchestra, which will give three concerts at her summer Playhouse in Franklin Park. “All the artists are cooperative. I encounter no problems,” said Elma Lewis, “except the need for more money.”

Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions about Countee Cullen Black Poetic Voice

Who was Countee Cullen
Countee Cullen was a leading poet of the Harlem Renaissance a major cultural movement in the 1920s He is celebrated for his formal lyrical poetry that often explored themes of racial identity faith and beauty

What is the Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was a period of flourishing African American art music literature and intellectual thought centered in Harlem New York during the 1920s and 1930s It was a foundational moment for Black artistic expression in America

What does his famous quote Yet do I marvel mean
In this line from his sonnet Yet Do I Marvel Cullen marvels at the paradox of a God who would create a Black poet in a racist society and still expect him to create beautiful joyful art It speaks to the struggle of creating art while bearing the burden of racial injustice

How does Cullens work relate to Black women poets today
Cullens line frames a historic question about the conditions for Black artistic creation Today Black women poets are singing powerfully by expanding the conversationaddressing intersectional identities systemic issues and reclaiming narratives with immense visibility and influence that builds upon the foundations laid by Cullens generation

What are some of Countee Cullens most famous poems
Key poems include Heritage Incident Yet Do I Marvel and From the Dark Tower Incident a short poem about a childhood racial slur is one of his most frequently anthologized works

Did Countee Cullen only write about race
No While racial identity was a central theme he also wrote extensively about classical mythology love religion and universal human experiences He was often noted for his mastery of traditional European poetic forms which created a compelling tension with his subject matter

What is the significance of his use of traditional poetic forms
Cullens choice to use sonnets and other European forms was both an assertion of his technical skill and a complex political act It demonstrated that Black poets could excel within the established high art canon while also sometimes using those forms to subvert expectations and highlight racial themes

How can I start reading Countee Cullens poetry
A great starting point