As America marks its 250th anniversary, the America250 initiative calls us to reflect on the women who shaped the nation’s story from its very center. At the Capital Collection Boathouses, proud members of the Adventures Unbound family, we are honoring Women’s History Month by celebrating three extraordinary African American women whose courage, intellect, and determination helped shape American history through education, advocacy, and leadership.

Voices That Shaped a Nation

Few lives in American history cover as much ground as that of Mary McLeod Bethune. Born to formerly enslaved parents in 1875, Bethune became one of the most influential educators and civil rights leaders of the 20th century, founding what would become Bethune Cookman University and later serving as a senior advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. As a leader of the National Youth Administration, she became one of the first African American women to lead a federal agency. Her life reflected the power of education to create opportunity and change.

Walking alongside her in the fight for equality was Mary Church Terrell, whose work spanned decades and influenced many major civil rights efforts of her time. A founder of the National Association of Colored Women and a charter member of the NAACP, Terrell organized under the motto Lifting as we climb, reflecting her belief in collective progress. She remained active in the fight against segregation in Washington, D.C. well into her later years.

The roots of that tradition of courage run even deeper through the life of Charlotte Forten Grimké. Born in 1837 to a prominent abolitionist family in Philadelphia, she became the first Northern Black teacher to travel to the Sea Islands of South Carolina to educate freed men and women during the Civil War. She documented those experiences in essays published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1864, and her personal diaries remain an important record of that period in American history.

Paddle Into the Story

This Women’s History Month, the waters of the Potomac flow past a city these women helped shape. We invite you to get out on the water and experience that connection for yourself. To learn more about how we are celebrating the full, diverse story of America’s heritage, visit America250 at Adventures Unbound and explore further at the National Park Service.