Written by: Nikki Nair

Black Americans have been changing the world for centuries. This Black History Month, we’re covering 20 contemporary Black changemakers that are writing the next chapter in the history books. 

Rosalind Brewer

In March 2021, Rosalind Brewer became the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the widely prevalent drugstore chain Walgreens Boots Alliance. She is the only Black woman currently leading a Fortune 500 firm. Previous to this appointment, Brewer was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Starbucks, and the first Black and first woman to be in this role. She also spent five years as the CEO of Sam’s Club. Brewer began her career working for Kimberly-Clark, a manufacturing company, as a scientist and worked her way up to the role of president of the company’s Global Nonwovens Sector.

Brewer also has a history of board of directors memberships. Brewer was a director of the Molson Coors Brewing Company from 2006 to 2011. From 2011 to 2017, she was a director of Lockheed Martin. From 2019 to 2021, Brewer served on the board of directors at Amazon. 

USA Today calls her “one of corporate America’s most prominent women and black female executives.” Brewer has also been honored as a “Highly Powerful Woman” by both Forbes and Fortune magazines. In 2021, she was selected for the Forbes 50 Over 50 list.

Preston Mitchum

Preston Mitchum has many titles: advocate, organizer, writer, professor, lawyer. After receiving both his Juris Doctorate and his Master’s of Law degree, Mitchum went on to serve as a policy analyst for a host of organizations and judges. Then, he became the Director of Policy at Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity (URGE), where he was able to shape local, state, and national procedures and reproductive justice policies, while focusing on the voices and leadership of young people. Currently, Mitchum is the Director of Advocacy and Government Affairs at The Trevor Project, which is a nonprofit dedicated to suicide prevention among LGBTQ+ youth.

In 2014, Mitchum co-authored “Beyond Bullying: How Hostile School Climate Perpetuates the School-to-Prison Pipeline for LGBT Youth.” In February 2022, he will be a contributing author to “The Black Agenda: Bold Solutions for a Broken System.”

Additionally, Mitchum is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University, where he teaches LBGT Health Law and Policy. He was also the first openly LGTBQ Chair of the Washington Bar Association Young Lawyers Division. 

Stacey Abrams

Stacey Abrams rose to prominence representing Georgia in the House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017. In 2018, she became the first Black woman to be a major-party gubernatorial nominee in the United States. In 2019, Abrams became the first Black woman to deliver a response to the State of the Union address. Her actions against voter suppression have been widely recognized in boosting voter turnout in Georgia, especially in the 2020 presidential election. In December 2021, she announced her candidacy for the 2022 Georgia gubernatorial election.

An accomplished writer, Abrams penned two nonfiction books: Our Time Is Now and Lead from the Outside. Both were New York Times best sellers. She has also written eight fiction books under the pen name Selena Montgomery. In 2021, Abrams wrote her first fiction novel under her own name, While Justice Sleeps, and her first children’s book, Stacey’s Extraordinary Words.

Abrams has earned a multitude of honors during her lifetime. She was a 1994 Harry S. Truman Scholar, meaning she received the highest graduate fellowship in the United States for public service leadership. For her work fighting voter suppression, Abrams has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. In 2021, she was included in the Time’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett

Dr. Kizzmekia “Kizzy” Corbett is not a household name, but what she designed most definitely is. Corbett is the lead scientist on the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine team. She had spent the previous six years at the Vaccine Research Center studying spike proteins of the previous coronaviruses, and her team was able to apply their collective knowledge on the subject to accelerate the development of the vaccine. Due to their efforts, the Moderna vaccine entered Phase 1 clinical trials only 66 days after the release of the virus sequence.

Corbett is an Assistant Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Shutzer Assistant Professor at the Harvard Radcliffe Institue. She has a PhD in microbiology and immunology. She also serves on Boston’s COVID-19 advisory committee as of December 2021.

In February 2021, Corbett was featured in the Time’s “Time100 Next” list under the Innovators category, with a profile written by Dr. Anthony Fauci. Fauci also had this to say about Corbett: “The first thing you might want to say to my African American brothers and sisters is that the vaccine that you’re going to be taking was developed by an African American woman.”

Victor J. Glover Jr.

Victor J. Glover Jr. fulfilled the common childhood dream of becoming an astronaut, but that certainly wasn’t the only accomplishment in store for him. In November 2020, Glover became the first Black astronaut to live and work at the International Space Station (ISS) for an extended period of time. He embarked on the SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule Resilience on November 15, 2020. They arrived at the ISS two days later. He had three spacewalks during his stay at the ISS, each repairing or prepping the station for new installations. During his stay, he was selected for NASA’s Artemis program, which will have its first uncrewed launch in the spring of this year. 

Prior to being an astronaut, Glover served in both the United States Navy and Air Force. Throughout his military career, he flew approximately 3,000 flight hours in more than 40 aircraft. He had also completed over 400 carrier arrested landings and 24 combat missions.

In February 2021, NASA recorded a call between Glover and Vice President Kamala Harris, in which the two talked about topics ranging from the legacy of space travel to Glover’s historic stay at the ISS.

Rosalind Brewer, Preston Mitchum, Stacey Abrams, Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett, and Victor J. Glover Jr. are leaders in their fields and are truly changing the world, but they are certainly not alone. Come back next week for five more changemakers that exemplify Black excellence.