It's Black History Month, which means that schools will have curriculum focused on notable Black people for the next four weeks. I always enjoyed what I learned during Black History Month, but I realize now how woefully under-educated I was on the accomplishments of people of color. I knew about famous Black women like Rosa Parks and Harriet Tubman, but it wasn't until college that I started learning about less-famous Black women in history who also accomplished incredible things. Even now, I'm still learning about revolutionary women of color who I can't believe I've never heard of.

According to the National Council for the Social Studies, my not knowing about these extraordinary Black women is common. "Only one to two lessons or 8–9 percent of total class time is devoted to Black history in U.S. history classrooms," the organization says. They recommend curriculum "from a Black perspective with topics specifically geared towards the Black experience" to help improve the superficial knowledge many kids are left with after Black history lessons. But even if you're done with school, you can still learn, which is why I've made a list of 17 Black women you should know about — and continue to talk about all year long.

1 Althea Gibson Library of Congress Unless you're a longtime tennis fan, you may not be familiar with Althea Gibson, who was the first Black woman to compete at Wimbledon in 1951, according to the International Tennis Hall Of Fame, opening doors for Black athletes everywhere. And she didn't just compete — her victories are legendary. She went on to win singles titles at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon in 1957 and 1958, and the Associated Press named her Female Athlete of the Year those same two years in a row. In 2016, Serena Williams recognized her accomplishments when she tweeted, "Althea Gibson paved the way for all women of color in sport." And though Gibson is most famous for her tennis skills, that wasn't the only sport she played. Gibson became a professional golfer in 1963, just years after winning her tennis titles.

2 Amelia Boynton Robinson Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images Amelia Boynton Robinson helped organize the 1965 Selma March and became the first Black woman to run for Congress in Alabama. Although she didn't win, her campaign raised much-needed awareness about voter discrimination. After she died at 104, former President Barack Obama recognized her legacy in an official statement. "She was as strong, as hopeful, and as indomitable of spirit — as quintessentially American — as I’m sure she was that day 50 years ago,” he said, according to the Washington Post. “To honor the legacy of an American hero like Amelia Boynton requires only that we follow her example — that all of us fight to protect everyone’s right to vote.”

3 Jane Bolin Employee of the US Office of War Information/Wikimedia Commons Jane Bolin was a trailblazer for women of color who practice law — she was the first Black woman to graduate from Yale Law School and became the nation's first Black woman judge in 1939, according to the New York Times. Bolin ruled on important Family Court cases throughout her career and worked with former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt to support a program that aimed to root out crime among young boys. In addition, as the Times pointed out, she ruled against the assignment of probation officers based on race.

4 Daisy Bates Bernard Botturi/Wikimedia Commons After moving to Little Rock, Arkansas, Daisy Bates helped start one of the first Black newspapers that was entirely dedicated to the Civil Rights Movement, womenshistory.org notes. The civil rights activist served as president of her local NAACP chapter and eventually played a huge role in ending school segregation in Arkansas by organizing the Little Rock Nine — a group of nine Black students who integrated Central High School. Arkansas recognizes the third Monday in February as Daisy Gatson Bates Day to celebrate her legacy.

5 Miriam Makeba Getty Images/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images While there are incredible women of color in U.S. history, it's important to recognize the work done by Black women around the world. Miriam Makeba was a South African singer who spoke out against apartheid for decades, according to The Guardian. After her death in 2008, South Africa's former president Nelson Mandela said, "She was South Africa's first lady of song and so richly deserved the title of Mama Africa. She was a mother to our struggle and to the young nation of ours."

6 Alexa Canady Unknown/Wikimedia Commons Dr. Alexa Canady became the first Black woman neurosurgeon in the U.S. in 1981, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. She helped save thousands of lives — mostly children, according to Changing the Face of Medicine — during her 20-year career. Her home state of Michigan recognized her milestones by inducting her into the Woman's Hall of Fame in 1989, and she was named Teacher of the Year by the Children's Hospital of Michigan.

7 Claudette Colvin The Visibility Project/Wikimedia Commons While Rosa Parks made history for all the right reasons, Claudette Colvin refused to give up her bus seat for a white person months before Parks did, per NPR. She was only 15 years old at the time. So, why isn't her name mentioned as frequently as Parks is? “My mother told me to be quiet about what I did,” Colvin told the New York Times in 2009. “She told me: ‘Let Rosa be the one. White people aren’t going to bother Rosa — her skin is lighter than yours and they like her.’” She told the publication that in her heart, she knows that Parks was the right person.

8 Marsha P. Johnson Netflix Marsha P. Johnson was an LGBTQ activist and trans woman who helped lead the Stonewall riots. A 2017 Netflix documentary investigating her death drew attention to her legacy, as well as the continued violence against transgender women of color today. The New York Times says that in addition to being a drag performer, Johnson worked with homeless LGBTQ young people and people with HIV or AIDS. New York City's Greenwich Village memorialized Johnson's contributions with a monument in May 2019, and it's just down the street from the Stonewall Inn. “The LGBTQ movement was portrayed very much as a white, gay male movement,” New York City first lady Chirlane McCray told the Times. “This monument counters that trend of whitewashing the history.”

9 Constance Baker Motley acluct on Twitter A lawyer, activist, and the first Black woman to become a federal judge and serve in the New York State Senate, Constance Baker Motley lived a revolutionary life during the civil rights era. While practicing law, she focused on civil rights cases, per the New York Times, and once even represented Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On top of that, she won the nine out of 10 cases she argued in front of the Supreme Court.

10 Dr. Mae Jemison Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images Dr. Mae Jemison became the first Black woman astronaut to travel into space in 1992, and her accomplishments don't end there. Today, she's a doctor, former Peace Corps officer, and engineer. In addition, she leads the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's 100-Year Starship program, which aims to send humans outside of our solar system in the next century, Space.com says.

12 Gwendolyn Brooks 23cschwartz on Twitter The Poetry Foundation describes Gwendolyn Brooks as "one of the most highly regarded, highly influential, and widely read poets of 20th-century American poetry." In fact, she was the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1950. Her poems described the everyday life of Black Americans in cities like Chicago, where she grew up.

13 Mary Mahoney Unknown photographer / Wikimedia Commons Mary Mahoney became the first licensed Black nurse in the U.S. in 1879, according to the National Women's History Museum. She couldn't work in a hospital because of the discrimination people of color faced in the 19th century, so she spent years as a private nurse instead. Later, she cofounded the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN) in 1908, and gave its convention's opening speech the very next year, womenshistory.org highlighted. And after the 19th Amendment was ratified years later, she became one of the first women registered to vote in Boston.

14 Fannie Lou Hamer Warren K. Leffler / Wikimedia Commons Fannie Lou Hamer fought for Black people to have the right to vote and suffered permanent injuries because of police beatings, per PBS. In 1964, she ran for Congress as a member of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which she helped found. The party pushed back against the Democratic Party's all-white delegation in Mississippi that year. And even after the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965, she continued to speak out against voting discrimination.

15 Dorothy Height Adrian Hood / Wikimedia Commons Dorothy Height was a civil rights activist who's considered the "unsung heroine" of the civil rights era, according to the New York Times. She advocated for improving the lives of Black women and also pushed for women's rights. In addition to leading the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years, she helped found the National Women’s Political Caucus alongside feminist activists like Gloria Steinem. She received the Congressional Gold Medal for her work in 2004.