Flemmie Pansy Kittrell: Nourishing the World

Dr. Flemmie Pansy Kittrell was the first Black woman to earn a PhD in nutrition.

Kittrell graduated high school with honors and her family encouraged her to go to Hampton Institute for a degree in home economics. Her professors were so impressed with her work at Hampton that they encouraged her to go to graduate school. Very few Black women—very few women of any race—attended graduate school at the time, but Kittrell won a scholarship to Cornell University, a prestigious Ivy League college, and in 1936 she became the first Black woman to receive her PhD from the school. In the early years of her career she taught high school, but she soon accepted a position at Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina. She later returned to Hampton Institute as a professor of nutrition, and quickly became the dean of the school of home economics.

In 1947, Kittrell began an international crusade to help children suffering from hunger. She believed that lack of access to food was a huge problem for poor people, and so she combined her home economic classes with courses in science and engineering to try to solve it. She traveled to Liberia in Africa where she discovered that, while Liberian people typically had full bellies, they weren’t receiving enough nutrients on their diets of cassava and rice. She introduced different ways to add more protein into their diets, such as through fishing. Kittrell traveled the world in pursuit of her studies. Along with Liberia, she traveled to India, Japan, West Africa, Central Africa, Guinea, and Russia. She helped set up a training program for home economics in Baroda College in India, and back at Howard, Kittrell used her position to recruit students from all over the world. In the 1960s, she helped establish the Head Start program for pre-kindergarten children. She was awarded the Scroll of Honor from the National Council of Negro Women in 1961.

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Black Women by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.

HANNAH TAYlOR: A LITTLE EMPATHY GOES A LONG WAY

https://inspiremykids.com/hannah-taylor-her-ladybug-foundation-brings-good-luck-to-those-who-need-it-most/

Hannah Taylor is an amazing young girl who has accomplished a lot of success at a very young age. Hannah started her own charity called the Ladybug Foundation when she was about eight years old. Her urge to start this organization came to her one winter day when she saw a man eating out from the trashcan, and she couldn’t help but think to herself, “Why? Why? Why?” Since that day, Hannah has dedicated her life to helping the homeless. She has raised over three million dollars through her foundation to fund projects in Canada that give homeless people food, shelter, and safety. Hannah has not only encouraged change through her organization, but also through the written word. She is the published author of Ruby’s Hope, which is a children’s book that inspires hope and caring and empowers young readers to make change.

“Your voice is powerful right now.” —Hannah Taylor

This excerpt is from The Book of Awesome Girls by Becca Anderson, which is available now through Amazon and Mango Media.