Harriet Tubman
Credit: Library of Congress

United States President Joe Biden has promised to accelerate a planned redesign of the $20 bill, to feature the abolitionist (anti-slavery activist) Harriet Tubman (1820?-1913). As it is now, the bill features a portrait of former president Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) on the front and a picture of the White House on the back. Jackson’s portrait will be replaced by a portrait of Tubman, a Black woman who helped hundreds of enslaved people in the United States escape to freedom.

In 2016, Secretary of the Treasury Jacob J. Lew proposed that Tubman be featured on the bill. But, the administration of President Donald J. Trump, who became president in 2017, postponed the change indefinitely. President Biden’s Treasury Department is determining how to speed up the process of adding Tubman to the $20 bill. Putting Tubman on the bill is intended to both celebrate and reflect the diversity of the United States.

Harriet Tubman was a famous leader of the underground railroad. The underground railroad was a secret system of guides, safehouses, and pathways that helped people who were enslaved escape to the northern United States or to Canada. Admirers called Tubman “Moses,” in reference to the Biblical prophet who led the Jews out of slavery in Egypt.

Tubman was born into slavery on Maryland’s Eastern Shore some time around 1820. Her name was Araminta Ross. She came to be known by her mother’s name, Harriet. Her father taught her a knowledge of the outdoors that later helped her in her rescue missions. When Harriet was a child, she tried to stop a supervisor from punishing another enslaved person. The supervisor fractured Harriet’s skull with a metal weight. Because of the injury, Harriet suffered blackouts. She interpreted them as messages from God. She married John Tubman, a free Black man, in 1844.

Harriet Tubman, acting alone, escaped from slavery in 1849. After arriving in Philadelphia, she vowed to return to Maryland and help liberate other people. Tubman made her first of 19 return trips shortly after Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. This law made it a crime to help enslaved runaways.

Tubman became a conductor (guide) on the underground railroad. She carried a gun and promised to use it against anyone who threatened the success of her operation. She was assisted by white and free Black abolitionists. She also got help from members of a religious sect known as the Quakers. On one rescue mission, she and a group of fugitives boarded a southbound train to avoid suspicion. On another mission, Tubman noticed her former master walking toward her. She quickly released the chickens she had been carrying and chased after them to avoid being recognized. In 1857, Tubman led her parents to freedom in Auburn, New York. Slaveowners offered thousands of dollars for Tubman’s arrest. But they never captured her or any of the 300 enslaved runaways she helped liberate before the American Civil War (1861-1865).

Tubman continued her courageous actions during the Civil War. She served as a nurse, scout, and spy for the Union Army. During one military campaign along the Combahee River in South Carolina, she helped free more than 750 enslaved people. After the war, Tubman became the subject of numerous biographies. Upon returning to Auburn, she spoke in support of women’s rights. She established the Harriet Tubman Home for elderly and needy Black Americans. She died on March 10, 1913.

The people of Auburn erected a plaque in Tubman’s honor. The United States Postal Service issued a postage stamp bearing her portrait in 1978. The Harriet Tubman National Historical Park, in Auburn, includes Tubman’s home, the residence she created for elderly Black Americans, and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church she raised funds to build. The historical park, which is operated by the National Park Service, opened in 2017. Also in 2017, a museum at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park opened to the public. The national historical park, created by Congress in 2014, includes sites in Dorchester, Caroline, and Talbot counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Ibram X. Kendi
Credit: © Stephen Voss

February is Black History Month, an annual observance of the achievements and culture of Black Americans. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature Black pioneers in a variety of areas.

You have probably heard of racism—and many of you have even experienced it—but have you heard of antiracism? A central idea of antiracism is that it is not enough for people to simply avoid racism. Rather, people must actively look for and work to eradicate racism in their own beliefs and in society’s institutions. Ibram X. Kendi (1982-…), an American author, historian, and activist, is a major advocate for antiracism. Kendi is known for his groundbreaking work as a scholar of race studies and Black history. His writings explore the idea of antiracism and the history of racism in America.

Ibram Henry Rogers was born in New York City on Aug. 13, 1982. He staged his first antiracist protest as a child in the third grade. He noticed that his teacher called on white students while ignoring non-white students. He witnessed her treating Black students disrespectfully. He protested his teacher’s racist behavior by refusing to return to class.

In 2004, he received a bachelor’s degree in journalism and African American studies from Florida A&M University. He received a Ph.D. degree in African American studies from Temple University in 2010. He married the American physician Sadiqa Edmonds in 2013. That year, the couple changed their last name to Kendi, and Ibram changed his middle name to Xolani. Kendi is a humanities professor at Boston University. He is also the founding director of the university’s Center for Antiracist Research.

Kendi has written several books focusing on racism, antiracism, and the Black American experience. His first book, The Black Campus Movement: Black Students and the Racial Reconstitution of Higher Education, 1965-1972, was published in 2012. In 2016, Kendi became the youngest person ever to receive the National Book Award for nonfiction for his book Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (2016). He went on to write the popular How to Be an Antiracist (2019) and Antiracist Baby (2020), a children’s picture book.

Kendi also wrote the introduction for an adaption of the book Stamped for middle school and teen readers written by Jason Reynolds (1983-…), a popular American author of books for young people. The adaptation is called Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You (2020). Reynolds writes novels and poetry for young adult and middle-grade readers. His works explore a variety of topics from a young person’s perspective. Such topics include the Black experience. They also include such issues as gun and gang violence.

Jason Reynolds
Credit: © Gary Gershoff, Getty Images

Reynolds became interested in poetry at a young age. An interest in rap music inspired him to explore literature. He advocates using rap and comic books as nontraditional ways to reach young readers. Reynolds’s first book, When I Was the Greatest, was published in 2014. It tells the story of three Black teenage boys growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, in New York City. Reynolds often chooses Black teenagers—particularly teenage boys—as his subjects. He portrays the uncertainty or fear many of the boys feel, to encourage young male readers to express their own emotions.

February is Black History Month, an annual observance of the achievements and culture of Black Americans. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature Black pioneers in a variety of areas.

Barbara Rose Johns
Credit: Library of Virginia

Can you imagine inspiring all the students in your school? Maybe you already have. You might have inspired them to establish a recycling program. You might have urged students to talk with teachers and administrators about having a more diverse curriculum.

In 1951, at the age of 16, the Black civil rights activist Barbara Johns (1935-1991) inspired all the students in her school. She led a walkout of her segregated high school in protest of poor and unequal school conditions. Segregation is the separation of people by race. Johns’s walkout helped launch the desegregation movement in the United States.

Barbara Rose Johns was born on March 6, 1935, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. During World War II (1939-1945), Johns moved to Prince Edward County, Virginia, to live with her grandmother. Johns attended the segregated Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia. The school’s facilities were inadequate to handle its students. Although the school was constructed to hold about 200 students, more than 400 students attended. Classes were held in school buses and in the auditorium. When parents asked the school board for additional space, several tar-paper shacks were built.

In the 11th grade, after years of frustration, Johns began mobilizing students to protest the poor and unequal school conditions. On April 23, 1951, the students—led by Johns—left the school and did not return for two weeks. The protest attracted the attention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Lawyers from the organization agreed to help the students, as long as the students agreed to sue for an integrated (combined) school, rather than simply improved conditions at the all-Black school. The students agreed, and the suit became known as Dorothy E. Davis et al v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Virginia. It became one of several cases consolidated into the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. In that case, in 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States declared racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional.

After organizing the walkout, Johns began receiving death threats. So, she moved to Montgomery, Alabama, to live with relatives and finish school. Johns married William Powell in 1954. She became known as Barbara Johns Powell. The couple raised five children. Johns attended Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, before earning a master’s degree in library science from Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1979. She became a librarian in the Philadelphia public school system. Johns died of bone cancer on Sept. 25, 1991.

In 2020, it was announced that a statue of Barbara Johns would be placed in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol, representing the state of Virginia. It was to replace a statue of the Confederate General Robert E. Lee, which was removed for its association with racism and the legacy of slavery.

Six-year-old Ruby Bridges is escorted by United States deputy marshals at William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, Louisiana, in November 1960. The first-grader was the only Black child enrolled in the school, where parents of white students boycotted the court-ordered integration law.
Credit: AP/Wide World

Ruby Bridges (1954-…) is another important figure in the history of integrated schools. She became one of the first Black children to integrate an elementary school in the Deep South region of the United States. In 1960, as a 6-year-old first-grader, she was the only Black student to enter the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. On Nov. 14, 1960, federal marshals escorted Bridges on her first day of school. The child was met by angry mobs. Parents of white students boycotted the court-ordered integration and took their children out of the school.

Bridges was taught by a white teacher named Barbara Henry, and she was the only student in her class for the entire school year. By the time Bridges entered second grade, Frantz Elementary had been successfully integrated. There were no more protests, and Bridges was able to attend the school unescorted.

Wally Amos, cookie entrepreneur
Credit: © David L Ryan, The Boston Globe/Getty Images

February is Black History Month, an annual observance of the achievements and culture of Black Americans. This month, Behind the Headlines will feature Black pioneers in a variety of areas.

No matter where you eat a bag of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies, you are home. Well, it might not be your home. But in a way, it is the home of a woman named Aunt Della. She is the woman who inspired the American businessman and cookie entrepreneur Wally Amos to found the Famous Amos cookie company in the 1970’s. Amos worked as a talent agent before founding the company. After selling Famous Amos, he went on to found other cookie companies, write books, and eventually return as the spokesperson for his original brand.

Wallace Amos, Jr., was born on July 1, 1936, in Tallahassee, Florida. It was after his parents separated that he moved to New York City to live with his Aunt Della. She often baked chocolate chip and pecan cookies. Amos studied the culinary (cooking) arts for two years at the Food and Maritime Trades Vocational High School in New York City. He served four years in the United States Air Force. In 1957, Amos returned to New York. He worked at the department store Saks Fifth Avenue before getting a job in the mail room at the William Morris Agency, a talent agency.

Amos worked his way up at the William Morris Agency. In 1962, he became the company’s first Black talent agent. Amos signed the singing duo Simon and Garfunkel. He eventually became the head of the agency’s rock music department. There, he worked with such famous Black singers as Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, and Diana Ross.

In 1967, Amos moved to Los Angeles, California, to open his own management company. Without much business, he began baking chocolate chip cookies. He set out to open a cookie store using a version of his Aunt Della’s recipe. Amos got a loan from Gaye and the singer Helen Reddy. He staged a large advertising campaign and grand opening gala to launch his cookie business. In 1975, he opened the first Famous Amos cookie store in Los Angeles. Soon after, he opened two more stores on the West Coast and one in the Bloomingdale’s department store in New York City.

In 1985, Amos began selling off parts of Famous Amos. In 1988, an investment group purchased the company and repositioned the cookie as a lower-priced snack food. In 1991, Amos launched the Wally Amos Presents Chip & Cookie company. He was sued by the owners of Famous Amos for infringing on the brand and forbidden to use his own likeness to sell food products. In 1998, the Keebler Company purchased Famous Amos. Amos returned to the brand as a spokesperson.

In 1993, Amos and the distributor Lou Avignone launched the Uncle Noname Cookie Company. In 1999, it became Uncle Wally’s Muffin Company. In 2005, Amos started Chip & Cookie. In 2016, another Amos business, the Hawaii-based Cookie Kahuna, was featured on the television investment show “Shark Tank.”

Amos wrote many books, including the memoir The Famous Amos Story: The Face That Launched a Thousand Chips (1983, with Leroy Robinson). His other works include two inspirational books written with Stu Glauberman, Watermelon Magic: Seeds of Wisdom, Slices of Life (1996) and Watermelon Credo: The Book (2010).

Wally Amos was far from the first Black inventor to be obsessed with food. George Washington Carver (1864?-1943) won international fame for his agricultural research. He was especially noted for his work with peanuts. Carver made more than 300 products from peanuts, including a milk substitute, face powder, printer’s ink, and soap. He also created more than 75 products from pecans and more than 100 products from sweet potatoes, including flour, shoe polish, and candy.

American poet Amanda Gorman
Credit: © Kathy Hutchins, Shutterstock

On January 20, Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States. On the west front of the United States Capitol, musicians performed, religious leaders prayed, and a new president delivered an inaugural address. Among the many speakers was the American poet Amanda Gorman. A 22-year-old Black woman, Gorman became the youngest poet to read at a presidential inauguration.

The poem, titled “The Hill We Climb,” was written for the occasion and referenced the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, just two weeks before the inauguration. In the attack, rioters supporting outgoing President Donald Trump stormed the building in an attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election, which Biden won. Gorman’s poem read in part:

We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it,

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy.

And this effort very nearly succeeded.

But while democracy can be periodically delayed,

It can never be permanently defeated.

In this truth, in this faith, we trust.

For while we have our eyes on the future,

history has its eyes on us.

Many observers described Gorman’s performance as extremely moving, bringing the poem’s beautiful, powerful words to life. Her expressive voice guided listeners through the past, present, and future of the United States. The poem and her performance were met with much acclaim.

Gorman was born in 1998 in Los Angeles, California. She struggled with a speech impediment as a child. Gorman studied at Harvard University. She had her first published collection of poetry with The One for Whom Food Is Not Enough (2015). Her work includes themes of feminism and racial oppression. In 2017, she was named the first U.S. National Youth Poet Laureate by the youth writing program Urban Word NYC in cooperation with the Library of Congress.

Gorman became one of only a few of poets to perform at a presidential inauguration, joining such legends as Maya Angelou and Robert Frost. In 1993, Angelou performed the poem “On the Pulse of Morning” at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton. Frost recited his poem “The Gift Outright” at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy.

Team publicity photo for the 1919 Chicago American Giants, a team that played in the Negro leagues.
Credit: Public Domain

Forty-eight years after his death, the baseball star Jackie Robinson just got 38 more hits. In December 2020, Major League Baseball (MLB) decided to grant major-league status to the Negro leagues—recognizing Negro league accomplishments as equal to those in the American and National leagues. The Negro leagues were professional baseball leagues formed for Black players, who were barred from playing alongside whites because of racial segregation. The leagues operated from 1920 to 1962.

Negro league teams were a source of pride for Black communities, where competition was just as fierce and the level of play just as high as in the segregated American and National leagues. Baseball historians agree that many players in the Negro leagues would have shone in the white leagues. Black entrepreneurs operated many of the teams and employed Black people from the local community as ticket-takers, ushers, and vendors.

The MLB plans to review the statistics and records of the approximately 3,400 players who played in the Negro leagues from 1920 to 1948 and incorporate them into major league historical records. The records from the Negro leagues are fragmentary, so the MLB will work with historians and statisticians to search for and review data from the period. The process will be ongoing, with records being updated as new box scores come to light.

In 1945, before the Brooklyn (now Los Angeles) Dodgers fielded Robinson, he played 26 games with the powerhouse Kansas City Monarchs, posting a blistering .384/.445/.606 slash line. Two years later, Robinson became the first Black player in the modern history of the MLB. The stats of some other early crossover stars, such as Larry Doby and Satchel Paige, will be greatly bolstered. Players who spent their entire careers in the Negro leagues, such as Cool Papa Bell, Oscar Charleston, Josh Gibson, and Buck Leonard, will gain entry into the major league record books.

Satchel Paige pitched 18 seasons in the Negro leagues before entering Major League Baseball in 1948 at age 42. Credit: AP/Wide World

The decision makes some amends for a double injustice inflicted upon Black baseball players. First, they were barred from playing on major league teams. Then, their achievements were downplayed or dismissed because of a lack of MLB play. No Negro league stars were enshrined in baseball’s Hall of Fame until the induction of Paige in 1971.

The inclusion of Negro league statistics in the official baseball record books comes too late to offer any consolation to most of the leagues’ veterans. However, it recognizes these players’ incredible talent and their importance in the fight for racial equality and the history of the game. These records will testify to their dogged determination to play America’s pastime in the face of great injustice.

Credit: © Ailisa, Shutterstock

Saturday, December 26, marks the first day of the holiday Kwanzaa. The holiday was developed in 1966 in the United States by Maulana Karenga, a professor of Pan-African studies and Black cultural leader. The holiday centers on the Nguzo Saba, seven principles of Black culture developed by Karenga. These principles are Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity), and Imani (faith). Kwanzaa is seven days long, lasting from Saturday through Friday, January 1.

The word Kwanzaa, sometimes spelled Kwanza, comes from the phrase matunda ya kwanza, which means first fruits in Swahili (also called Kiswahili), an East African language. There are seven basic symbols of Kwanzaa: mazao (the fruits of the harvest), the mkeka (a mat on which they are arranged), the kinara (a candleholder), mishumaa saba (candles), muhindi (ears of corn, one for each child in the family), the kikombe cha umoja (the chalice of unity), and zawadi (gifts). The zawadi that families exchange are often homemade. Each evening, families light one of the seven candles in the kinara and discuss the day’s principle.

Near the end of the holiday, there is a feast called karamu. It features traditional foods, ceremonies honoring the ancestors, assessments of the old year and commitments for the new, performances, music, and dancing.

Like so many holidays this year, Kwanzaa might look different than in years past. For instance, the entire community usually gathers for karamu. But, in many places, efforts are being made to prevent the spread of the pandemic (global outbreak) of the coronavirus disease COVID-19. Such efforts often include social distancing, meant to limit contact among people and thus the spread of germs. But, limiting the spread of germs doesn’t mean you can’t have seven days of joy!

One socially distant way to celebrate the holiday is to have a virtual dance party with friends and family. Performances, music, and dancing are important parts of karamu. So, choreograph a dance with the people in your household and send a video to friends and family. Your friends and family can learn the dance, too! If you must visit friends or relatives, wash your hands or use hand sanitizer before and after greeting others. Wearing a protective face mask when not eating can help prevent the spread of disease. However you choose to celebrate, we hope you have a safe and fun Kwanzaa!

Sandra Lindsay, a Black nurse, is injected with the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer on Dec. 14, 2020, in the Queens borough (section) of New York City. The rollout of the vaccine, the first to be given emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration, begins the largest vaccination effort in U.S. history.
Credit: © Mark Lennihan, Getty Images

The long-awaited V-Day, short for Vaccine Day, arrived in the United States on Monday, December 14, with the beginning of widespread vaccination against the coronavirus disease COVID-19. Vaccination involves the administration of special medicines called vaccines, which can help make a person immune to a particular disease. Sandra Lindsay—a nurse at a hospital in the Queens borough (section) of New York City—became the first person in the United States to receive the authorized COVID-19 vaccination. COVID-19 has killed more than 1 million people and infected more than 60 million people around the world. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted an emergency use authorization for the vaccine, by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, on December 11. V-Day provided a moment of hope against the COVID-19 pandemic (worldwide outbreak of disease) even as the U.S. death toll topped 300,000.

The fact that Lindsay—a Black health care worker—was first in line to receive the vaccine is significant. In the United States, COVID-19 has disproportionally affected Black Americans, and medical workers have been on the front line of the fight against the disease. Lindsay said it was important for her to take the vaccine, in part because of the history of unequal and racist treatment of minorities in the medical system. In particular, she mentioned the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, a notorious medical experiment involving Black Americans. Beginning in 1932, medical workers conducted blood tests among 4,000 Black men in Tuskegee, Alabama, and selected for the study about 400 who were found to be infected with the sexually transmitted disease syphilis. The participants in the study were not informed that they were infected with syphilis or told about the expected outcomes of the experiment. Lindsay hoped to inspire Black people and other minorities who may be skeptical about the vaccine. After receiving the first of two doses, she said, “It feels surreal. It is a huge sense of relief for me, and hope.”

The first doses of the Pfizer vaccine to be given to Americans were shipped on Sunday, December 13. The United States is not the first country to approve the vaccine. On December 8, Margaret Keenan of the United Kingdom became the first person in the world to receive the authorized vaccine. Canada has also approved the vaccine, administering its first dose the same day as the United States.

In many cases, administration of a COVID-19 vaccine will be voluntary. But, it will be a while until everybody who wants a vaccine can get one. In the United States, the first doses will be given to health care workers. Frontline workers (workers likely to encounter the disease) and people who are vulnerable to the virus, including the elderly and people with such risk factors as obesity or diabetes will be next. Some of these people may receive the vaccine by the end of 2020. But, most people will have to wait until the spring of 2021.

Most vaccines are administered into the body by injection. A vaccine contains substances that stimulate the body’s immune system to produce molecules called antibodies. The immune system uses antibodies to fight against germs that enter the body. Antibodies produced in response to a vaccine can protect a person who is exposed to the actual disease-causing organism. The process of protecting the body in this way is called immunization. Vaccines have been successful in fighting many other diseases, including chickenpox, meningitis, and yellow fever.

Pfizer and Moderna began clinical trials in July. During these trials, participants were given either the vaccine or a placebo. A placebo is a substance that contains no active ingredient. Comparing infection rates in subjects who received the placebo with those among subjects who got the vaccine can help determine if the vaccine is effective. In the Pfizer and Moderna clinical trials, half the participants were given a placebo of salt water, and half were given the vaccine. The researchers then waited to see who might get sick. The results were very promising—both vaccines were about 95 percent effective in preventing COVID-19. By contrast, commonly administered influenza vaccines (known as flu shots) are 40 percent to 60 percent effective.

In late November, the companies Pfizer and Moderna each applied for emergency approval from the FDA for their COVID-19 vaccines.  The two companies are among dozens of drugmakers that have worked tirelessly to develop a vaccine against the deadly virus.

Mississippi’s new state flag
Credit: © Dromara, Shutterstock

During the 2020 election, people across the United States voted for local, state, and national officials. But voters in Mississippi got to vote on a fairly unique proposition as well—the design of a new state flag. In June 2020, the state Legislature passed—and Governor Tate Reeves signed—a bill to remove and replace the state flag. The old flag, adopted in 1894, featured a replica of the Confederate battle emblem used during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Many people consider the emblem to be a symbol of slavery and oppression. The Legislature’s measure called for a commission to adopt a new design that omitted Confederate symbols and included the words “In God We Trust.”  Mississippians voted to accept the new design in a November referendum (vote of approval).

Mississippi’s new flag features a white magnolia blossom on a blue backdrop with red and gold stripes on either side of the flower. The magnolia is the state flower, as well as the state tree. “In God We Trust” is written below the flower. Twenty stars representing Mississippi’s status as the 20th state in the Union surround the flower. One gold star represents Mississippi’s Native American tribes.

The move comes at a time when protests of racial injustice and the legacy of slavery and white supremacy have captured the nation’s attention. This summer, hundreds of thousands of people throughout the United States (and even around the world) took to the streets to demonstrate against racism and the police use of force against African Americans, including the killings of George Floyd and others. Protesters urged city officials—in Mississippi and throughout the United States—to remove statues of such Confederate leaders as Robert E. Lee, the general who commanded the Confederate Army in the Civil War. Protesters also encouraged the removal of a variety of Confederate-related symbols, such as the emblem on the Mississippi flag. Displays of the emblem were also banned at NASCAR races and other events.

This year was not the first time a new Mississippi flag has been proposed. In 2001, Governor Ronnie Musgrove appointed a commission to propose a new design for the state’s flag. That design featured a circle of stars, representing Mississippi’s Native American tribes. Later in the year, two-thirds of Mississippi voters rejected the new design and chose to keep the old flag. Mississippi’s flag remained a source of controversy through the early 2000′s, leading a number of organizations and corporations to decline to hold events in the state or open facilities there. The new design officially becomes law in 2021.

Breanna Stewart of the Seattle Storm reaches for the ball during Game Three of the WNBA Finals against the Las Vegas Aces on Oct. 6, 2020, at Feld Entertainment Center in Palmetto, Florida.
Credit: © Stephen Gosling, NBAE/Getty Images

On Tuesday, October 6, the Seattle Storm defeated the Las Vegas Aces 92-59 to win the 2020 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) Championship in a three-game sweep. Seattle’s win was the largest margin of victory in finals history. It is Seattle’s second title in three seasons. With the win, Seattle tied the Houston Comets and Minnesota Lynx for the league’s most championship wins.

The celebration looked different than in years past. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic (global outbreak of disease), teams have been in a bubble—nicknamed the “Wubble,” for the WNBA bubble—at IMG Academy sports training complex in Bradenton, Florida, since July. The victors could not celebrate with friends, family, or fans, but they certainly will when they return to Seattle. Before that, however, the players settled for a celebration of making confetti angels on the court.

The legends Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart play for the Seattle Storm. Since Bird joined the team in 2000, she has been part of all four Storm titles. In addition to 2020, the Storm won in 2004, 2010, and 2018. Stewart joined the Storm in 2016, earning Rookie of the Year that same year. She was named the WNBA Most Valuable Player for the 2018 season. Both Bird and Stewart missed the 2019 WNBA season while recovering from injury.

Other key Storm players include Jordin Canada, Alysha Clark, Natasha Howard, and Jewell Lloyd. Alysha Clark, in particular, spoke about the league’s mission to bring attention to Breonna Taylor, as well as Black women and girls in general. In March, Taylor, a Black woman, was shot and killed by police officers executing a botched search. WNBA players put Taylor’s name on the back of their jerseys and raised awareness about social justice issues. After the win, Clark said, “It’s a championship for little Black girls and Black women across the country, honestly. I said it after the game, when I was letting it all soak in: ‘I hope each and every one of them feels just as victorious in this moment as I do, because you should. We see you, we hear you. We acknowledge you, and your life matters.’”