The 1st Rhode Island Regiment broke barriers in the Revolutionary War as the first predominantly Black unit in the Continental Army.

Norma Merrick Sklarek was one of the first Black female architects in America who helped build iconic structures across the country.

The first half of the 20th century saw massive surges in polio cases, resulting in extended hospital stays for many, including Eleanor Abbot, a retired schoolteacher who invented Candyland to entertain the children she met in the polio ward.

By the 1990s, synthetic voices for computers and the disabled were mostly male until researcher Ann Syrdal helped develop the first functional female synthetic voice, paving the way for AI assistants like Siri.