Who Am I
In 1976, this person officially recognized Black History Month. They called upon the public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”
President Gerald Ford
Stemming from funk music, this genre was created during the 1970s, and features strong elements of bass and percussion, and a call-and-responsebetween the singer and the audience.
Go Go Music
Chicago-born designer, entrepreneur, stylist, and DJ, I became the first African-American artistic director of Louis Vuitton when I was appointed to helm the French fashion house's menswear collections in March 2018. I was also the CEO of the Milan-based label Off-White, a fashion house I founded in 2013, and was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018.
Virgil Abloh
I was a patented African-American inventor and involved activist for the women's suffrage. I am known for the invention of a durable hairbrush with synthetic bristles.
Lyda D. Newman
I was born to sharecroppers outside of Troy, Alabama. I grew up on my family's farm and attended segregated public schools in Pike County, Alabama. I dedicated my life to protecting human rights, securing personal dignity and building what I call "The Beloved Community.
John Lewis
Born and raised in Maryland to two free parents, I was a self-taught mathematician and astronomer who assisted the white land surveyor, Andrew Ellicott, in assessing the land and creating boundary lines for what became the nation’s capital
Benjamin Banneker
A Liberian-American fashion designer, I moved to New York to pursue a modeling career, which led me to create my own collection of deconstructed vintage clothes in 2003. In 2005 I started his brand, a genderless fashion label based in Brooklyn.
Telfar Clemens
I was the first Black person in Cleveland, Ohio, to own a car. After he witnessed a severe car accident at an intersection in the city, he expanded on the current traffic light by adding a “yield” component, warning oncoming drivers of an impending stop.
Garrett Morgan
The second of six siblings, I was born in Wisconsin, and raised in Gulfport, Mississippi. In 1989, the family moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where her parents pursued graduate divinity degrees at Emory University. I am the House Minority Leader for the Georgia General Assembly and State Representative for the 89th House District. I am the first woman to lead either party in the Georgia General Assembly and is the first African-American to lead in the House of Representatives.
Stacey Abrams
This Black-owned florist for nearly 80 years — provided its customers with fresh floral designs and gifts. The shop survived the 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. riots and the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and has been ran by three generations of this family.
Lee's Flower Shop
This Fashion designer had already dressed artists of like Lizzo, Rihanna, and Cardi B by the time they won the prestigious CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award in November 2019. Former First Lady Michelle Obama is also a patron of the designer and loves their bold approach to designing with color.
Christopher John Rogers
I took out a patent in 1887 for a mechanism that automatically opens and closes elevator shaft doors. His designs are largely reflected in elevators used today.
Alexander Miles
I was an African-American lecturer, abolitionist, and agent of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Born of free blacks, I made my first speech against slavery when I was only sixteen years old. As a young woman, I delivered antislavery speeches throughout the Northeast United States. I traveled to England to gather support for the abolitionist cause in the United States. When I was older, I became a physician in Italy where I stayed until my death.
Sarah Parker Remond
In 1851, this white abolitionist founded the “Miner Normal School for Colored Girls. They chose DC for the school because it was the southernmost city and had the greatest number of uneducated free Blacks. This school later became an HBCU in DC.
Mrytilla Miner
In the 1860s, as a former Virginia-born slave, I became the personal dressmaker and close confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of Abraham Lincoln. Although my journey to the White House was difficult, I finally bought my freedom from my St. Louis owners and then established myself as a skillful seamstress for the most influential women in Washington D.C. as well as a civil activist and author.
Elizabeth Keckley
In the late 19th century, the ironing board was improved by me. One of the first Black women in U.S. history to receive a patent, I created a narrower and curved design, making it easier to iron garments. My design morphed into the modern board that we use today.
Sarah Boone
I was an abolitionist, writer and educator. The freeborn daughter of Robert and Grace Douglass, a distinguished black abolitionist family in Philadelphia, I joined my mother as a founding member of the bi-racial Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society (PFAS) in 1833. Throughout my abolitionist career, I also served as recording secretary, librarian, and manager for the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society.
Sarah Mapp Douglass
Founded in 1870, this school’s curriculum comprised of several tracks including academic, scientific, and business. Many of the students went on to attend the nation’s top colleges in the North. In 1916, the number of students outgrew the building, and the school was moved to the Dunbar High School. Its previous building became an elementary school and junior high school for Black children and was renamed the Perry School, up until the desegregation of schools.
M St High School
Born in Pennsylvania in 1905, I lived during an era when racial segregation was part of daily life. I began as a storeroom worker in a boutique, eventually climbing my way up to seamstress. At the height of her career, I made clothes for Ella Fitzgerald and Maria Cole, Nat King Cole’s wife. I designed Cole's famous off-the-shoulder wedding dress in 1948, the very same year in which I opened my own boutique.
Zelda Wynn Valdes
This African American nurse devised an early security unit for her own home. She and her husband took out a patent for the system in the same year, and they were awarded the patent three years later, in 1969. Home security systems commonly used today took various elements from her design.
Mary Van Brittan Brown