African American Political Firsts
She was the first African-American (and Asian-American) elected Vice President of the United States
Kamala Harris
He was the first African America drafted in the NBA by the Boston Celtics
Chuck Cooper
This was the first African-American-oriented cable channel and you MUST say what its initials stand for!
BET- Black Entertainment Television
She was the first African American Female Principal Dancer with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre
Misty Copeland
She was the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature
Toni Morrison
He was the first first African-American elected President of the United States
Barack Obama
He was the first African American coach to win a Super Bowl
Tony Dungy
She was the first African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress
Halle Berry
She was believed to be the first African-American female millionaire
Madame C.J. Walker
She was the first African American woman to have her play performed on Broadway
Lorraine Hansberry
She was appointed as the first African American female Supreme Court Justice
Kentaji Brown Jackson
He was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball
She was the first African-American woman to headline Coachella
Beyonce
He was the first principal dancer in a major dance company:
Arthur Mitchell
Phyllis Wheatley was the first African American woman to accomplish this feat
Have her work published
He was the first African American man appointed as a US Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall
She was the first African American gymnast to win the women's artistic individual all-around at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
Simone Biles
This writer and director of the film "Get Out" was the first African-American winner of the Academy Award for Screenwriting
Jordan Peele
Although she was not allowed to attend the ceremony, she was the first African American to win an Oscar for her role in "Gone With the Wind"
Hattie McDaniel
She was the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Literature
Gwendolyn Brooks
He was the first Major African American Candidate for U.S. President
Jesse Jackson
She was first African American to win a Career Grand Slam in tennis
Serena Williams
She was first African-American recording artist to have three albums certified diamond in the United States
Whitney Houston
In 1986, she became the first African American woman to host her own television show
Oprah Winfrey
Wayne Howard is credited as being the first creator of this type of African American book
Comic book