MASSACHUSSETTS
Born in 1925 and assassinated in 1965, this founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity and religious leader arrived in Roxbury at the age of 16. In 1963, the New York Times reported that he was the second most sought after speaker in the US. His sister’s home in Dale Street in Roxbury still stands and has been declared a historical landmark by the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts.
Malcom X
American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts. Deemed the 19th century’s most photographed American, he became the first African American nominated for Vice President.
Fredrick Douglass
This woman learned to read and write at the age of three. She won her first Emmy award in 1987 and testified before the US Congress in an effort to initiate the National Child Protection Act in 1991. She was ranked 9th place in a public poll of the greatest Americans and is consider the most influential American female.
Oprah Winfrey
Skilled musician by the age of 8, this child prodigy signed a contract with Motown and began recording his depute album by the age of 12. He has won 25 Grammy awards, the most ever won by a solo artist, and is considered among the best selling artist of all time. All despite a life long health conditioned due to his 6 weeks premature birth.
Stevie Wonder
Who is Guion Bluford? 1. First African American in space? 2. First African American pilot? 3. First African American poet to win Pulitzer Prize?
As the First African American in space, Dr.Guion S. "Guy" Bluford has received many accolades and awards, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal, the Strike/Flight Medal, Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the University of South Carolina (1984), Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Winthrop College (1986), the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal (1992), NASA Exceptional Service Medals (1988, 1989, 1991), the University of Southern California Alumni Award of Merit (1989), and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Johnson C. Smith University (1990).
Enlisted in the Army after the Pearl Harbor attack, this Republican politician became the first African American popularly elected Senator. A graduate of BU School of Law and former MA Attorney General, he co-wrote the Civil Rights Act of 1968 during his two terms in the Senate.
Edward W. Brooke
Of Jamaican and Indian ancestry, this Howard University graduate became the second black female senator in 2016. As Attorney General of California, she participated in the National Mortgage Settlement against five major backs securing millions in debt reduction.
Kamala Harris
Former refugee, and First Somali-American State Representative, IIhan Omar, spent four years prior to arriving in the US in a refugee camp in what country?
Kenya
Philanthropist and musician, his co-written song, We Are the World, raised millions of dollars for famine relief in Africa.
Michael Jackson
Garret Morgan’s most famous invention assisted in the rescue of 32 men trapped in a tunnel below Lake Erie in 1916. This invention would be later used by the U.S. Army during World War 1.
gas masks
With over 40 films to her credit, this Springfield native became the first African American to win an Oscar for costume design in 2019. If you don’t know her name, do you know the film?
Ruth E. Carter/“Black Panther”
Named after a Liberian chief who saved the life of his grandfather (the first black president of Fisk University), this Columbia Law graduate became the First African American and fourth Secretary of Homeland Security. Served from 2013 – 2017.
Jeh Johnson
At the age of 15, she entered the University of Denver, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1974, master’s degree in 1975, and a doctorate in 1981. In 2005, she became the first African American female and the second African American Secretary of State under G.W. Bush.
Condoleezza Rice
She is the only African American performer to win Tony, Oscar, and Emmy Awards. This Julliard graduate, stated her training was not always a lot of "Help" when it came to playing African American female roles, "you're not doing the Irish and Scottish accents they taught at Juilliard. In the real world you're doing Ebonics and Jamaican."
Viola Davis
This 2016 Presidential candidate is also a Johns Hopkins' pediatric neurosurgeon and professor who led the medical team that became the first to separate Siamese twins successfully. He also performed a hemispherectomy (removal of half of the brain) in an infant to stop severe epileptic seizures.
Ben Carson
This island has been a vacationing haven for African Americans since the early 1900’s. Notably, the “Inkwell” is a name given to one of this island’s beaches as an ode to the writers of color making their mark during the Harlem Renaissance.
Martha’s Vineyard
Preached a ‘pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ philosophy of self-help, racial solidarity and patience. This author of 14 books including his autobiography, Up from Slavery, founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and famously opposed WEB Du Bois’ ideas of political action and civil rights agenda.
Booker T. Washington
Hattie McDaniel was the First African American to win an Oscar. She won best support actress in what 1939 historic drama film?
Gone With The Wind
Born Robin Fenty this singer, songwriter and businesswoman is one of world’s best-selling music artists, with over 250 million records sold. This fashion icon is Spotify and Apple Music’s most streamed female artist of all time. She holds six Guinness World Records.
Rihanna
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Aprille Ericsson, was the first female (and the first African-American female) to receive a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Howard University and the first African-American female to receive a Ph.D. in engineering at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Ericsson has won many awards, including the 1997 "Women in Science and Engineering" award for the best female engineer in the federal government, and she is currently the instrument manager for a proposed mission to bring dust from the Martian lower atmosphere back to Earth. Her engineering education began at this university.
M.I.T.
Uzoamaka Nwanneka Aduba aka "Uzo" Aduba, a Nigerian-American actress born in Boston and raised in Medfield, plays the dynamic and colorful character, "Crazy Eyes," in a Netflix series for which she received two Emmy Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. Can you name the series?
Orange is the New Black
Two time Grammy Award Winner, as well as first and second Black President of the United States, Barack Obama, used the sales of his 2004 best selling book, The Audacity of Hope, to pay for?
student loans
Wealthiest African-American business woman and wealthiest self-made woman at the time of her death in 1919. She was born Sarah Breedlove and later changed her name. She was orphaned at six, married at fourteen, and widowed with a two year old child by the age of twenty. She became the first black woman millionaire in history. If you don't know her name, do you know what type of product she developed and sold to make her million?
Madam C.J. Walker/ hair care products
Arguably the greatest player of all time, this NBA start holds three NBA championships, has played in nine NBA finals, three Finals MVP awards, four MVP awards and 14 All Star appearances. He donates millions to benefit children in his hometown of Akron, Ohio including providing school supplies, bicycles, college educations for 1,000 kids and building a new school for at-risk youth.
LeBron James
Dr. Daniel Williams co-founded the National Medical Association, founded the first interracial hospital, and he was the first African American physician admitted to the American College of Surgeons. His work and advocacy for African Americans in medicine is honored by educational institutes around the world. In 1893, he successfully performed this ground breaking surgery on a human for the first time.