Trailblazing "Firsts"
She became the first African American woman to travel into space aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992.
Who is Dr. Mae Jemison?
Known as the "Queen of Soul," this singer’s 1967 hit "Respect" became an anthem for both the Civil Rights and Feminist movements.
Who is Aretha Franklin?
Nine months before Rosa Parks, this 15-year-old was the first to refuse to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus.
Who is Claudette Colvin?
This agricultural chemist at Tuskegee Institute discovered over 300 uses for the peanut.
Who is George Washington Carver?
This world-famous soda was invented in Atlanta in 1886 and has a huge museum downtown near Centennial Park.
What is Coca-Cola?
This athlete broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball when he took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
Who is Jackie Robinson?
This 1920s cultural movement in New York City saw an explosion of Black literature, music, and stage performance.
What is the Harlem Renaissance?
This 1964 law ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race and color.
What is the Civil Rights Act of 1964?
This NASA "Hidden Figure" was a mathematician whose calculations were critical to the success of the first U.S. crewed spaceflights.
Who is Katherine Johnson?
This Atlanta-born Civil Rights leader has a national holiday in January and a famous monument on Auburn Avenue.
Who is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?
In 1968, she became the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress, representing New York's 12th district.
Who is Shirley Chisholm?
This legendary venue in Harlem launched the careers of icons like Ella Fitzgerald and James Brown.
What is the Apollo Theater?
This organizer was the chief strategist for the 1963 March on Washington but often worked behind the scenes due to being an openly gay man.
Who is Bayard Rustin?
He invented the Traffic Light (Red, Yellow, and Green) to keep people safe on the road.
Who is Garrett Morgan?
Known as the "Hollywood of the South," this famous filmmaker has a massive studio in Atlanta where movies like Black Panther were filmed.
Who is Tyler Perry?
She was the first African American and Native American woman to hold an international pilot’s license, having to travel to France to earn it.
Who is Bessie Coleman?
This actor and comedian voiced the Donkey in Shrek and starred in classics like The Nutty Professor.
Who is Eddie Murphy?
This nickname refers to the wealthy Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which was destroyed during a 1921 race massacre.
What is "Black Wall Street"?
This doctor created the first Blood Bank, which helps save lives in hospitals today by storing blood for people who need it.
Who is Dr. Charles Drew?
This historic all-male college in Atlanta is known for producing "Men of Distinction," including MLK Jr. and Spike Lee.
What is Morehouse College?
He was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1895 and later co-founded the NAACP.
Who is W.E.B. Du Bois?
This animated movie features a teenager named Miles Morales who takes on the mantle of Spider-Man.
What is Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse?
This Georgia Congressman was one of the "Big Six" leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and led the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on "Bloody Sunday."
Who is John Lewis?
Before we had GPS on our phones, this self-taught math genius used the stars to help draw the original maps for Washington, D.C.
Who is Benjamin Banneker?
Atlanta is the "Capital of Hip Hop." Name one of the "Big Three" trap pioneers from the city
T.I., Gucci Mane, Jeezy