This woman's brave actions on a bus led the Montgomery Bus Boycott and made her an icon in the face of segregation
Rosa Parks
The 44th President of the United States, the first Black president in the history of the US
Barack Obama
Born as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., he changed his name, calling it a “slave name.” He changed it to this
Muhammad Ali
After escaping slavery, this woman made 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends
Harriet Tubman
An agricultural scientist and inventor who developed hundreds of products using peanuts
George Washington Carver
Went by "His Airness” and has one of the world’s most recognizable shoes brands
Michael Jordan
She was the first African American first lady, and she focused on supporting military families and ending childhood obesity
Michelle Obama
A formerly enslaved man who became a prominent activist, author and public speaker. He became a leader in the abolitionist movement, which sought to end the practice of slavery
Frederick Douglass
A kid from Akron who has competed in 10 NBA Finals (with eight consecutive appearances from 2011 to 2018), winning four NBA championships.
LeBron James
An advocate for African-American equality, she was a leader for the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Her husband was also a big voice in the same movement
Coretta Scott King
An activist who was bloodied at Selma and across the Jim Crow South in the historic struggle for racial equality, he continued to fight for people's rights after joining Congress in 1987.
John Lewis
Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she played alongside her sister Venus for many years
Serena Williams
The first African American child to attend a whites-only school in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis
Ruby Bridges
Known as the winning lawyer of the famous case Brown v. Board of Education, in which segregated schools were declared unconstitutional
Thurgood Marshall
Broke baseball's color barrier, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers
A prominent journalist, activist, and researcher, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who was one of the founders of the NAACP
Ida B. Wells
This young black artist and his artwork dealt with themes of racism, classism, colonialism, and other power structures and their effects on U.S. society
Jean-Michael Basquiat
The tall centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty that won 11 NBA championships during his 13-year career.
Bill Russell
Born into slavery in New York, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom. After going to court to recover her son in 1828, she became the first black woman to win such a case against a white man.
Sojourner Trouth
Founded the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute and advised Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft
Booker T. Washington
Nicknamed "Hammerin' Hank", he held the MLB home run record (714) for 33 years, before Barry Bonds passed it in 2007.
Hank Aaron
In 1968, she became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress and represented New York's 12th congressional district.
Shirley Chisholm
Founded The Chicago Defender, which soon became the most widely circulated black newspaper in the country
Robert Abbott
Was acclaimednas the fastest woman in the world in the 1960s and became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field during a single Olympic Games.
Wilma Rudolph