An American astrophysicist, planetary scientist, author, and science communicator. Tyson studied at Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Columbia University. From 1991 to 1994, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
An American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the "Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
Aretha Franklin
Martin Luther King Jr.
Morgan Feeman
An American professional golfer. He is tied for first in PGA Tour wins, ranks second in men's major championships, and holds numerous golf records. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time and one of the most famous athletes in history.
Tiger Woods
An American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was the most prominent black scientist of the early 20th century.
George Washington Carver
An American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and actor. He was known for his flamboyant, androgynous persona and wide vocal range, which included a far-reaching falsetto and high-pitched screams.
Prince
Rosa Parks
Will Smith
An American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association.
LeBron James
An American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour.
Mae Jemison
This artist helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of hits, earning him the nicknames "Prince of Motown" and "Prince of Soul".
Marvin Gaye
Frederick Douglass
Eddie Murphy
An American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1937 until his temporary retirement in 1949.
Joe Louis
An American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights.
Katherine Johnson
An American singer, songwriter, child star and dancer. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century.
Michael Jackson
Harriet Tubman
Don Cheadle
An American professional tennis player. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time behind Margaret Court. The Women's Tennis Association ranked her singles world No. 1 on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017.
Serena Williams
An African American nuclear scientist, mechanical engineer and mathematician. A child prodigy, he attended the University of Chicago at the age of 13, becoming its youngest ever student. His graduation at a young age resulted in him being praised as a genius in the national media.
J. Ernest Wilkins Jr.
Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century.
Jimi Hendrix
Medgar Evers
Laurence Fishburne
An American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games. He specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifetime as "perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history".
Jesse Owens