Inventors & Innovators
The modern gas mask in 1914 and later patented an improved traffic signal in 1923.
Who is Garrett Morgan?
The iconic jazz venue in Harlem featured Black performers like Duke Ellington but excluded Black audiences due to its whites-only policy.
What is Cotton Club?
This iconic person organized the 1963 March on Washington and delivered the iconic “I Have a Dream” speech?
Who is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ?
The first Black person to win a Nobel Prize, receiving the Peace Prize in 1950 for mediating Arab-Israeli conflicts?
Who is Ralph Bunche?
The first Black Mayor of Chicago.
Who is Harold Washington?
This agricultural scientist developed over 300 products from peanuts, including dyes and plastics, to combat soil depletion in the South.
Who is George Washington Carver?
The writer and anthropologist collected Southern Black folklore, inspiring her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)?
Who is Zora Neale Hurston?
The Civil rights leader founded the "Freedom Rides" to challenge segregated bus terminals in the South?
Who is James Farmer?
In 2021, Kamala Harris became the first woman, Black American, and South Asian American to hold which political office.
Who is Vice President of the United States?
Became the first Black artist to headline Coachella in 2018, delivering a historically Afrocentric performance.
Who is Beyoncé?
This inventor improved the electric lightbulb by creation a durable carbon filament working closely with Alexander Graham bell and Thomas Edison.
Who is Lewis Latimer?
The jazz trumpeter and singer, nicknamed “Satchmo,” rose to fame in Harlem clubs and revolutionized American music?
Who is Louis Armstrong?
What was Rosa Parks’ occupation at the time of her historic bus boycott protest in Montgomery?
What is Seamstress?
Who was the first Black woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress in 1968, representing New York’s 12th District?
Who is Shirley Chisholm?
A legendary guitarist, known as the “King of the Blues,” influenced rock icons like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton?
Who is B.B. King?
Nasa engineer invented the Super Soaker water gun, one of the top selling toys of all time.
Who is Lonnie G. Johnson?
The dancer and choreographer created the “Charleston” craze and starred in the first Black Broadway hit, Shuffle Along (1921)?
Who is Josephine Baker?
The phrase did Malcolm X popularize to advocate for Black self-defense and empowerment.
What is “By any means necessary”
Who became the first African American to win an Academy Award for Best Actor, honored for Lilies of the Field (1963)?
Who is Sidney Poitier?
Known as the "Godfather of Soul," which artist's electrifying performances popularized funk music in the 1960s and 1970s.
Who is James Brown?
The medical pioneer developed a method to process and store blood plasma, leading to the first large-scale blood banks during WWII.
Who is Dr. Charles Drew?
The literary movement emerged from the Harlem Renaissance, blending African heritage with modernist styles to reclaim Black identity?
What is The New Negro Movement?
The African American lawyer and NAACP litigator successfully argued Brown v. Board of Education before the Supreme Court?
Who is Thurgood Marshall?
The Black inventor was granted the first U.S. patent by an African American in 1821 for a dry-cleaning process.
Who is Thomas L. Jennings?
This gymnast became the most decorated American gymnast in history, with 32 Olympic and World Championship medals.
Who is Simone Biles?