Activists
This abolitionist led approximately 300 enslaved people to freedom, earning her the nickname “Moses”
Who is Harriet Tubman?
This poet, author and Civil Rights activist was the first female poet of any race to recite a poem at a U.S. Presidential inauguration
Who is Maya Angelou?
This four-time Olympic gold medal winner holds more Grand Slam singles titles than any other man or woman in open tennis
Who is Serena Williams?
This civil rights attorney argued and won the historic Brown v. Board of Education case, and later became the first African-American Supreme Court justice
Who is Thurgood Marshall?
This United States president enacted the Affordable Care Act in 2010 and was the first African American to serve as president
Who is Barack Obama?
This political activist & revolutionary co-founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in 1966 with Bobby Seale
Who is Huey P. Newton?
Best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance, this American poet is known for his innovations in jazz poetry
Who is Langston Hughes?
This gold medal pugilist was banned from boxing and sentenced to 5 years in prison for refusing to fight in Vietnam due to his religious beliefs
Who is Muhammad Ali?
This scholar and activist was the first African American to earn a PhD from Harvard in 1895 and went on to co-found the NAACP in 1909
Who is W.E.B. DuBois?
This performing artist was the first Black actor to play Shakespeare's Othello on Broadway
Who is Paul Robeson?
This enslaved Christian preacher led a violent rebellion in 1831, destroying the white Southern myth that enslaved people were actually happy with their lives
Who is Nat Turner?
This professor, editor, and novelist was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Who is Toni Morrison?
This American hero broke the color barrier when he became the first African-American to play major league baseball in 1947
Who is Jackie Robinson?
This famous historian was the second African American to earn a PhD from Harvard and is the reason we are now celebrating Black History Month
Who is Carter G. Woodson?
This attorney, activist, and politician was the first African-American woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992
Who is Carol Mosely Braun?
This American civil rights activist worked to overturn segregation at the University of Mississippi, investigated the murder of Emmett Till, and was the first Civil Rights leader to be assassinated
Who is Medgar Evers?
This mid-20th century author’s essays and fiction explored the implications of racism and homophobia for both the oppressed and the oppressor
Who is James Baldwin?
This Minnesota Timberwolves shooting guard played for two years at the University of Washington
Who is Jaylen Nowell?
This self-taught, African-American mathematician, astronomer, and farmer invented the first clock in America and authored a series of almanacs
Who is Benjamin Banneker?
This politician, educator, and author was the first African-American candidate to seek the nomination from a major party, and also the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's nomination in 1972
Who is Shirley Chisholm?
This 15-year-old pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus nine months before Rosa Parks
Who is Claudette Colvin?
This famed playwright won a Pultizer Prize and a Tony Award in 1987 for the play Fences
Who is August Wilson?
This American ballet dancer became the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in the American Ballet Theater's 75-year history in 2015
Who is Misty Copeland?
This African-American chemist was a pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants
Who is Percy Julian?
This American civil aviator was the first woman of African-American and Native American descent to hold a pilot license and first American to earn an international pilot's license
Who is Bessie Coleman?