Black activists
She was an early investigative journalist and civil rights leader who helped found the NAACP
Ida B Wells
Central figure of the Harlem renaissance, and has written poems like “ Mother to Son” and “The Weary Blues”
Langston Hughes
Known as the “King of Pop”
Michael Jackson
Helped slaves gain freedom through the Underground Railroad
Harriet Tubman
He accidentally invented what is now known as the potato chip.
George Crum
African American civil rights activist who co-founded the Black Panthers in October 1966
Huey P Newton
Poet, activist, and author that is famous for her book “The Color Purple”
Alice Walker
The most awarded female artist of all time according to the Guinness world of records, and is know for songs like “I Have Nothing” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody”
Whitney Houston
In 1960, she was the first black child to racially integrate an all white elementary school in the south.
Ruby Bridges
This engineer invented this mega water gun known as the super soaker in his free time while working at nasa
Lonnie Johnson
A civil rights leader and executive secretary for the NAACP that wrote the lyrics for the black national anthem “Lift Every Voice and Sing
James Weldon Johnson
She was the first African American to publish a book of poems
Phillis Wheatley
He is considered the father of hip hop
Kool Herc
She was the first black woman elected to congress in 1968
Shirley Chisholm
In 1885 she was the first black woman to receive a U.S. patent for the folding cabinet bed which could also be used as a desk when folded.
Sarah Goode
Abolitionist and feminist who was freed from slavery, known for her speech “Ain’t I a woman
Sojourner Truth
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for poetry for her book of poems titled “Annie Allen,” making her the first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize.
Gwendolyn Brooks
This genre of music was popularized during the Harlem Renaissance
Jazz
She was the first black woman to attend Columbia Law School and the first to be elected into the New York State Senate.
Constance Baker Motley
In 1922 he patented the traffic signal which was the first to offer a third “caution” signal, known as the yellow light.
Garett Morgan
Woman’s rights and civil rights activist who famously said “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired
Fannie Lou Hamer
In 1966 he was awarded the grand prize for poetry at the first world festival of Negro arts for his poetry collection “ballad of remembrance”
Robert Hayden
First African American to win a Grammy
Ella Fitzgerald
On March 2, 1955, she was arrested at the age of 15 for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman.
Claudette Colvin
In 1966 she filed a patent for the first ever home security system.
Marie Van Brittan Brown