Major Events
This HBCU was founded in 1876
Meharry Medical College
This person worked within marine biology, cytology and parthenogenesis and advocated the study of whole cells under normal conditions, rather than simply breaking them apart in a laboratory setting. He discovered what is known as the fast block to polyspermy. On November 17, 1911, he and three Howard University students established the Omega Psi Phi fraternity on the campus of Howard, establishing the first black fraternity on campus.
Ernest Everett Just or E.E. Just
This American writer and civil rights activist garnered acclaim for works across several forms, including essays, novels, plays and poems. One of their novels, "If Beale Street Could Talk", was adapted into the Academy Award winning film of the same name
James Baldwin
On February 4, 2007, he became the first African American head coach to lead his team to a Super Bowl win.
Tony Dungy
She was the first African American female millionaire in America. She made her fortune by creating a homemade line of hair care products for African American women.
Madam C.J. Walker
In October 1995, hundreds of thousands of Black men gathered in Washington, D.C. for one of the largest demonstrations of its kind in the capital’s history. It was intended to bring about a kind of spiritual renewal among Black men and to instill in them a sense of solidarity and of personal responsibility to improve their own condition.
Million Man March
This person founded Provident Hospital in 1891, which was the first non-segregated hospital in the United States and also had an associated nursing school for African Americans. He was also known for having completed the first successful heart surgery, and was a Professor of Clinical Surgery at Meharry Medical College. In 1895, he co-founded the National Medical Association for African-American doctors, and in 1913 they became a charter member and the only African-American doctor in the American College of Surgeons.
Daniel Hale Williams
This American singer, songwriter, pianist, composer, arranger and civil rights activist. They went on to record more than 40 albums between 1958 and 1974 and released their first hit single in 1958 with "I Loves You, Porgy". They are regarded as one of the most influential recording artists of 20th-century jazz, cabaret and R&B genres.
Nina Simone
In 2004, he became the first African American principal owner of a major-league sports franchise in the US.
Robert L. Johnson
This person was a prominent figure in the movement to end racial segregation in American public schools. They won 29 of the 32 civil rights cases they argued before the Supreme Court, culminating in the Court's landmark 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which rejected the separate but equal doctrine and held segregation in public education to be unconstitutional. They were the first African American to serve as a Supreme Court Justice.
Thurgood Marshall
Sparked by the arrest of Rosa Parks on December 1, 1955, this event was a 13-month mass protest that ended with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
He was the first African American Psychiatrist in the United States. He researched degenerative brain disorders with Dr. Alois Alzheimer while in medical school and became an authority on Alzheimer’s Disease research. He published the first comprehensive review of Alzheimer’s cases in 1912.
Solomon Carter Fuller
This American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist was one of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry and is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. In 1930, their first novel, Not Without Laughter, won the Harmon Gold Medal for literature.
Langston Hughes
This African American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games. He was the most successful athlete at the Games and, as a African American man, was credited with "single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy”.
Jesse Owens
Elected in 1968, she as the first African American Congresswoman. She served from 1969 to 1983 representing New York’s 12th District. She later became one of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Shirley Chisholm
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is usually credited for the iconic March on Washington in August 1963, but it was actually this person who organized the historical event. The march brought more than 200,000 peaceful protestors of varying races and religions together to hear King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
Bayard Rustin
This African-American received their medical degree from Meharry Medical College in 1882 and was one of the co-founders of the National Medical Association. He also researched the effects of racial segregation in healthcare. He then obtained postgraduate education in surgery in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and in women and children's diseases in Chicago, Illinois. Following this, they returned to Nashville and became assistant surgeon. He had an extensive teaching career at Meharry Medical College and worked in a variety of departments.
Robert Fulton Boyd
This American won an academic scholarship to Rutgers College, where he was the only African-American student. At Rutgers, he was an All-American in football and was elected class valedictorian and went on to earn his LL.B. from Columbia Law School, while playing in the National Football League (NFL). After graduation, he became a figure in the Harlem Renaissance
Paul Robeson
This African American professional tennis player won three Grand Slam titles in singles and two in doubles. They were the first African American player selected to the United States Davis Cup team, and the only African American man ever to win the singles titles at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open.
Arthur Ashe
This person received a bachelor’s degree from Fisk University and later received a second bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and was one of the first to earn a doctorate degree from Harvard University. As one of the founders of the NAACP, they used their position to respond to racist incidents.
W.E.B. DuBois
On February 1, 1960, four African American college students sat down at a lunch counter at Woolworth’s and politely asked for service. Their request was refused. When asked to leave, they remained in their seats. Their passive resistance and peaceful sit-down demand helped ignite a youth-led movement to challenge racial inequality throughout the South.
Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-In
This cancer researcher and surgeon was credited with developing the technique of using human tissue culture rather than laboratory mice to test the effects of potential drugs on cancer cells. She also pioneered the use of the drug methotrexate to treat breast cancer and skin cancer. Her uncle, Harold Dadford West, was also a physician, who ultimately became the president of Meharry Medical College.
Jane C. Wright
This person was an acclaimed dancer and choreographer who earned global recognition for their impact on modern dance. They were inspired to start a Dance Theater in 1958, a multiracial troupe that provided a platform for talented Black dancers and traveled around the world. Their most popular piece, "Revelations," is an ode to the Southern Black Church.
Alvin Ailey
He was the first fighter to capture the heavyweight title three times. He won a total of 56 times in his 21-year professional career.
Muhammad Ali
This group challenged the status quo, in 1961, by riding interstate buses in the South in mixed racial groups to challenge local laws or customs that enforced segregation in seating. They called national attention to the disregard for the federal law and the local violence used to enforce segregation in the southern United States.
Freedom Riders