Hidden Firsts
This woman was the first Black woman to earn a medical degree in the U.S. in 1864, decades before most medical schools even admitted women.
Who is Rebecca Lee Crumpler?
This Black community in Florida was destroyed in 1923 after a false accusation, and barely mentioned in history books for decades.
What is Rosewood?
As a teenager she refused to give up her bus spot before Rosa Parks. She was overlooked because of her age & background.
Who is Claudette Colvin (1939-2025)?
This everyday household item was invented by a Black woman in 1887 to make ironing easier.
What is the ironing board? (Sarah Boone)?
This American English phrase structure traces back to West African languages.
What is call-and-response?
Before Jackie Robinson, this Black man played professional baseball in the 1880s and was later erased from official MLB history.
Who is Moses Fleetwood Walker?
This Black woman co-founded the NAACP, but is rarely named alongside the men.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett
An educator who developed schools to teach black adults to read & vote. She played a key role in expanding voter registration in the south. Her work empowered thousands to participant politically.
Who is Septima Clark (1898-1987)?
This traffic system improvement was created by a Black inventor, inspired by train signals.
What is the three-position traffic light?
Many words in Southern slang come directly from this African language group.
What are Niger-Congo languages?
This inventor held over 60 patents, including one that improved railroad safety, yet his name is rarely mentioned in engineering history.
Who is Granville T. Woods?
This all-Black town in Oklahoma was once wealthier per capita than many white cities before being violently destroyed.
What is Greenwood (Black Wall Street)?
She was a sharecropper turned powerful voting activist. She was the co-founder of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. She gave a nationally televised speech exposing voter suppression & racial violence. She was famous for the quote "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired".
Who is Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977)?
This device that preserves food freshness was invented by a Black woman chemist.
What is an improved refrigeration system? (Marie Van Brittan Brown)?
This musical genre influenced blues, jazz, and hip-hop, but predates all three.
What are work songs or field hollers?
This Black woman was the first to pilot a commercial airline flight but not in the U.S.
Who is Bessie Coleman?
This Black journalist exposed lynching statistics so effectively that southern states tried to silence her.
Who is Ida B. Wells?
She was a behind-the-scenes organizer who believed in grassroots leadership. She helped to found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). She empowered young people and local communities to lead movements themselves. Her philosophy shaped long-term activism strategies still used today.
Who is Ella Baker (1903-1986)?
This home security system was invented in 1966 by a Black woman long before smart homes.
What is the first home security system?
This storytelling technique used in hip-hop battles has roots in African griot traditions.
What is verbal sparring / boasting?
This Black-owned bank, founded in 1888, is the oldest continuously operating Black bank in the U.S.
What is True Reformers Bank?
A pioneering Black educator, civil rights leader, and government official, renowned for founding what became Bethune-Cookman University, serving as an advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt (creating the "Black Cabinet"), and championing women's rights and Black empowerment through organizations like the National Council of Negro Women. Her work laid foundations for the modern Civil Rights Movement and advanced opportunities for African Americans in education, politics, and society.
Who is Mary McLeod Bethune?
This Alabama-born Black woman’s cells were taken without her consent and became one of the most important tools in modern medicine, leading to breakthroughs in vaccines, cancer research, and IVF.
Who is Henrietta Lacks ?
This modern hair-care industry technique originated from Black women experimenting in their kitchens.
What is hot oil hair treatment / chemical hair processing?
This American food staple originated from enslaved Africans’ agricultural knowledge.
What is okra?