Activists
Who is an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. Know as an early innovator of jazz poetry, and is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance.
Langston Hughes
The first African-American woman and first Native American to hold a pilot license, and is the earliest known Black person to earn an international pilot's license.
Bessie Coleman
In 1966 they invented an audio-visual home security system ("Home Security System Utilizing Television Surveillance").
Marie Van Brittan Brown
American politician who, in 1968, became the first black woman to be elected to the United States Congress.
Shirley Chisholm
American poet, activist, and model. Her work focuses on issues of oppression, feminism, race, and marginalization, as well as the African diaspora.
Amanda Gorman
Jamaican political activist. He was the founder and first President-General of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL, commonly known as UNIA), through which he declared himself Provisional President of Africa.
Marcus Garvey
The first African-American woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992.
Mae Jemison
American activist, author and professor of Africana studies, best known as the creator of the pan-African and African-American holiday of Kwanzaa.
Dr. Maulana Karenga
American politician who represents North Carolina's 12th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.
Alma Adams
American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president.
Barack Obama
American abolitionist and activist for African-American civil rights, women's rights, and alcohol temperance.
Sojourner Truth
Was an American track and field athlete who made history at the 1936 Olympic Games by winning four gold medals, setting Olympic records in each event.
Jessie Owens
American inventor, businessman, and community leader. His most notable inventions were a protective 'smoke hood' that he notably used in a 1916 tunnel construction disaster rescue, a type of three-way traffic light invented in 1923, a hair-straightening cream, and other hair-care products.
Garrett Morgan
First southern African-American woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and one of the first two African Americans elected to the U.S. House from the former Confederacy since 1901
Barbra Jordan
American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and first Asian American vice president, and the highest-ranking female and Asian American official in U.S. history.
Kamala Harris
After escaping slavery, she made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known collectively as the Underground Railroad.
Harriet Tubman
American professional baseball player who was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era.
Jackie Robinson
American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. Best known for finding ways to use peanuts
George Washington Carver
American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991.
Thrugood Marshal
American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Texas's 30th congressional district since 2023.
Jasmine Crocket
Freedom fighter and writer (in that order) who has been working on the frontlines for over a decade, first as a student activist and now as a movement journalist and national organizer.
Recorded as the first female self-made millionaire in America in the Guinness Book of World Records. Making her fortune from hair and skin care products tailored for African American people in America
Madam C.J. Walker
American inventor, aerospace engineer, and entrepreneur, best known for inventing the bestselling Super Soaker water gun in 1989.
Lonnie Johnson
American educator, author, and orator. Between 1890 and 1915, Washington was the primary leader in the African-American community
Booker T. Washington
n American activist and the co-founder of Campaign Zero. She served as executive director for Teach for America in St. Louis, Missouri, then as a member of President Barack Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
Brittany Cunningham