The Harlem Renaissance
This was the birthplace of the Harlem Renaissance, which was called a literary and intellectual flowering that fostered a new black cultural identity in the 1920s and 1930s.
Harlem, New York City, NY
This man broke the color barrier in baseball and became the first African American to play in the major leagues.
Jackie Robinson
She was the first African American woman to serve as United States Secretary of State, and the first African American and the first woman to serve as the President’s National Security Advisor.
Condoleezza Rice
He delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech first in Detroit, before taking it to Washington.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
He invented the “SuperSoaker” in 1989.
Lonnie Johnson
This writer and sociologist was co-founder of the NAACP, and was one of the most famous social activists during the Harlem Renaissance.
W.E.B. Du Bois
This man is social activist and philanthropist, he was the first boxer to win the world heavyweight championship three times.
Muhammad Ali
In 1993, this Illinois native became (and still is, to date) the first African American woman elected to the United States Senate.
Carol Braun
This Detroit native refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Alabama, which spurred a nation-wide effort to end segregation of public facilities.
Rosa Parks
He is credited with performing the first open heart surgery on July 9, 1853.
Daniel Williams
This man is credited as one of the founding fathers of the Harlem Renaissance, this playwright/poet/novelist became famous for his first published poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”.
Langston Hughes
Following her careers in college and professional basketball, she became the first female member of the Harlem Globetrotters in 1985.
Lynette Woodard
In 1998, he became the first African American general in the United States Army.
Benjamin Oliver Davis
Founded by Barry Gordy in 1959, this company became one of the most successful black-owned companies in the nation, and cultivated the careers of music greats such as Diana Ross and Michael Jackson.
Motown Records
After completing the STS-8 mission aboard the Challenger, this engineer and astronaut became the first black man in space.
Guion Bluford
This official publication of the National Urban League employed Harlem Renaissance writers and editors, published poems and short stories by African Americans, and promoted African American literature.
Opportunity Magazine
This Olympic track star won three gold medals and two silver medals, and still holds world records in 100-meter and 200-meter races, which were set in 1988.
Florence “Flo-Jo” Griffith-Joyner
In 1967, he became the first African American U.S. Supreme Court Justice.
Thurgood Marshall
This event lasted five days and left 43 dead and 467 injured; it is reputed to have deepened the divide between whites and blacks in Detroit, instigate a frantic spike in “white flight” out of the city, and created extremist groups within each racial group.
1967 riots
Was an American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was one of the most prominent black scientists of the early 20th century.
George Washington Carver
This theatre rose to prominence during the Harlem Renaissance, during which time it was reputed to only hire black entertainers; of these were James Brown, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday.
The Apollo Theatre
In 1961, he broke the color barrier in golf when he became the first African American to play in the PGA tour.
Charlie Sifford
This foreign policy advisor became the first African American woman to serve as an ambassador to the United Nations.
Susan Rice
In 1974, he was elected as the first black mayor of Detroit.
Coleman Young
Was an American ophthalmologist and humanitarian. She became the first female member of the Jules Stein Eye Institute, the first woman to lead a post-graduate training program in ophthalmology, and the first woman elected to the honorary staff of the UCLA Medical Center.
Patricia Bath