Women in History
She triggered a boycott of the Montgomery, Alabama, bus system in 1955 by refusing to give up their seat to a white passenger on a bus
Rosa Parks
Our country's first black president
Barack Obama
He was the first African American Major League Baseball player
Jackie Robinson
The most decorated artist in Grammy history with 35 wins and 99 nominations. This singer solidified this record at the 67th Grammy Awards, where Cowboy Carter won Best Country Album and she won her first-ever Album of the Year, making her the first Black woman to win in that category since 1999
Beyonce
"Life is not a spectator sport. If you’re going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you’re wasting your life."
Jackie Robinson
Well known for risking her life as a “conductor” in the Underground Railroad, which led escaped enslaved people to freedom in the North
Harriet Tubman
Baptist minister and pivotal civil rights leader who advocated for racial equality and justice in America during the 1950s and 60s, using nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience to help end legal segregation.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "the Greatest", he is often regarded as the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time
Muhammad Ali
Highlighted in the movie Hidden Figures, one of her biggest accomplishments at NASA was helping calculate the trajectory, or path, of the country’s first human spaceflight in 1961, making sure astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr., had a safe trip.
Katherine Johnson
"He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life."
Muhammad Ali
She was just 6 years old when she became the youngest Black child to desegregate a school in 1960.
Ruby Bridges
An eminent American abolitionist, author, and orator who escaped from slavery to become a leading voice for human rights, equality, and women’s suffrage in the 19th century.
Frederick Douglass
With 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals, she holds the title as being the single most decorated gymnast in history.
Simone Biles
An early innovator of jazz poetry, he is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance.
Langston Hughes
"Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in."
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Born into slavery, she was a fierce proponent of the Abolitionist movement and an early activist for civil and women’s rights. Her famous “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech at the Ohio Women’s Rights Convention in 1851 is still quoted today.
Sojourner Truth
A lawyer who fought to end segregation in schools, he was appointed as a justice in the Supreme Court in 1967 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, making him the first Black American in our Supreme Court
Thurgood Marshall
He earned four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Summer Games in Berlin, Germany. He also was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976.
She was the first African American actress to win an Academy Award for best actress
Halle Berry
"You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them."
Maya Angelou
She was the first Black woman elected to Congress in 1968. She’s also the first woman to ever run for US president.
Shirley Chisholm
Known as the “Father of Black History” as he created the celebration that eventually became Black History Month
Carter G. Woodson
Professional tennis player who was the first Black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team, and the only Black man ever to win the singles titles at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open.
Arthur Ashe
She was the first Black female principal dancer for the American Ballet Theater and the first to dance "Swan Lake".
Misty Copeland
"If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair."
Shirley Chisolm