Youth Leaders
Ten-year-old 5th grader from Austin, TX. She is the founder and owner of BeeSweet Lemonade, picked up by America’s healthiest grocery store – Whole Foods Market
Makaila Ulmer
This university was the first historically black institution founded in February 1837, in Pennsylvania. This university became apart of a 1980 civil rights lawsuit against the state government; it alleged that the state had unlawfully underfunded the historically black university. 19 years later, they were awarded $35 million for construction and academic development.
Cheyney University
the only female artist to have all her studio albums debut at number 1 the most-awarded artist in award show history. She is the most nominated female for a Grammy Award (46 nominations)
Beyonce
Served as an army chaplain in 1870, he became the first black Senator in U.S. History. Was the first black senator of the state of Mississippi
Hiram R. Revels
Best known for her 1969 memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (first nonfiction bestseller by an African American woman
Maya Angelou
6th Grade Middle School Chronicles in 2015 and her 2nd book 7th Grade Middle School Chronicles in 2016. Awarded 2016 Teenpreneur of the Year by Black Enterprise
Essynce Moore
This HBCU was created as a response to not allowing Black people to enter into the University of Texas. In 1946, prospective law student Herman Marion Sweatt wanted to attend the University of Texas but was denied because of his race. So the state Legislature took six months to create this university for Blacks as a law school in 1947.
Texas Southern University
San Francisco 49ers Quarterback takes a knee during National Anthem in protest of police brutality
Colin Kaepernick
Served as the first (black) United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (H.U.D.) First African American to become a US cabinet member
Robert C. Weaver
Made history with his book Roots (won a Pulitzer Prize), which This Pulitzer Prize-winning book was turned into a 1977 miniseries that became one of the most popular TV shows of all time.
the youngest Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach in the United States, & the CEO of the non-profit HAPPY (Healthy Active Positive Purposeful Youth)
Hailee Thomas
In 2000, this university located in New Orleans, individually produced more successful African American medical school applicants (94) than Johns Hopkins (20), Harvard University (27) and The University of Maryland (24) combined
Xavier University
Old Town Road longest running number 1 song on the Billboard charts
Lil Nas X
Believed that black people should fight against racial discrimination by “Any Means Necessary” and clashed with figures like Martin Luther King Jr. as a result. Converted to Sunni Islam after falling out with the Nation of Islam and advocated racial integration
Malcolm X
Best known for her 1982 novel The Color Purple, which won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and soon was adapted for the big screen by Steven Spielberg
Alice Walker
Created surgical techniques that may help surgeons reduce the risk of complications when performing surgical operations. Can reduce surgery time, pain, and complications for the 600,000 women annually
Tony Hansberry II
This is a private university in Raleigh, North Carolina that was built after the Civil War as the first initiative to immerse freed slaves into academics. On the campus of this university is Estey Hall which was the first hall that was built for African-American women in college in 1873
Shaw University
Black artists handpicked by the Obamas to create their portraits. First Black artists to be chosen to paint presidents for the National Portrait Gallery
Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald
In 1949 he became the first African American to be a federal judge. He was also the first African American governor of the Virgin Islands, in 1946.
William Henry Hastie
U.S. Federal Judge
Wrote A Raisin in the Sun, a play about a struggling black family, which opened on Broadway to great success. First black playwright and the youngest American to win a New York Critics’ Circle award.
Lorraine Hansberry
Creators of the “Notok” app which helps send a distress signal for emergency situations for children
Charles and Hannah Lucas
This was the first HBCU owned and operated by African Americans. It is located in Ohio and founded in 1856. It was named after a white philanthropist who first led efforts to abolish slavery.
Wilberforce University
Black billionaire, Announced he would pay off all the student debt for Morehouse Class of 2019
Robert F. Smith
In 1989, he became the first African American ever elected governor of a U.S. state (Virginia).
L. Douglas Wilder
Governor of Virginia
Her first novel, Patternmaster (1976), would become one of four in the Patternist series, and she went on to write several other novels, including Kindred (1979) as well as Parable of the Sower (1993) and Parable of the Talents (1998), of the Parable series.
Octavia E. Butler