Black Inventors
This person is a former Air Force and NASA engineer who invented popular Super Soaker water gun.
Who Is Lonnie G. Johnson?
One of his longtime pet projects was an environmentally friendly heat pump that used water instead of Freon. Johnson finally completed a prototype one night in 1982 and decided to test it in his bathroom. He aimed the nozzle into his bathtub, pulled the lever and blasted a powerful stream of water straight into the tub. Johnson's instantaneous and instinctive reaction, since shared by millions of kids around the world, was pure delight.
Wrote the book "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings".
Who is Maya Angelou?
Acclaimed American poet, author and activist Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1928. Often referred to as a spokesman for African Americans and women through her many works, her gift of words connected all people who were “committed to raising the moral standards of living in the United States.”
This singer sings the popular song "You Don't Know My Name".
Who is Alicia Keys?
Keys is a noted singer, songwriter, producer, pianist and philanthropist who has won many awards in her 19 years of popularity. When she debuted in 2001, she was considered the first new artist of the millennium with the ability to change music, which she did by incorporating classical piano into her unique blend of R&B, soul, hip-hop and even jazz.
This artist illustrated children's books "There's A Dragon In My Closet" and "Mama Africa"
Who is Charly Palmer?
Charly Palmer portrays black icons and historical events in his paintings. He has covered many black athletes, civil rights leaders, Jazz greats, rappers; and prominent figures like James Baldwin and Barack Obama. Palmer documented some of the major movements and topical issues in history like slavery, sharecropping, Jim Crow, police brutality, convict labor and Voter Rights, Civil Rights, Black Power and Black Lives Matter. Church, family and social justice are also reoccurring themes in his art. His current work explores black identity, activism and race in America.
This female athlete is considered to be the fastest women of all time.
Who is Flo-Jo (Florence Griffith Joyner)?
She made her Olympic debut in 1984, winning a silver medal in the 200 meter distance at the 1984 Olympics held in Los Angeles. At the 1988 U.S. Olympic trials, Griffith set a new world record in the 100 meter sprint. She went on to win three gold medals at the 1988 Olympics. In February 1989, she retired from athletics. Griffith-Joyner remained a pop culture figure through endorsement deals, acting, and designing. She died in her sleep as the result of an epileptic seizure in 1998 at the age of 38.
This inventor is best known for inventing lubrication devices used to make train travel more efficient.
Who is Elijah McCoy?
McCoy invented a lubricating cup that distributed oil evenly over the engine's moving parts. He obtained a patent for this invention, which allowed trains to run continuously for long periods of time without pausing for maintenance.
Author of the essay "Notes of a Native Son".
Who is James Baldwin?
Though he spent most of his life living abroad to escape the racial prejudice in the United States, James Baldwin is the quintessential American writer. Best known for his reflections on his experience as an openly gay Black man in white America, his novels, essays and poetry make him a social critic who shared the pain and struggle of Black Americans.
This singer sings the popular song "The Closer I Get To You"
Who is Roberta Flack?
Before there was Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill, there was Roberta Flack. In the 1970s, she could do no wrong, releasing sonic classic after classic. “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” (1972) and “Killing Me Softly With His Song” (1973) both won Record and Song of the Year Grammys and reached #1 on the Billboard pop charts, making her the first African-American solo female singer to have two solo #1 pop hits.
She was the first black artist to join the now defunct National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors.
Who is Augusta Savage?
Augusta Savage was born in 1892, in the small town of Green Cove Springs, Florida. Savage was the first black artist to join the now defunct National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. Her career as a sculptor began in New York City, during the Harlem Renaissance. Her work was largely influenced by the times. Her most notable work, "The Harp," which was commissioned for the 1939 New York World's Fair, was dismantled once the fair ended due to a lack of resources to maintain and store it. What a loss.
This boxer beat Tommy Burns to become heavyweight champion of the world.
Who is Jack Johnson?
The first African-American heavyweight boxing champion of the world. Because of Johnson’s dominance in the sport, and more importantly the color of his skin, many people in the country called for a “Great White Hope” to defeat the black champion and strip him of his title. He shook up the world with his flamboyant character while spending money excessively, driving fancy cars and dating white women. In 1912, he was convicted of violating the Mann Act by bringing a white woman across state lines before marriage. If a white boxer couldn’t stop Johnson, Jim Crow segregation could.
This person was credited with saving the agricultural economy of the rural South.
Who is George Washington Carver?
From his work at Tuskegee, Carver developed approximately 300 products made from peanuts; these included: flour, paste, insulation, paper, wall board, wood stains, soap, shaving cream and skin lotion. He experimented with medicines made from peanuts, which included antiseptics, laxatives and a treatment for goiter.
This writer helped established the NAACP and wrote "The Souls of Black Folk"
Who is W.E.B. DuBois?
As an activist, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, educator, historian and prolific writer, W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the most influential African American thought leaders of the 20th century. he horrific lynching of Sam Hose in 1899 prompted Du Bois to begin writing The Souls of Black Folk. Calling for organized action and an end to segregation, Jim Crow laws, and political disenfranchisement in America.
They were the 1st "funk" group to hit#1 on the pop chart.
Who are the Ohio Players?
They’re one of the original figures in funk-oriented R&B music. Their brand of funk was sprinkled on both ballads and uptempo classics alike, and their provocative album covers (usually featuring scantily clad women with seductive poses with suggestive props) were legendary. They were the first “funk” group to hit #1 on the pop chart and they did it twice: first with “Fire” in 1975, then with “Love Rollercoaster” the following year.
Who is Edmonia Lewis?
She was the first professional African-American sculptor, was born in Ohio or New York in 1843 or 1845. With a minimum of training, exposure, and experience, Lewis began producing medallion portraits of well-known abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison, Charles Sumner, and Wendell Phillips.
This female track and field athlete was nicknamed The Tornado.
Who is Wilma Rudolph?
She made her mark in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, Italy. She became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track during a single Olympic Games. The events she won were the 100- and 200-meter sprints and the 4 x 100-m with fellow Tigerbelles Martha Hudson, Lucinda Williams and Barbara Jones. As this was the first internationally telecast Olympic Games, Rudolph catapulted into superstardom as she became known as the fastest women in the world for setting an Olympic record in the 200 m and a world one the 4 x 100 m. The Italians called her La Gazzella Negra (The Black Gazell); to the French, she was La Perle Noire (The Black Pearl).
He was an inventor and draftsman best known for his contributions to the patenting of the light bulb and the telephone.
Who Was Lewis Howard Latimer?
Latimer learned the art of mechanical drawing while working at a patent firm. Over the course of his career as a draftsman, Latimer worked closely with Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, in addition to designing his own inventions. In addition to assisting others, Latimer designed a number of his own inventions, including an improved railroad car bathroom and an early air conditioning unit.
This writer was a primary contributor of the Harlem Renaissance, this writer was one of the first to use jazz rhythms in his works, becoming an early innovator of the literary art form jazz poetry.
Who is Langston Hughes?
A prolific writer known for his colorful portrayals of Black life from the 1920s-1960s, Hughes wrote plays, short stories, poetry, several books, and contributed the lyrics to a Broadway musical. In addition to his extensive body of work, he inspired other artists and highlighted the power of art as a catalyst for change. His first novel Not Without Laughter was published in 1930, it won the Harmon gold medal for literature.
This rap group with one of the first to record rap music in the early 80s with songs; "White Lines" and "Message II -Survival".
Who are Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five?
This legendary hip-hop group from South Bronx was one of the first to put rap music on wax when they recorded for Sugar Hill Records in the early 1980s. They followed acts like the Sugar Hill Gang and Sequence on the same label, but their music was more iconic. “The Message” is cited as one of the most important rap songs in the genre’s history.
Who is Watson Mere?
Watson Mere is a Haitian American artist from Philadelphia.
"Basically what I'm saying is that it's OK to embrace yourself. It's not even if you're African-American, but whoever you are, it's OK to embrace whoever you are. To me, it doesn't make sense to try to alter who you are just to be 'professional.'"
This athlete was the first African American to play international professional tennis.
Who is Althea Gibson?
Althea Gibson was the first African American to play international professional tennis, the first black player from any nation, for that matter.In 1950 she was given an invitation to compete in the Nationals at Forest Hills. She lost in the second round to the reigning Wimbledon champion in a three set match. She was the first black athlete to appear at Flushing Meadows. In 1956 she became the first African American to win the French Open Women’s Singles Championship, making her also the first to win a Grand Slam event.
This Computer scientist and engineer is credited with helping develop a number of landmark technologies, including the color PC monitor, the Industry Standard Architecture system bus and the first gigahertz chip.
Who Is Mark Dean?
Computer scientist and engineer Mark Dean helped develop a number of landmark technologies for IBM, including the color PC monitor and the first gigahertz chip. He holds three of the company's original nine patents. He also invented the Industry Standard Architecture system bus with engineer Dennis Moeller, allowing for computer plug-ins such as disk drives and printers.
This author is best known for his novel Black Boy.
Who is Richard Wright?
Wright’s work was overtly political, focusing on the struggle of Blacks in America for equality and economic advancement. Wright’s dreams of becoming a writer took off when he gained employment through the Federal Writers Project and received critical attention for a collection of short stories called Uncle Tom’s Children. The fame that came with the 1940 publication of Native Son made him a household name. It became the first book by an African American writer to be selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club.
The group is known for the hit song "Everyday People"
Who are Sly & the Family Stone?
Led by Sylvester “Sly” Stone, this family act was instrumental in combining rock, soul, funk and psychedelic music forms, and they had major success doing it. Key group member, Larry Graham, is said to have invented the “slapping technique” of bass guitar playing, which later characterized their funkier sound. They were groundbreaking in terms of their make-up as well, consisting of a mixed-race and mixed-gender line-up that became one of the first to achieve their level of success with such a membership.
This emerging artist painted "The Nights I Don't Remember, the Nights I can't Forget"
Who is Arcmanoro Niles?
Arcmanoro Niles’s paintings are electric. His figures are backlit by vibrant hues, like luminous oranges, reds, and blues. Niles’s exhilarating figures—which are often based on friends, family members, or himself, and draw on historical portraiture—have not gone unnoticed. His 2019 show “My Heart is Like Paper: Let the Old Ways Die,” at Rachel Uffner Gallery, received press from publications including the New York Times and Cultured magazine.
He is the only man in Olympic history to win gold medals in both sprinting and hurdle events.
Who is Harrison Dillard?
He is the only Olympic athlete in history to win golds in both the sprints and hurdles. Among African-American Olympians, his four gold medals – won in 1948 and 1952 – are second only to Carl Lewis’ nine. He won the AAU Sullivan Award in 1955 as the most outstanding amateur U.S. athlete. His victory in the 100-meter dash in London in 1948 was determined using a photo finish, the first time that had ever been used at the Olympics. He won 82 straight hurdles events in 1947 and 1948, and was the AAU 60-yard indoors hurdles champion seven straight years from 1947 to 1953.