Pioneers & Trailblazers
She was the first African American woman to travel into space.
Who is Mae Jemison?
She famously refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.
Who is Rosa Parks?
He invented the Super Soaker water gun and worked for NASA.
Who is Lonnie Johnson?
This Durham street was nicknamed "Black Wall Street" because it was home to many successful Black-owned businesses.
What is Parrish Street?
This "Human Computer" at NASA calculated the flight path for the first American in space.
Who is Katherine Johnson?
He broke the "color barrier" in Major League Baseball in 1947.
Who is Jackie Robinson?
He gave the famous "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington.
Who is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?
Known as the "Queen of Soul," she sang the hit song "Respect."
Who is Aretha Franklin?
This Raleigh-based university was the first Black college in the South and is home to the "Bears."
What is Shaw University?
She was just 6 years old when she became the first Black student to integrate an elementary school in the South.
Who is Ruby Bridges?
She was the first Black woman to hold a pilot's license.
Who is Bessie Coleman?
This lawyer argued Brown v. Board of Education and became the first Black Supreme Court Justice.
Who is Thurgood Marshall?
This Harlem Renaissance poet wrote "The Negro Speaks of Rivers."
Who is Langston Hughes?
In 1960, four college students held a famous "sit-in" at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in this NC city.
What is Greensboro?
This inventor created the three-light traffic signal and the gas mask.
Who is Garrett Morgan?
She was the first self-made female millionaire in the U.S. thanks to her hair care empire.
Who is Madam C.J. Walker?
This abolitionist and "conductor" led over 300 enslaved people to freedom on the Underground Railroad.
Who is Harriet Tubman?
He was an agricultural chemist who discovered over 300 uses for peanuts.
Who is George Washington Carver?
This Wilmington-born basketball legend played for UNC Chapel Hill and is considered by many to be the greatest of all time.
Who is Michael Jordan?
Before Rosa Parks, this 15-year-old was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat in Montgomery.
Who is Claudette Colvin?
In 1968, she became the first Black woman elected to the United States Congress.
Who is Shirley Chisholm?
After escaping slavery, he became a famous orator, writer, and advisor to Abraham Lincoln.
Who is Frederick Douglass?
He was a self-taught mathematician and astronomer who helped survey the boundaries of Washington, D.C.
Who is Benjamin Banneker?
This state historic site in Durham was once one of the largest plantations in NC, where 900 enslaved people lived and worked.
What is Historic Stagville?
Known as the "Father of Black History," he was the scholar who first started "Negro History Week" in 1926.
Who is Dr. Carter G. Woodson?