Activists
STEM
Music & Dance
Film & Television
Inventors & Entrepreneurs
100
She joined the U.S. Communist Party and was jailed for charges related to a prison outbreak, though ultimately cleared. Known for books like Women, Race, & Class, she has worked as a professor and activist who advocates gender equity, prison reform and alliances across color lines
What is Angela Davis?
100

American physician and NASA astronaut known for being the first black woman to travel in space.

What is Mae Jemison?

100
The first African-American performer to be appointed as a principal dancer for American Ballet Theatre.
What is Misty Copeland?
100
Self-made billionaire. She is the first African American woman to host a talk show leading to her position as the first African American woman to appear on Forbes’ billionaire list.
What is Oprah Winfrey?
100
Made her fortune by developing and marketing a line of beauty and hair products for black women. The first female self-made millionaire in America.
What is Madam C.J. Walker?
200
Her refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus led to an organized boycott and the city's removal of bus segregation.
What is Rosa Parks?
200

Physicist and mathematician who made contributions to the United States' aeronautics and space programs with the early application of digital electronic computers at NASA. Portrayed by Taraji P. Henson in Hidden Figures.

What is Katherine Johnson?

200
She was many things; a singer, dancer, and actress. She was the first African American to star in a motion picture and the first to become a world famous entertainer. Her influence can be seen in modern female entertainers like Beyoncé and Keri Hilson.
What is Josephine Baker?
200
In 2015 she became the first African American woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Annaliese Keating in Shonda Rhimes’ ABC hit drama How to Get Away with Murder.
What is Viola Davis?
200
The founder of Radio One, which includes 53 radio stations in the U.S., and TVOne, a cable network.
What is Cathy Hughes?
300
A racial justice activist who sought to improve educational opportunities for African-Americans. She is best known for starting a school for African-American students in Daytona Beach, Florida. She also served as both president of the National Association of Colored Women and founder of the National Council of Negro Women.
What is Mary McLeod Bethune?
300
She was the first woman of African American descent, and the first of Native American descent, to hold a pilot license.
What is Bessie Coleman?
300
Known as the "First Lady of Song." She was an American jazz and song vocalist who interpreted much of the Great American Songbook
What is Ella Fitzgerald?
300
Made history in 2001 as the first African American woman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her role as Leticia Musgrove in Monster’s Ball.
What is Halle Berry?
300
The first black woman to own a billion-dollar business–Act•1 Group, an international recruitment and business management firm. Her company is the nation’s largest black female-owned business and in 2012 it had revenues of $2 billion.
What is Janice Bryant?
400
A young leader in the National Youth Movement of the New Deal era and a YWCA caseworker in Harlem in 1937. Her leadership work in civil rights progressed from her early work in Harlem. She also spoke alongside Martin Luther King, Jr.
What is Dorothy Height?
400
The first black woman to earn a degree in dentistry. She graduates from the University of Michigan Dental School.
What is Ida Gray?
400
In 1920, she became the first African American vocalist to do a blues recording. She opened the door for other female blues vocalists such as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. Her most famous song "Crazy Blues" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1994.
What is Mamie Smith?
400
The first black woman to win a Tony Award for best actress in 1962 for her role of Barbara Woodruff in the musical No Strings. She is also the first African American actress to star in her own television series, Julia, in 1968.
What is Diahann Carroll?
400
Invented the home security system in 1966, along with her husband Albert Brown.
What is Marie Van Brittan Brown?
500
Feminist, black nationalist, political activist, community leader, communist and journalist. She has been described as the mother of the Notting Hill carnival. The diversity of her political affiliations clearly illustrated her multifaceted approach to the struggle for equal rights in the 20th century.
What is Claudia Jones?
500
The first African American woman to become a physician in the United States.
What is Rebecca Lee Crumpler?
500
In 1955, she became the first African American to sing at the Metropolitan Opera House.
What is Marian Anderson?
500
First African American actress to be featured in a sitcom for her role in Beulah which debuted in 1950. She is also the first African American woman to be nominated for an Emmy Award in 1962.
What is Ethel Waters?
500
Invented the hair weaving process in the nineteen fifties. She received a patent in 1951 for this process of hair weaving.
What is Christina Jenkins?
M
e
n
u