Scientists/Inventors
Charles Drew
This was the first African American to hold a seat on the Supreme Court.
Thurgood Marshall
Who lead the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the mid 1900s until their death by assassination in 1968?
Martin Luther King Jr.
This person broke the color barrier in baseball and became the first African American to play major league baseball.
Jackie Robinson
Who was the first black woman to win a Grammy?
Ella Fitzgerald
Who had patents related to the lubrication of steam engines?
Elijah McCoy
Who was the first African American woman to serve in the United States Congress and the nation's first African American candidate for a major party's nomination for President of the United States?
Shirley Chisholm
Who was the first African American to be portrayed on a postage stamp?
Harriet Tubman
These family members became stars of women's tennis in the late 1990s.
Venus and Serena Williams
Who is Ray Charles
In 1923, this person was the first African American to own a car in Cleveland. He patented the stoplight to help control the flow of moving vehicles.
Garret Morgan Sr.
This Supreme Court decision decreed that public schools should be integrated.
Brown vs the Board of Education
This person helped NASA get to the moon with her mathematical calculations.
Katherine Johnson
This woman became the first African American woman to win three gold medals in track and field at a single Olympics after she overcame her polio sickness.
Wilma Rudolph
Who was the most influential and popular performer of Rhythm and Blues and Rock and Roll music during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s?
Gerald Anderson Lawson
This aerospace engineer was awarded more than $72 million dollars by the toy company Hasbro for his invention of the super soaker.
Lonnie Johnson
This South African anti-apartheid political leader served as President of South Africa from 1994-1999 after he was incarcerated for 27 years.
Nelson Mandela
Who was the first person arrested for resisting bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama?
Claudette Colvin
This was the first African American coach to win the Super Bowl.
Tony Dungy
This was the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in the American Ballet Theatre's 75 year history.
Misty Copeland
In 1893, this person became the first surgeon to perform this type of surgery on a human.
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams
Who was the first African American woman in space that made her historic flight in 1992?
Mae Jemison
This was the first woman of color to win the individual all around gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. She is also the first American gymnast to win a gold medal in both the individual all around competition and the team competition.
Gabby Douglas
Who was the first African American to win the Nobel Peace Prize for literature?
Toni Morrison