The Pioneers
In 2008, he became the 44th President of the United States, running on a campaign of "Hope" and "Change."
Who is Barack Obama?
This Baptist minister and activist led the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.
Who is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
What is the "I Have a Dream" speech?
These two sisters from Compton revolutionized women’s tennis, holding a combined total of over 120 singles titles.
Who are Venus and Serena Williams?
This actor played T'Challa in the MCU blockbuster Black Panther before his tragic passing in 2020.
Who is Chadwick Boseman?
Often called the "Moses of her people," she escaped slavery and made 13 missions to rescue roughly 70 enslaved people using the Underground Railroad.
Who is Harriet Tubman?
In 1960, four college students in Greensboro, NC, sparked a national movement by refusing to leave this segregated establishment.
What is a Woolworth’s lunch counter (or "the sit-ins")?
In 2016, this First Lady gave a DNC speech with the famous line, "When they go low, we go high."
Who is Michelle Obama?
Wearing number 42, he broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Who is Jackie Robinson?
Will Smith starred as a fictionalized version of himself in this 90s sitcom about a West Philadelphia teen moving to a wealthy LA neighborhood.
What is The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?
Recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first female self-made millionaire in America, she built her empire on hair care products.
Who is Madam C.J. Walker?
Co-founded by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in Oakland, this organization’s Ten-Point Program demanded land, housing, and an end to police brutality.
What is the Black Panther Party?
Delivered at a Women’s Rights Convention in 1851, this extemporaneous speech challenged the exclusion of Black women from the feminist movement.
What is "Ain't I a Woman?" (by Sojourner Truth)?
Often called "The Flying Squirrel," this gymnast became the first African American woman to win an individual Olympic gold medal in gymnastics in 2012.
Who is Gabby Douglas?
Based on the novel by Alex Haley, this 1977 miniseries broke viewing records and sparked a national conversation about genealogy and the history of enslavement.
What is Roots?
Before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, this 15-year-old was arrested for the same act in Montgomery, Alabama, nine months earlier.
Who is Claudette Colvin?
On March 7, 1965, future Congressman John Lewis and Hosea Williams led over 600 marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, only to be attacked by state troopers in an event now known by this somber name.
What is Bloody Sunday?
Frederick Douglass gave a scorching keynote address in 1852 questioning the hypocrisy of celebrating freedom while slavery existed, titled "What to the Slave is ______?"
What is the Fourth of July?
At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, these two sprinters were stripped of their medals for raising their black-gloved fists during the national anthem.
Who are Tommie Smith and John Carlos?
Pitching a modern take on the movie Big to Universal Pictures at age 10, she eventually produced and starred in Little four years later, making industry history.
Who is Marsai Martin?
Denied entry to U.S. flight schools, she traveled to France to become the first Black person (and Native American woman) to hold an international pilot license in 1921.
Who is Bessie Coleman?
Before this 1968 act, banks and realtors used "redlining" and restrictive covenants to enforce segregation; this law made it federal policy to ban such discrimination in real estate.
What is the Fair Housing Act?
Just days before his assassination, Malcolm X delivered this speech in Detroit, presenting a stark choice for the direction of the Black revolution: the ______ or the ______.
What is "The Ballot or the Bullet"?
Known as the "Galveston Giant," he became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion in 1908, inciting race riots across the country.
Who is Jack Johnson?
This pioneering filmmaker of the early 20th century produced "race films" like Within Our Gates to counter the racist depictions in The Birth of a Nation.
Who is Oscar Micheaux?