African-American Firsts
she was the founder of her own college, the organizer of the premiere Black female public issue association in the 20th century, and the first African female administrator to head a federal office.
Mary McLeod Bethune
A decade after World War 1, an exciting cultural movement emerged in the African- American community. It was characterized by a spirit of protest and pride and reflected in a resurgence of African-American literature, art, music, and politics.
Harlem Renaissance
On February 11, 1990, this the South African revolutionary leader was freed from prison after 27 years?
Who is Nelson Mandela?
This was the first state to abolish slavery.
Pennsylvania
She was the first African American woman pilot
Who was Bessie Coleman?
The first Black woman to be elected to the U.S House of Representatives in 1968 had already served in her state legislature.
Mrs. Shirley Chisholm
In 1957, he formed this African American Dance Theater.
Who was Alvin Ailey?
In Montgomer, 1955, this brave African-American woman refused to surrender her seat on a bus to a white man and was arrested. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called for an African- American bus boycott, which fueled this Civil Rights Movement. Name this important African- American heroine.
Rosa Parks
In 1954, Federal Marshalls were called to escort this little girl to school New Orleans, Louisiana.
Who is Ruby Bridges?
In 1783, James Derham, who was born into slavery in Philadelphia in 1762, became the first African American to practice this profession in the United States. Who profession did he practice?
Nursing
This African-American educator was the first to have a U.S. stamp issued (1940) bearing his likeness.
Booker T. Washington
This African-American woman playwright was the first African- American to win the New York Drama Critics Circle Award in 1959 for her play, “A Raisin In The Sun”
Lorraine Hansberry
In 1905 this woman invented a hair softener, grower, and straightening comb, the revolutionized the cosmetics industry in the African- American community. She is known for her work to end lynching and gain women’s rights.
Madame C.J. Walker
What is the title of the 1852 novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe? This novel sold over 300,000 copies in one year and won over countless thousands or sympathizers to the abolitionist cause.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
In 1894 in Cambridge, MA, this important scholar, writer, and philosopher became the first African- American male to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard University.
W.E.B. Dubois
The first Black female professional anti-slavery orator. The litany was written in her honor?
Sojourner Truth, “Ain’t I a Woman”
The first African-American to earn an Oscar award for Best Actress
Halle Berry
Who was the woman called “Black Moses,” a major conductor on the Underground Railroad, who returned to the South 19 times, leading over 300 slaves to freedom in the North and Canada?
Harriet Tubman
This famous 1857 Supreme Court Decision opened federal territory to slavery, denied citizenship rights to African American, and decreed that slaves do not become free when taken into free territory. It was named after the slave who sued his master for his freedom.
What was the Dred Scott Decision?
In 1862, Mary Patterson became the first African American woman to earn a master’s degree. What Ohio college awarded her this degree?
Oberlin College
The first African American to be honored with a federally-funded statue (1960) to his memory. Who was he?
George Washington Carver
This outstanding jazz composer and orchestra leader is considered leader to have made the most pervasive contribution to the development of jazz in the United States?
Duke Ellington
Who was the first African-American appointed as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1967 by President Johnson?
Thurgood Marshall
Name the 1896 court case in which the U.S. Supreme Court gave its approval to segregate public facilities, known as the infamous “Jim Crow” laws?
Plessy vs. Ferguson
In 1900, he was the first African American Civil War Hero to receive the Medal of Honor, 37 years after the Battle of Fort Wagner.
Who was Sergeant William H. Carney?