Black History Month Females
Who is the first African American to win an Oscar?
Hattie McDaniel
He was a Virginian enslaved man who escaped to freedom by having himself mailed in a wooden crate in 1849 to abolitionists in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Abolitionist, public speaker, magician, mesmerist
Henry Box Brown
Who was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era and who broke the color line in 1947 with the Brooklyn Dodgers
Jackie Robinson
Who was the first Black woman to become a medical doctor in the U.S. and one of the first African Americans to write a medical book
Rebecca Lee Crumpler
He designed an Elevator Safety Device in 1895 to prevent the start of the elevator if doors are open. His Patent US5336605A addressed the single most dangerous failure point in early elevators
J. Cooper
Who was the first woman inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987
Aretha Franklin
He is the first African American to win the prestigious Oscar award in 2018, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his film "Get Out"
Jordan Peele
He becomes the first African American male that achieved winning all four major American entertainment awards: an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony in 2018
John Legend
She was the first African American physician and public health official to serve as US. surgeon general 1993-94 and the second woman to hold that post.
Jocelyn Elders
He was an experimental embryologist who won the first Spingarn Medal award (by NAACP) in 1915 that pioneered physiology of development in fertilization, cell division, hydration, etc.
Ernest E. Just
She was the first African American poet to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1950; U.S. Poet Laureate )1985-86); first African American inducted into American Academy of Arts and Letters
Gwendolyn Brooks
He was the first and only African American to serve three terms in the U.S. Congress in 1929 and the first elected outside the southern states
Oscar Stanton De Priest
He becomes the first African American coach in the NBA in 1966
Bill Russell
Who was the first African American and the first woman to deliver a keynote address at a Democratic National Convention? She also received the "Presidential Medal of Freedom" and the first African American woman to be buried in the Texas State Cemetery.
Barbara Jordan, lawyer, educator, politician
Inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was also one of the most prominent black scientists of the early 20th century. He won the Spingarn Medal in 1923
George Washington Carver
Who is the first African American woman to have a symphony performed by a major American orchestra
Florence Price
He was the first African American admiral in the US Navy in 1962
Samuel L. Gravely
They were the only Black-owned automobile company in the United States that operated carriage, automobile, and bus manufacturing and repairs from 1839 to 1939
C. R. Patterson and Sons
What year did the first group of 20 Africans set foot on the North American continent [Jamestown, VA] as indentured servants
1619
He invented a hair-straightening product, a breathing device, a revamped sewing machine and an improved traffic signal
Garrett Morgan
Who was the first African American woman and first Native American to hold a domestic and international pilot license
Bessie Coleman
He was one of three whose death sparked worldwide Black Lives Matter in 2020
George Floyd
She was the first African American tennis player who dominated women's competition and won the French (1956), Wimbledon (1957-58), and U.S. Open (1957-58) singles championships
Althea Gibson
NAACP stand for what?
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
He was first African American astronaut to walk in space during the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1995
Dr. Bernard A. Harris, Jr.