US Government
The newest federal holiday recognizes the emancipation of all enslaved African Americans
Juneteenth
This power couple are tied as the most Grammy nominated individuals of all time as of 2022
Beyoncé and Jay-Z
He was the first African American Major League Baseball player in the modern era
Jackie Robinson
This best selling author wrote the memoir "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"
Maya Angelou
The first actor to be nominated for an acting award at the Golden Globes and Oscars for work on a Marvel movie
Angela Bassett
What year was Barack Obama elected as the first Black US President
2008
This is the highest selling album of all time (as of at least 2018, though it has since been disputed)
Thriller
A track and field athlete, he was the first to win 4 gold medals at an Olympic Games, one of which became one of the most iconic photos of all time.
Jesse Owens
She became the first African American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature
This prolific Black director finally won the Oscar for Best Director in 2019 with BlackKkKlansman
Spike Lee
He was the first Black justice on the Supreme Court
Thurgood Marshall
This Billie Holiday song is considered to be one of the first protest songs of the Civil Rights Movement
Strange Fruit
The famous 1974 fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire was called this
The Rumble in the Jungle
Largely known as a poet, writing works such as "I, Too" and "Montage of a Dream Deferred", he was a leader of the Harlem Renaissance
Langston Hughes
The first African American woman to star in a motion picture, she aided the French Resistance as a spy during WWII
Josephine Baker
She was the first African American woman elected to Congress in 1968
Shirley Chisholm
She holds the Guinness World Record for the most awarded woman artist of all time
Whitney Houston
She was the first African American to win a singles title at Wimbledon
Althea Gibson
Phillis Wheatley
Though she became the first African American to win an Oscar, she was required to sit at a segregated table since the ceremony location had a no-Blacks policy
Hattie McDaniel
This US president officially recognized Black History Month for America's Bicentennial
Gerald Ford
She was the first Black member of the New York City Opera
Marian Anderson
He holds the NBA record for highest career regular season scoring average (30.12 points per game)
Michael Jordan
Writers Ta-Nehisi Coates, Roxane Gay and Yona Harvey have all written original stories as part of the larger mythos of this comic book hero
Black Panther
In 2015, Denzel Washington announced he would produce 10 films based off of this playwright - two of which, Fences and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, have since been released
August Wilson