Firsts
The first African American performer to win an Academy Award
Who is Hattie McDaniel
This black Wallstreet was the location for the first aerial bombing on US soil
What is the Tulsa, Oklahoma Race Massacre
How many NFL teams are black-owned
What are none
His most famous words "I have a Dream" were actually improvised.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
America's first female self-made millionaire
Who is Madam CJ Walker
The 3 highly debated first black presidents
Who are Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Andrew Jackson
They left their home state of Virginia to get married. They were warned by Virginia state officials that getting married would be a violation of state law, as he was white and she was not. After making their way through local and state courts, their case was put before the Supreme Court, and the bans on interracial marriage were deemed unconstitutional.
Who are Mildred and Richard Loving
This athlete broke barriers being the first African American to play in professional sports
Who is Moses Fleetwood Walker
The first Black person to host a network morning show when he joined NBC's Today Show.
Who is Bryant Gumbel
Although she was an iconic performer, after marrying a Frenchman, Jean Lion, she moved to Paris and renounced her U.S. citizenship. In 1940, when the Nazis began their occupation of Paris, she showed just how deep her loyalty to her adopted nation was, becoming a spy for the Allies
Who is Josephine Baker
First Black Woman Representative
Who is Shirley Chisholm
The place when then-25-year-old activist John Lewis marched with over 600 people across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, On March 7, 1965
What is Selma, Alabama
Millions of children and parents are familiar with his fables like the tortoise and the hare, and the ant and the grasshopper.
Who is Aesop
Taught himself astronomy and math to become America's "First Known African American Man of Science" and surveyor of Washington D.C.'s boundaries.
Who is Benjamin Banneker
Although she was a full-time nurse, she recognized the security threats to her home and devised a system that would alert her of strangers at her door and contact relevant authorities as quickly as possible.
Who is Marie Van Brittan Brown
First Black Billionaire
Who is Robert Johnson
A comprehensive guide for Black travelers about locations across America—and eventually overseas—that were either Black-owned or didn't engage in segregationist practices
What is the Negro Motorist Green Book
In 1997, after years of scientific research it was published that all black and non-blacks derived from a common black ancestral population in the northeastern corner of this continent
What is Africa
The inventor of the carbon filament, a vital component of the light bulb. His inventions didn’t stop there, working with Alexander Graham Bell, he helped draft the patent for Bell’s design of the telephone.
Who is Lewis Latimer
Her experiments with theoretical physics paved the way for numerous developments in the telecommunication space including the touch-tone telephone, the portable fax, caller ID, call waiting, and the fiber-optic cable
Who is Dr. Shirley Jackson
First Supreme Court Justice
Who is Thurgood Marshall
Established on Jan. 12, 1959, nicknamed Hitsville U.S.A., was a highly successful Black-owned record label. The company had great success with performers such as The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye
What is Motown Records
What is 1688, the Quakers "Society of Friends"
Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood. Thanks to this inventor, that blood is available. A physician, surgeon, and medical researcher who worked with a team at Red Cross on groundbreaking discoveries around blood transfusions and later resigned due to the policy of blood donations separated along lines of race
Who is Dr. Charles Drew
The first woman to lead a U.S. military operation, a regiment in the Raid on Combahee Ferry
Who is Harriet Tubman