Black Inventors
Black Leaders
Black Literature & Arts
Civil Rights Movement
Sport & Entertainment
100
This inventor improved the light bulb by creating a longer-lasting carbon filament.
Who is Lewis Latimer?
100
This Civil Rights Leader gave the famous "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963.
Who is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
100
This Harlem Renaissance poet wrote The Negro Speaks of Rivers and Daybreak in Alabama
Who is Langston Hughes?
100
She refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955.
Who is Rosa Parks?
100
The first African American baseball player in Major League Baseball.
Who is Jackie Robinson?
200
The creator of peanut-based products and agricultural techniques.
Who is George Washington Carver?
arver
200
The first African American President of the United States.
Who is Barack Obama? The 44th President
200
The first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Who is Toni Morrison?
200
The 1964 legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, or religion.
What is the Civil Rights Act?
200
The first Black woman to win an Academy Award.
Who is Hattie McDaniel?
300
This woman developed hair care products and became the first self-made Black female millionaire.
Who is Madame C.J. Walker?
300
This abolitionist was known as the "Moses of her people" for leading slaves to freedom.
Who is Harriet Tubman?
300
This NASA mathematician, whose calculations were critical to the success of the first U.S. space mission, was portrayed in the film Hidden Figures.
Who is Katherine Johnson?
300
This Civil Rights organization, founded in 1909, is the oldest and most influential in fighting for racial injustice and equality in the United States.
What is the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)?
300
He was known as "The Greatest" and was a boxing world champion.
Who is Muhammad Ali?
400
The inventor of the automatic elevator doors.
Who is Alexander Miles?
400
A political activist and scholar who co-founded the NAACP in 1909.
Who is W.E.B. Du Bois?
400
Who is the prominent Black female author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, which tells the story of a young woman's journey of self-discovery, love, and independence?
Who is Zora Neale Hurston?
400
The city where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
What is Memphis, Tennessee?
400
The first Black woman astronaut.
Who is Mae Jemison?
500
This Black inventor created the first traffic signal.
Who is Garrett Morgan?
500
The first Black woman elected to Congress in 1968.
Who is Shirley Chisholm?
500
This author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was also a poet and civil rights activist.
Who is Maya Angelou?
500
Juneteenth marks the day enslaved people in this state were officially informed of their freedom, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.
What is Texas?
500
The first Black person to win an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony)
Who is Whoopi Goldberg?
600
This inventor developed the first successful mobile refrigeration system.
Who is Fredrick McKinley Jones?
600
This leader of the Nation of Islam advocated for Black empowerment.
Who is Malcolm X?
600
This city, known for its rich cultural heritage and vibrant musical scene, is recognized as the birthplace of Jazz.
What is New Orleans?
600
This U.S. Supreme Court case ruled school segregation unconstitutional in 1954.
What is Brown vs. Board of Education?
600
This legendary athlete dominated professional football as a fullback for the Cleveland Browns, setting multiple records before retiring at the peak of his career. He later became a Hollywood actor, starring in films such as The Dirty Dozen, and used his platform to advocate for civil rights, particularly through his work with the Black Economic Union.
Who is Jim Brown?
700
The inventor of the first home security system.
Who is Marie Van Brittan Brown?
700
The first African American Supreme Court Justice.
Who is Thurgood Marshall?
700
This legendary Jazz singer, known as the "First Lady of Song," was famous for her impeccable vocal technique and scat singing.
Who is Ella Fitzgerald?
700
This amendment abolished slavery in the U.S.
What is the 13th Amendment?
700
This former college football star and lawyer became one of the most accomplished bass-baritone singers of his time, performing in concert halls around the world. Despite his success, he was blacklisted during the McCarthy era for his outspoken views on civil rights and socialism, preventing him from performing in many venues in the United States.
Who is Paul Robeson?
800
This scientist helped develop the first successful open-heart surgery.
Who is Dr. Daniel Hale Williams?
800
This former slave became a famous orator and writer advocating for abolition.
Who is Frederick Douglass?
800
This innovative Jazz musician, often called the "Father of Cool Jazz," was a trumpeter and composer known for albums like Kind of Blue.
Who is Miles Davis?
800
The name of the movement advocating Black pride and self-sufficiency in the 1960s.
What is the Black Power movement?
800
This pioneering Black boxing champion, who won the heavyweight title in 1908, was targeted by racist policies that sought to prevent him from defending his title against white opponents.
Who is Jack Johnson? 
900
This inventor created an early gas mask originally intended to protect workers from smoke and fumes; however, it was later used by Allied soldiers during WWI.
Who is Garrett Morgan?
900
The founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and advocate for Black nationalism.
Who is Marcus Garvey?
900
This Jazz composer and bandleader, famous for hits like Take the A Train, led one of the most influential big bands and performed at the Cotton Club in Harlem.
Who is Duke Ellington?
900
This historic march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, led by activists including John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr., aimed to secure voting rights for Black Americans. The violent attack on peaceful demonstrators by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge became known by this name and helped spur the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
What is Bloody Sunday?
900
The first Black player to win the Heisman Trophy, this Syracuse University running back was poised for an incredible NFL career before his life was tragically cut short by leukemia at the age of 23.
Who is Ernie Davis?