Trailblazing Black women
This Black scientist helped NASA send astronauts to space. She was also a NASA mathematician and aerospace technologist whose orbital mechanics calculations were crucial to the success of early US crewed spaceflights. Lastly, she was portrayed in the movie Hidden Figures.
Who is Katherine Johnson?
This woman was the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize.
Who is Gwendolyn Brooks?
This organization was co-founded by W.E.B. Du Bois in 1909 to fight for racial justice.
What is the NAACP?
This Black entrepreneur became the first self-made female millionaire in the U.S.
Who is Madam C.J. Walker?
This major AKA service initiative provided healthcare to Black rural communities in Mississippi during the Great Depression.
What is the Mississippi Health Project?
This Black woman became the first licensed female pilot in the U.S., earning her license in France because American flight schools refused her entry.
Who is Bessie Coleman?
She became the first Black woman to win an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
Who is Viola Davis?
This revolutionary group, founded in 1966 in Oakland, promoted self-defense and community programs like free breakfast for children.
What is the Black Panther Party?
This Black woman mathematician invented an early version of GPS technology.
Who is Gladys West?
This fraternity, founded in 1906 at Cornell University, is known for its strong commitment to community service and was the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established by Black men.
What is Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.?
She was the first Black woman to win a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.
Who is Toni Morrison?
This Black filmmaker became the first to have a movie gross over $1 billion worldwide. (Hint: Black Panther)
Who is Ryan Coogler?
This 1831 rebellion, led by an enslaved man in Virginia, caused widespread fear among slaveholders and led to harsher laws against Black people.
What is Nat Turner's Rebellion?
This Black scientist and inventor developed hundreds of products using peanuts, sweet potatoes, and other crops to help Southern farmers.
Who is George Washington Carver?
This HBCU, established in 1837 in Pennsylvania, is recognized as the first historically Black college and university.
What is Cheyney University of Pennsylvania?
Before the Emancipation Proclamation, this woman successfully sued for her freedom in 1781, setting a legal precedent in Massachusetts.
Who is Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Bett)?
This jazz musician was the first Black man to host a national television show in 1956.
Who is Nat King Cole?
This 1964 campaign aimed to increase Black voter registration in the South, despite violent resistance from white supremacist groups.
What is Freedom Summer?
This Black inventor created the first home security system, improving safety for households across the country.
Who is Marie Van Brittan Brown?
This HBCU, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is the alma mater of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
What is Morehouse College?
She was the first Black woman to earn an MD in the United States in 1864.
Who is Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler?
This R&B artist was the youngest solo artist to have a No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. (Hint: Isn't She Lovely?)
Who is Stevie Wonder?
This 1921 event, often called "Black Wall Street," was one of the worst incidents of racial violence in U.S. history, where a thriving Black community was destroyed by white mobs.
What is the Tulsa Race Massacre?
This Black woman made history as the first director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs at Tulane University and has been a key figure in supporting diversity and inclusion on campus.
Who is Carolyn Barber-Pierre?
This HBCU, established in 1867 in Washington, D.C., is the alma mater of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
What is Howard University?