Famous Firsts
Activism
Sports
Music
Literature
Inventions
Film & Art
100
The first black woman to become a billionaire.
Who is Oprah Winfrey?
100
Abolitionist and humanitarian, she is known as the mother of the "Underground Railroad" from slavery to freedom.
Who is Harriett Tubman?
100
This 4-foot-8 American 2016 Gold Olympian is considered the best gymnast of all time.
Who is Simone Biles?
100
New Orleans is known as the birthplace of this music genre.
What is jazz?
100
This famous poet and novelist wrote I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.
Who is Maya Angelou?
100
This city is home to what was once known as Black Wall Street.
What is Tulsa, Oklahoma?
100
This actor is widely known as the voice of Darth Vader (Star Wars) and Mufasa (Lion King).
Who is James Earl Jones?
200
The nickname for the all black 332nd Fighter Group, the first black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps (AAC), a precursor of the U.S. Air Force, which escorted Allied Bombers through European airspace on 1,578 mission during World War II.
Who are the Tuskegee Airmen?
200
This abolitionist and women's rights and suffrage advocate published the North Star newspaper in the 1800s.
Who is Frederick Douglass?
200
Kipchoge holds the official fastest marathon record having run 2:01:39 at the 2018 Berlin Marathon. What country does he represent?
What is Kenya?
200
With the nickname Tuff Gong, this Jamaican musician-activist sang hit "Exodus"
Who is Bob Marley?
200
A primary contributor of the Harlem Renaissance, this person was an early innovator of the literary art form jazz poetry.
Who is Langsten Hughes?
200
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performs this first successful procedure in America in 1893.
What is open-heart surgery?
200
in the 19th century, Edmonia Lewis was the first professional African-American to become known for her work in this medium. She spent most of her career working in Rome, Italy.
What is sculpture?
Fun fact: her marble sculpture “The Death of Cleopatra” can be found at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in in Washington, DC.
300
Founded in 1854, this is the first HBCU (historically black college and university) to award college degrees.
What is Lincoln University of Pennsylvania?
Fun fact: In 1946, Einstein visited Lincoln University and accepted an honorary doctorate. The school is the alma mater of some of the greats, including Langston Hughes, Thurgood Marshall, and Cab Calloway.
300
He was a former Haitian slave who led the only successful slave revolt in modern history. Standing steadfastly, he fought to end slavery and gain Haiti's independence from European powers, France and Spain in 1971.
Who is Toussaint Louverture?
300
Her is the greatest all time scorer in the NBA.
Who is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ?
300
This Nigerian musician-activist is known as the creator of the musical genre Afrobeat in the 1960s. Clue: in 2009, debuted a Broadway show based on this musician, produced by Jay-Z and Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith.
Who is Fela Kuti?
300
This author is best known for The Autobiography of Malcolm X and Roots.
Who is Alex Haley?
300
This scientist was awarded over 60 patents and two of which were challenged by Thomas Edison.
Who is Granville T Woods?
300
Bahamian-American actor, film director, author, and diplomat. in 1964, he became the first black actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor. He starred in movies, To Sir, with Love; In the Heat of the Night; and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.
Who is Sydney Poitier?
400
She was the highest paid college President in the US and the first Black woman to earn doctorate at MIT.
Who is Shirley Ann-Jackson?
400
The 13th Amendment was first signed at this HBCU in Virginia in 1865.
What is Hampton University?
400
The first black Formula One racer (2006).
Who is Lewis Hamilton ?
400
This musician is known as the pioneer of soul music and the first black musician to own their master recording.
Who is Ray Charles?
400
Born in Nigeria in 1977, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is part of a new generation of African writers taking the literary world by storm. This is the title of her best selling book.
What is Americanah?
400
Marian Croak, served as VP at AT&T and VP of Engineering at Google, was inducted into Women in Technology International’s hall of fame, a move that recognizes her remarkable achievements in tech. Croak holds over 135 patents. She is known primarily for her development of this technology.
What is Voice-over Internet protocol (VoIP)?
(the technology behind Skype, SMS messaging, and more...)
400
This Brooklyn-bred, neo-expressionist painter is a pop icon, cultural figure, graffiti artist, and musician, rising to fame in the 1980s. In 2017, his “Untitled”painting of a mask sold for $110M, a record price for work by an American artist at auction.
Who is Jean-Michel Basquiat?
500
The first black female U.S. Representative, she was Congresswoman from New York, 1969–1983.
Who is Shirley Chisholm?
500
This person served two terms as United Nations Secretary-General from 1997 to 2006. Born/raised in Ghana, he is the only Black African to ever hold the position...and was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2001 for his humanitarian work.
Who is Kofi Annan?
500
His most impressive accomplishment might have been his 22-touchdown campaign in 1987; this person is known as the greatest football receiver of all time.
Who is Jerry Rice?
500
Voted by Rolling Stone as the greatest guitarist of all time. His key tracks include "Purple Haze," "Foxy Lady," "The Star-Spangled Banner," "Hey Joe"
Who is Jimmi Hendrix?
500
Essayist, playwright, novelist and voice of the American civil rights movement known for works including 'Notes of a Native Son,' 'The Fire Next Time' 'Go Tell It on the Mountain' , and 'If Beale Street Could Talk'
Who is James Baldwin?
500
Due to cost, Philip Emeagwali (Nigerian) was forced to drop out of school at age 14. This didn’t stop him from becoming one of the greatest pioneers of our time. As an adult, he began studying nature, specifically bees. In 1989, he put this idea to work using a method of each microprocessor communicating with six neighbors — able to perform 3.1 billion calculations per second. The construction of the honeycomb inspired him to rethink this technology.
What is the world’s first super computer?
500
As Lieutenant Uhura on the legendary television series Star Trek, per Dr. Martin Luther King, she played “the first non-stereotypical role portrayed by a black woman in television history." She later went on to recruit diverse astronauts to NASA, including women and ethnically low-represented groups.
Who is Nichelle Nichols?