Black Authors for
Black Lives
Black Women In Politics
Young, Gifted and Black
Black Athlete Activists
Black Leaders
in STEM
100

This Black author wrote Stamped and How to Be Antiracist.

Who is Ibram X. Kendi?

100

This Black woman is the 49th Vice President of the United States and the first woman, Black person, and Asian to hold the office.

Who is Kamala Harris?

100

This 22 year old Black woman is a poet and activist.  She recited her poem, The Hill We Climb at the 2021 presidential inauguration.

Who is Amanda Gorman?

100

This Black athlete took a knee in support of Black Lives Matter and in protest of policy brutality.

Who is Colin Kaepernick?

100

This Black female physicist and mathematician worked for NASA and her calculations in orbital mechanics enabled safe space flight. The movie Hidden Figures is based on her life.

Who is Katherine Johnson?

200

This Black author wrote So You Want to Talk About Race?

Who is  Ijeoma Oluo

200

This Black woman ran for governor in GA in 2018 and in the same year founded Fair Fight to combat voter suppression.  She is credited with leading the shift of GA from red to blue in the 2020 presidential election.

Who is Stacey Abrams?

200

This 13 year old young Black man has become famous for singing the anthem "I Just Wanna Live" written by his mother in response to the death of George Floyd.

Who is Keedron Bryant?

200

This Black athlete changed his name from Cassius Clay and was a prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement.

Who is Muhammad Ali?

200

This man is the first Black person to build a billion dollar company and his daughter is the founder of All Star Code (featured in MESA's internship and enrichment program guide), an organization that teaches computer science to young men of color.

Who is Reginald Lewis and Christina Lewis?

300

This Black author wrote The Water Dancer and Between the World and Me.

Who is Ta-Nehisi Coates?

300

This Black woman was the first female to run for president on the Democratic ticket back in 1972.

Who is Shirley Chisholm?

300

This 19 year old Black, female activist is a NYC native and is the president of Black Lives Matter Greater New York.

Who is Nupol Kiazolu?

300

This Black athlete, who recently passed away, broke white baseball player Babe Ruth's home run record in 1974, and kept all the hate male he received afterward to motivate him to push through the sport's color barrier.

Who is Hank Aaron?

300

This Black astronaut, physician and entrepreneur was the first African-American woman to travel to space. 

Who is Mae Jemison?

400

This Black author wrote The Fire Next Time and Notes of a Native Son.

Who is James Baldwin?

400

These Black women: Keisha Lance Bottoms, London Breed, Lori Lightfoot, Muriel Bowser, and LaToya Cantrell, share an important role in local politics.

Who are mayors of major cities in the United States?

400

This 26 year old rapper donated proceeds from his song "Bigger Picture" to the National Association of Black Journalists, the attorneys for the family of Breonna Taylor, the Black Lives Matter movement and The Bail Project.

Who is Lil Baby?

400

This past summer, this Black athlete participated in BLM protests and wore a mask honoring Breonna Taylor to her US Open first round match before winning the tournament.

Who is Naomi Osaka?

400

These three titles, Shine: Calm Anxiety & Stress, We Read Too and Mixle, have a special connection in the STEM space.

What are apps developed by Black people?

500

This Black author wrote The Warmth of Other Suns and Caste.

Who is Isabel Wilkerson?

500

This Black woman was the first African-American female elected to the U.S. Senate, the first African-American U.S. Senator from the Democratic Party, the first woman to defeat an incumbent U.S. Senator in an election, and the first female U.S. Senator from Illinois.

Who is Carol Moseley-Braun?

500

This Black female senior at MIT, who is from Long Island, New York, is one of the 32 US Rhodes Scholars of 2021; she will study at Oxford and wants to become a leader in science policy to support fellow scientists of color.

Who is Danielle Grey-Stewart?

500

This WNBA team wore "Vote Warnock" t-shirts in opposition to the anti-BLM's stance of Republican incumbent Senator Kelly Loeffler, one of their team's owner.  Their efforts contributed to the historic win of Rev. Raphael Warnock, who recently became the first Black Senator from GA.

Who are the Atlanta Dream team?

500

This Black scientist is a research fellow and scientific lead at the National Institute of Health and led the development of the COVID-19, Moderna vaccine.

Who is Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett?