Athletes
Jackie Robinson
First African American professional baseball player
George Washington Carver
agricultural scientist and inventor
Sidney Poitier
first African American actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.
activist in the civil rights movement
Althea Gibson
First African American to win a Wimbledon title
Jesse Owens
track and field athlete
Madam C.J. Walker
first African American woman to become a self made millionaire after creating a line of hair products
Halle Berry
American actress and model
Malcolm X
human rights activist
Mae C Jemison
first black woman to travel into space
Serena Williams
African American professional tennis player
Benjamin Baneker
began making astronomical calculations that enabled him to successfully forecast a solar eclipse
Cicely Tyson
first black person to star in a prime time drama
Barack Obama
first African American president of the US
Misty Copeland
First African American woman to be a principal dancer at ABT
Bobby Marshall and Fritz Pollard
first African American to to play in the national football league
George Crum
created the modern potato chip
Spike Lee
director, actor, and producer in film industry
Michelle Obama
First African American first lady
Gloria Richardson
Leader of civil rights movement
Arthur Ashe
African American professional tennis player
Fredrick McKinley Jones
helped develop the refrigerator
Hattie McDaniel
first black woman to win a Oscar
Langston Hughes
social activist and writer of short plays
Mary Jane Patterson
first African American woman to receive a BA degree