Scientists
An American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion.
George Washington Carver
An American professional boxer, activist, entertainer and philanthropist.
Muhammed Ali
He is known for his contributions to the American civil rights movement in the 1960s. His most famous work is his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Martin Luther King Jr.
He was the first black president of the United States of America.
Barack Obama
The lead singer of the R&B group Destiny's Child. One of her songs are
Beyonce
An American statistician and mathematician who made significant contributions to game theory, probability theory, information theory, and Bayesian statistics. He is one of the eponyms of the Rao–Blackwell theorem.
David Blackwell
The first African American to play in Major League Baseball
An American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott.
Rosa Parks
The first African American female principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre.
Misty Copeland
A famous song of his is Purple Rain
Prince
The first black woman to become a neurosurgeon
Alexa Canady
An American basketball player who led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships and won the Most Valuable Player Award five times.
Michael Jordan
An escaped slave who became a prominent activist, author and public speaker. He became a leader in the abolitionist movement, which sought to end the practice of slavery, before and during the Civil War.
Fredrick Douglas
The first African American woman in space. She is also a trained medical doctor, served as a Medical Officer in the Peace Corps and currently runs BioSentient Corp, a medical technology company.
Dr. Mae Jemison
A song by her is Rolling in the Deep
Aretha Franklin
He is remembered for producing one of America's earliest almanacs and what may have been the country's first natively produced clock.
Benjamin Banneker
An American artistic gymnast, with a combined total of 30 Olympic and World Championship medals.
Simone Biles
Born to former slaves a decade after the Civil War, devoted her life to ensure the right to education and freedom from discrimination for African Americans. She was an educator, an organizer, and a political activist, and opened one of the first schools for African American girls.
Mary McLeod Bethune
Also known as 'Swimone'. Won four medals on her Olympic debut at Rio 2016 - including gold in the blue-ribboned 100m freestyle - she is now one of the sport's biggest names
Simone Manuel
He was nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops". He was an American trumpeter, composer, vocalist, and actor who was among the most influential figures in jazz. A song by him is What a Wonderful World
Louis Armstrong
An American inventor and engineer. His inventions include electrical resistors used in computing, missile guidance, and pacemakers.
Otis Boykin
An American track and field athlete and four-time gold medalist in the 1936 Olympic Games.
Jesse Owens
An American civil rights activist in Mississippi, the state's field secretary for the NAACP, and a World War II veteran who had served in the United States Army.
Medgar Evans
She was the first African American singer to perform at the White House and also the first African American to sing with New York's Metropolitan Opera.
Marian Anderson
A pioneer of rock and roll music. A song by him is "School Days."
Chuck Berry