Leaders
This world leader won the Nobel Peace Prize, but more famously, was elected as President of the United States in 2008.
Who is Barack Obama?
This is the most decorated American gymnast of all time, the 3rd most decorated gymnast in the world, and is so good she has 4 different techniques named after her.
Who is Simone Biles?
Author of the 1952 Novel “Invisible Man,” which addresses black identity, politics, and Marxism against the backdrop of Harlem.
Who is Ralph Ellison?
The first black student admitted as an undergraduate at LSU, whose namesake you’ve probably had a class or two in.
Who is A.P. Tureaud?
Alright girls, let's get in formation! This female artist holds pretty much every single record for female artists, and is one of the best-selling artists of all time.
This Civil Rights Leader is often incorrectly juxtaposed with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as the “violent alternative,” despite him and MLK sharing many of the same beliefs about black advancement.
Who is Malcolm X?
The greatest women’s tennis player of all time and one of the most dominant athletes ever. No question.
Who is Serena Williams?
This African author changed postcolonial literature from analyzing Rudyard Kipling in history class and “Heart of Darkness” to one of the most important genres of literature and to the forefront of world discussion with his novel “Things Fall Apart.”
Who is China Achebe?
Who is Pinky Gordon Lane?
This widely influential black artist sadly died in a plane crash in 1967, but not before recording one of the most important posthumous albums of all time, “The Dock of the Bay.”
Who is Otis Redding?
Known by many for her frail image that the Civil Rights Narrative has placed upon her, this powerful woman led black advancement initiatives across the nation, helped found organizations like SNCC, NAACP, and SCLC, and was known as the “mother of the Civil Rights Movement."
Who is Rosa Parks?
Known for her novel “Beloved,” this brilliant author and literary juggernaut won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, becoming the first black woman of any nationality to do so.
Who is Toni Morrison?
This author broke hearts and stimulated a new generation of activists with his landmark book “Just Mercy,” and also runs the Equal Justice Initiative.
Who is Bryan Stevenson?
“Dutch” was the first black student to receive a J.D. from LSU Law, and was the first black mayor of New Orleans.
Who is Muddy Waters?
Before his passing recently, this Civil Rights leader was a champion of voting rights, led the Selma march that became known as “Bloody Sunday,” and always advocated for making “good trouble” en route to becoming one of the most important Representatives in Congress.
Who is John Lewis?
Name any of the three black women (of the six poets ever!) to perform a poetry piece at an inauguration for the President of the United States.
Who are Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Alexander, and Amanda Gorman?
This black female author told a fantastic story of black womanhood in the post-Civil War South with “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and was a central figure in the Harlem Renaissance.
Established in 1993, these two areas of campus provide minority students support at the conservative, Predominantly White Institution (PWI) that LSU is historically known as.
What are the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the African-American Cultural Center?
This famous poet and spoken word performer wrote many pieces, but has become immortalized for pieces such as “Comment #1,” thanks to Kanye West, and “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” the rallying cry of an activist generation.
Who is Gil-Scott Heron?
A Civil Rights leader known for her fantastic autobiography “Coming of Age in Mississippi,” which chronicles her fight against racism and injustice from a unique point of view: one of community organization and coordination, rather than the bravery of the few.
Who is Anne Moody?
This young black woman made waves for refusing to give up her bus seat well before Rosa Parks even though about testing Montgomery’s laws, but was not chosen for the test case by the NAACP, as her status as a single mother was not preferable to the misogynistic leaders of the movement.
Who is Claudette Colvin?
This modern black female author told a fantastic, heart-wrenching story about Hurricane Katrina in “Salvage the Bones,” en route to being one of the youngest recipients of the National Book Award and tenure at Tulane University?
Who is Jesmyn Ward?
Occurring in 2020 thanks to the tireless effort of our Student Government Senators representing HSS, what area of study is now available as a concentration in the major of liberal arts, as well as a minor in HSS?
What is African and African American Studies?
This black street artist of Haitian descent broke barriers in the high art world by annihilating the standards of what could be considered art and subject matter, before dying at the young age of 27. His paintings, to this day, hold the record for most expensive American artwork at auction.
Who was Jean-Michel Basquiat?