Civil Rights Leaders
What minister led the Montgomery Bus Boycott and delivered the “I Have a Dream” speech?
Martin Luther King Jr.
She was the first Black woman to refuse to give up her bus seat nine months before Rosa Parks.
Claudette Colvin
This Harlem Renaissance poet wrote “The Negro Speaks of Rivers.”
Langston Hughes
He was the first Black President of the United States.
Barack Obama
This Atlanta HBCU is the alma mater of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Morehouse College
Who was the first Black Supreme Court Justice, appointed in 1967?
Thurgood Marshall
This journalist led an anti-lynching campaign in the late 1800s.
Ida B. Wells
She became the first Black woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress in 2002.
Halle Berry
She was the first Black woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.
Ketanji Brown Jackson
This Washington, D.C. HBCU is known for its law and medical schools.
Howard University
Who is the co-founder of the NAACP, also a scholar and author of The Souls of Black Folk?
W.E.B. Du Bois
She became the first Black woman elected to Congress in 1968.
Shirley Chisholm
This Motown founder created one of the most influential record labels in music history.
Berry Gordy
He was the first Black Major League Baseball player in the modern era.
Jackie Robinson
This Delaware HBCU is one of the oldest in the country, founded in 1837.
Delaware State University
This SNCC chairman popularized the phrase “Black Power” during the 1966 March Against Fear.
Stokely Carmichael
This NASA mathematician’s work was highlighted in the film Hidden Figures.
Katherine Johnson
This author wrote the novel Beloved and won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Toni Morrison
In 2021, she became the first woman, first Black person, and first South Asian person to serve as Vice President of the United States.
Kamala Harris
This women’s HBCU was founded in 1881 in the basement of Friendship Baptist Church in the south
Spelman College
Who is the leader who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and promoted Black economic independence?
Marcus Garvey
She was the first Black female self-made millionaire in the United States.
Madam C.J. Walker
This rapper won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2018 and was also a part of the 2025 Super Bowl performance.
Kendrick Lamar
In 2020, this filmmaker became the first Black person to own a major Hollywood studio outright, located in Atlanta and built on a former Confederate Army base.
Tyler Perry
This Florida HBCU was founded by Mary McLeod Bethune.
Bethune-Cookman University