Joy
This music genre originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans with iconic musicians Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, and Billie Holiday
Jazz
This gymnast is the most decorated gymnast in history with 11 Olympic medals and 30 World Championship medals
Simone Biles
After being inspired by a teenager, this civil rights icon refused to give up her seat on the bus
Rosa Parks
Formerly San Francisco's district attorney, this Oakland native went on to become the attorney general of California and the first female vice president of the United States
Kamala Harris
This former civil right attorney went on to become the first Black president of the United States
Barack Obama
This popular party game requires players to strike a drum right before the lyric, "And I will always love you"
Whitney Houston Challenge
This Warriors player is widely regarded as the greatest shooter in basketball history despite his short stature by NBA standards
Steph Curry
This former Congressman and civil rights leader marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma before the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama in 2011.
John Lewis
This SF State graduate moved to San Francisco in 1951 and became the city's first Black mayor and went on to mentor Gavin Newsom
Willie Brown
This award-winning mockumentary sitcom follows a group of teachers-- Janine, Gregory, Melissa, Barbara, and Jacob-- and their principal, Ava, in a Philadelphia public school
Abbott Elementary
This popular goblet-shaped drum, originating from West Africa, is played with bare hands to produce a wide range of tones
Djembe
These annual awards are named after Dr. King's wife and presented by the American Library Association (ALA) to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults
Coretta Scott King Book awards
This 15-year old refused to give up her bus seat 9 months before Rosa Parks and was 1 of 4 plaintiffs in the first federal court case to challenge bus segregation in Alabama. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court and effectively ended the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Claudette Colvin
San Francisco's first Black streetcar operator, this poet and activist wrote "Still I Rise" in 1978
Maya Angelou
This woman's cells, taken without her permission in 1951, went on to create the first immortal cell line and became one of the most important tools in medicine, supporting the development of vaccines, cloning, gene mapping, and more.
Henrietta Lacks
This rapper headlined the most-watched Superbowl Halftime show in history in 2025
Kendrick Lamar
This astrophysicist is the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the New York Museum of Natural History and a member of NASA's Advisory Council. He presented Carl Sagan's work in the COSMOS docuseries.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
This chief counsel for the NAACP successfully argued Brown v. Board of Education before the U.S. Supreme Court before becoming the court's first Black Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall
This teacher and activist taught English to Chinese students and went on to become President of the California State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs in 1917. She also led the Oakland branch of the NAACP
Hettie B. Tilghman
This former professional football quarterback played in the NFL for six seasons with the San Francisco 49ers before he began kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice in 2016
Colin Kaepernick
This California native painted the presidential portraits of Barack and Michelle Obama
Kehinde Wiley
This author was the first Black woman to serve as first lady of the United States and ranked as the most admired woman in the country for 3 years straight
Michelle Obama
This investigative journalist, portrayed in the musical SUFFS, helped found the NAACP in 1908
Ida B. Wells
San Francisco's current poet laureate
Tongo Eisen-Martin
The critical role these women played at NASA as mathematicians, computer programmers, and project leads was depicted in this 2016 film
Hidden Figures