Politics & artist

Presidents

100

This president took office after Lincoln and reversed many Reconstruction-era promises made to freed Black Americans. 

Andrew Johnson

200

This President served during the period when many Black Americans shifted to the Democratic Party and introduced major social welfare programs they relied on.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

300

 what did Richard Nixon?

This president used the “Southern Strategy” and tied crime policies to Black neighborhoods.

400

What did Ronald Reagan do?

This president expanded the War on Drugs, changed sentencing laws for crack vs. powder cocaine, and contributed to rising incarceration rates of Black men.

500

This president continued to push the "Zero tolerance," expanded federal drug enforcement, and escalated anti-drug policing.

George H.W. Bush

Presidents and people

100

This president signed the largest crime bill in U.S. history, increased police militarization, and contributed to higher incarceration rater for black men.

Bill Clinton

200

George W. Bush

This president shifted national policing and security switched focus towards Muslims after 2001.

300

This civil rights activist was assassinated in 1963 for his work fighting segregation in Mississippi.

Medgar's Evers

400

Latasha Harlins & Rodney King

These two cases—one involving a young girl killed over a bottle of orange juice and one involving a brutal police beating—sparked the 1992 LA rebellion.

500

This man became the first black U.S. senator during the Reconstruction era.

Hiram Revels

Black Political First

100

John Willis Menard

This man was the first Black male elected to Congress.

200

George Edwin Taylor

This man first was the first Black person to run for U.S. president.

300

This woman became the first Black congresswoman and the first Black woman to run for President

Shirley Chisholm

400

This man ran for president twice on 1980s and earned millions of votes, making him the first Black candidate taken seriously nationwide.

Jesse Jackson

500

This man the first Black governor in U.S. history

Douglas Wilder

Political First Black people

100

Carol Moseley Braun

This woman became the first African American woman elected to the U.S. senate

200

This man became the first Black president of United States 

Barack Obama

300

Cory Booker

This man became the first Black senator in New Jersey

400

This woman became the first Black person to serve as vice president and the second Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate

Kamala Harris

500

hakeem Jeffries

This congressman became the first African American to serve as a party leader in Congress and House Minority Leader.

Harlem Renaissance & Literature

100

Langston Hughes 

This poet and writer was the most famous figure during the Harlem Renaissance.

200

This writer is best known for "lift Every Voice and Sing."

James Weldon Johnson

300

This playwright wrote "A Raisin in the Sun," one of the first major Broadway plays by a Black woman.

Lorraine Hansberry

400

James Baldwin

This author wrote influential essays and novels during plays by a Black woman.

500

This writer became the first Black woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature.

Toni Morrison