Unsung Heroes
Originally meant to fall under the birthday of Frederick Douglas, this person started the celebration of “Negro History Week”, which later turned into Black History month
Carter G. Woodson
This agricultural scientist created over 300 uses for peanuts. His innovation with agricultural products lead to him being dubbed “Black Leonardo” by Time magazine in 1941
George Washington Carver
This 1896 landmark court case established the legal doctrine “separate but equal”, which legally justified racial segregation in America for nearly 60 years
Plessy v. Ferguson
Also known as the Queen of Soul, this person was the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Aretha Franklin
Vertner Woodson Tandy, one of the Jewels of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. designed a mansion for this Harlem millionaire, who made her fortune through her line of hair care products.
Madam CJ Walker
This activist was a central figure within the Stonewall Riots. The P. in her name stood for “Pay it No Mind”
Marsha P. Johnson
Also known as the “Black Edison”, this inventor created the multiplex telegraph, which allowed for moving trains to communicate by telegraph
Granville T. Woods
The Greenwood district in this city was also known as “Black Wall Street”
Tulsa, OK
This future Nobel Laureate published her first book The Bluest Eye” at the age of 39
Toni Morrison
Serving as a human computer for NASA, this person was critical in safely putting humans into space. She was later portrayed by Taraji P. Henson in the movie Hidden Figures
Katherine Johnson
This investigative journalist authored A Red Record, a book that provided a history and data on lynching of African Americans in the US.
Ida B. Wells
This viral immunologist played a vital role in the development of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine. She currently serves as an Assistant Professor at Harvard School of Public Health
Dr. Kizzmekia S Corbett-Helaire
This event occurred in 1965 in Selma, Alabama, where Civil Rights marchers were brutalized by state troopers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge
Bloody Sunday
This author was known for his book Roots: The Saga of an American Family. But his first book was The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Alex Haley
Known as the “Man who killed Jim Crow” this man mentored many future lawyers, including Thurgood Marshall, as Dean of Howard Law
Charles Hamilton Houston
This man was a renowned surgeon and pioneer in the preservation of life-saving blood plasma. For his work, he is known as the “father of blood banks”
Dr. Charles Drew
Founder of the first black owned hospital, this surgeon was also the first person to successfully perform cardiac surgery
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams
This was the year that the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case which ruled racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional
1954
This olympic gold medalist set world records in the 100m and 200m races in the 1988 summer olympics
Florence Griffith Joyner (Flo-Jo)
Hailing from Columbia, South Carolina, this 4x MVP helped the Las Vegas Aces win three championship
A’Ja Wilson
This fifteen year old was actually the first to refuse to give up her seat on a bus in 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks did, sparking the beginning of the Montgomery Bus Boycotts
Claudette Colvin
This physician was the first Black woman to hold a medical degree in the US
Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler
This Jamaican Pan-Africanist was the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Hailed as “Black Moses”, he was a champion of the “Back to Africa” movement and attempted to establish a shipping line between America, the Caribbean, and Africa
Marcus Garvey
During the 1995 Source Awards, this member of an Atlanta Duo put the Dirty South in the hip-hop spotlight when he boldly claimed that “The South got something to say”
André 3000
This man was the first African American to earn his PhD in chemistry, earning at the University of Illinois
Dr. St. Elmo Brady