African Americans
in Sports
in Sports
This man is credited with integrating Major Leage Baseball when he started first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15th, 1947.
Who is Jackie Robinson?
This man was the first African American president in US history.
Who is Barack Obama?
This group of airmen in World War II were known for their distinctive red tails and noses on their P-51 fighter aircraft?
Who are the Tuskegee Airmen?
This agricultural inventor developed ways to restore nutrients to the soil depleted by long years of cotton farming, hoping to improve the health of those African Americans who worked the fields. His most famous plans involved 105 ways to use Peanuts.
Who is George Washington Carver
This African American woman became the youngest poet ever to read at a presidential inauguration in 2021, when she read her poem, 'The Hill We Climb' at Joe Biden's inauguration.
Who is Amanda Gorman?
This man was the first African American to win the Super Bowl, doing so with the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XXII.
Who is Doug Williams?
This man became the first African American secretary of State when he served under George W Bush from 2001 to 2005.
Who is Colin Powell?
This cook was the first African American to receive the Navy Cross when, during the attack at Pearl Harbor, shot down between 4 and 6 Japanese attacking aircraft with an Anti-aircraft machine gun, even though he had no training on the weapon.
Who is Doris Miller?
This woman invented an improved device for laser cataract surgery and was the first African-American woman doctor to receive a patent for a medical purpose in 1988.
Who is Patricia Bath?
This female African American Writer is best known for her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings?
Who is Maya Angelou
This tennis great is still the only black man to win Grand Slam titles at the US Open, the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
Who is Arthur Ashe?
This Civil Rights Lawyer became the first African American Supreme Court Justice in 1961.
Who is Thurgood Marshall?
This famous Underground Railroad participant was a former slave who made multiple trips to rescue other slaves and became the first woman to lead an expedition during the Civil War when she helped free over 700 slaves at Combahee Ferry.
Who is Harriet Tubman?
This computer scientist helped create the IBM Personal Computer back in 1981 and holds 3 of the 9 patents for it. He was also the first African American to become an IBM Fellow in 1995.
Who is Mark Dean?
This former slave was a great orator who spent a great deal of his time in Massachusetts and published 3 autobiographies of his life including, Narrative of the Life of __________, an American Slave in 1845
Who is Frederick Douglas?
This is the birth name of boxing legend Muhammad Ali, who was able to win a Heavyweight title despite missing 3 years due to his refusal to accept being drafted into the army during the Vietnam War.
Who is Cassius Clay?
This man was the first black man elected to be the mayor of a major city, winning the election to be the mayor of Cleveland in 1967.
Who is Carl Stokes?
The 369th Infantry regiment, an all black regiment during WWI, was given this nickname, mainly due to most of them originally being part of the New York National guard.
What are the Harlem Hellfighters?
This African American Surgeon and Medical Researcher was the first to be able to successfully separate Plasma from blood, allowing for blood to be stored for much longer than previously allowed.
Who is Charles Drew?
This female African American author won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for her novel Beloved, a story about former African American slaves living in Cincinnati after the Civil War.
Who is Toni Morrison?
This Negro Leage star pitcher still holds the record for the oldest debut in Major Leage baseball history, at the age of 42, and the oldest player in Major Leage baseball history, when he was still playing at the age of 59.
Who is Satchel Paige?
This woman became the first female African American in the US House of Representatives in 1969 and would also become the first black candidate to run for a major party nomination for the Presidency in 1972.
Who is Shirley Chisholm?
This former slave was the leader of a group of slaves who were able to steal a confederate transport ship during the Civil War, bringing it to Union forces, along with valuable information that allowed them to capture Coles Island a week later.
Who is Robert Smalls?
This man created the Smoke Hood, the predecessor to the gas masks used in World War I, and showed them off in a rescue of trapped workers and rescuers after a tunnel explosion under Lake Erie on July 24th 1916.
Who is Garrett Morgan?
This African American social activist and poet is known as the leader of the Harlem Renaissance and one of the inventors of the art form called Jazz poetry.
Who is Langston Hughes?