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George Washington Williams
George Washington Williams was an American Civil War soldier, Baptist minister, politician, lawyer, journalist, and writer on African-American history. In the late 1880s, Williams turned his interest to Europe and Africa. -
Anna J. Cooper
Anna Julia Haywood Cooper was an American author, educator, sociologist, speaker, Black Liberation activist, and one of the most prominent African-American scholars in United States history. -
Delilah L. Beasley
Delilah Leontium Beasley, was an American historian, and newspaper columnist for the Oakland Tribune, Oakland, California, US. Beasley becomes the first African-American woman to be published regularly in a major metropolitan newspaper. -
W.E.B. DuBois
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, author, writer and editor. He co-founded the NAACP in 1909. -
Carter G. Woodson
Carter G. Woodson was an American historian, author, journalist and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. He was one of the first scholars to study African-American history. -
Georgia Douglas Jones
Georgia Blanche Douglas Camp Johnson, better known as Georgia Douglas Johnson, was an African-American poet, one of the earliest African-American female playwrights, and an important participant in the Harlem Renaissance. -
William Wells Brown
William Wells Brown was a prominent African-American abolitionist lecturer, novelist, playwright, and historian in the United States. Born into slavery in Montgomery County, Kentucky, near the town of Mount Sterling, Brown escaped to Ohio in 1834 at the age of 20. -
Lorenzo Greene
Dr. Lorenzo Johnston Greene was an American educator who taught history at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri from 1933 to 1972. His book, Missouri’s Black Heritage, co-authored by Antonio Holland and Gary Kremer, was a pioneering work on the African-American experience in Missouri. -
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong, nicknamed Satchmo, Satch, and Pops, was an American trumpeter, composer, vocalist and occasional actor who was one of the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s, and different eras in the history of jazz. -
Langston Hughes
James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. He moved to New York City as a young man, where he made his career. He was one of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry. -
Lois Mailou Jones
Loïs Mailou Jones was an influential artist and teacher during her seven-decade career. Jones was one of the most notable figures to attain notoriety for her art while living as a black expatriate in Paris during the 1930s and 1940s. Her career began in textile design before she decided to focus on fine arts. -
John Baxton Taylor Jr.
John Baxter Taylor Jr. (November 3, 1882, Washington, D.C. – December 2, 1908, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was an American track and field athlete, notable as the first African American to win an Olympic gold medal. -
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was an American jazz singer sometimes referred to as the First Lady of Song, Queen of Jazz, and Lady Ella. She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. -
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt Robinson was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947. -
Earl Lloyd
Earl Francis Lloyd was an American professional basketball player and coach. He was the first black player to have played a game in the National Basketball Association. Lloyd was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. -
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou was an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. -
Lerone Bennett Jr.
Lerone Bennett Jr. was an African-American scholar, author and social historian, known for his analysis of race relations in the United States. His best-known works include Before the Mayflower and Forced into Glory, a book about U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. -
Wilma Rudolph
Wilma Glodean Rudolph was an American sprinter from Clarksville, Tennessee, who became a world-record-holding Olympic champion and international sports icon in track and field following her successes in the 1956 and 1960 Olympic Games. -
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin was an American singer, songwriter, civil rights activist, actress, and pianist. Franklin began her career as a child singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father C. L. Franklin was minister. -
Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. A child prodigy, Wonder is considered to be one of the most critically and commercially successful musical performers of the late 20th century. Stevie Wonder was discovered blind at birth -
Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. is an American literary critic, teacher, historian, filmmaker and public intellectual who currently serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. -
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American singer, songwriter and dancer. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century and one of the greatest entertainers of all time. -
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan, also known by his initials, MJ, is an American former professional basketball player. He played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association for the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards. He was the greatest player of all time. -
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur, also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest hip hop artists of all time. -
Serena WIlliams
Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player. The Women's Tennis Association ranked her world No. 1 in singles on eight separate occasions between 2002 and 2017. She reached the No. 1 ranking for the first time on July 8, 2002. -
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American to be elected to the presidency. He previously served as a Senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008.
