Black History Month

Frederick Douglass

(1817-1895) American abolitionist and writer, he escaped slavery and became a leading African American spokesman and writer. He published his biography, The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, and founded the abolitionist newspaper, the North Star.

Dr. Charles Drew

- African american physician - first director of american red cross

Ta-Nehisi Coates

-Author of "Case for Reparations" and "Between the World and me"

Malcolm X

1952; renamed himself X to signify the loss of his African heritage; converted to Nation of Islam in jail in the 50s, became Black Muslims' most dynamic street orator and recruiter; his beliefs were the basis of a lot of the Black Power movement built on separationist and nationalist impulse sto achieve true independence and equality

Shirley Chisolm

1968, First African American woman elected to Congress

W.E.B. DuBois

1st black person to earn Ph.D. from Harvard, encouraged blacks to resist systems of segregation and discrimination, helped create NAACP in 1910

Barack Obama

2008; Democrat; first African American president of the US, health care bill; Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster; economy: huge stimulus package to combat the great recession, is removing troops from Iraq, strengthened numbers in Afghanistan; repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell; New Start treaty with Russia

Jackie Joyner-Kersee

A famous African American track and field athlete she won 3 gold 1 silver and 2 bronze Olympic medals

Nelson Mandela

ANC leader imprisoned by Afrikaner regime; released in 1990 and elected as president of South Africa in 1994.

Muhammad Ali

African American Boxer who started the phrases "I am the greatest" and "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee"

George Washington Carver

African American farmer and food scientist. His research improved farming in the South by developing new products using peanuts.

Ida B. Wells

African American journalist. published statistics about lynching, urged African Americans to protest by refusing to ride streetcars or shop in white owned stores

Langston Hughes

African American poet who described the rich culture of african American life using rhythms influenced by jazz music. He wrote of African American hope and defiance, as well as the culture of Harlem and also had a major impact on the Harlem Renaissance.

Jesse Owens

African American who won 4 gold medals at Olympic games in Germany under Hitler (a blow to Nazi notions of a master race).

Katherin Johnson

African American woman known for producing most of the math that got NASA astronauts to the moon

Zora Neale Hurston

African American writer and folklore scholar who played a key role in the Harlem Renaissance

Gordon Parks

African American writer of "American Gothic" 1942

Maya Angelou

African-American autobiographer and poet, Poet-Laureate of the United States

Thurgood Marshall

American civil rights lawyer, first black justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. Marshall was a tireless advocate for the rights of minorities and the poor.

Madame C.J. Walker

American entrepreneur who developed hair products especially for black women and built the most successful company owned by an African American at that time.

Chinua Achebe

Author of Things Fall Apart, the most widely read novel to emerge from twentieth-century Africa.

Stevie Wonder

Blind African American piano player and musician.

Cudjo Lewis

Born a slave, Zora Neal Hurston wrote a book about his experience

Duke Ellington

Born in Chicago middle class. moved to Harlem in 1923 and began playing at the cotton club. Composer, pianist and band leader. Most influential figures in jazz.

Stokely Carmichael

Coined the phrase "black power" and led SNCC away from a nonviolent approach.

Sideny Poitier

First African American man to win an oscar for acting

Raye Montague

First African American woman to study engineering in college and went on to revolutionize (change) Naval ship design. First person in history to design a ship on a computer

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

First Female President of Liberia

Hattie McDaniels

First black actress to win Best Supporting Actress Gone with the Wind

Frank Peterson

First black general in the United States marines

Jackie Robsinson

First black major league baseball player

Sadie Mossell Alexander

First black woman to earn a PhD (the highest degree in education) in the United States

Oliver Tambo

Fought apartheid (institutional racism) in South Africa

Carter G. Woodson

Founder of Black History Month

Henrietta Lacks

Her cervical cancer cells were harvested without her or her next of kin's permission or consent. Millions of her cells have been used in research today with no financial compensation to her family.

Benjamin O. Davis Sr

Highest-ranking African American officer in the U.S. military

Usain Bolt

Jamaican athlete known as "the ultimate human running machine"

Marcus Garvey

Jamaican leader during the 1920s who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and advocated mass migration of African Americans back to Africa. Was deported to Jamaica in 1927.

Bob Marley

Jamaican singer who popularized reggae (1945-1981)

Wangari Muta Maathai

Kenyan environmental activist

Nat Turner

Leader of a slave rebellion in 1831 in Virginia. Revolt led to the deaths of 20 whites and 40 blacks and led to the "gag rule' outlawing any discussion of slavery in the House of Representatives

Kofi Annan

Leader of the United Nations from 1997-2007. From Ghana- winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

Booker T. Washington

Prominent black American, born into slavery, who believed that racism would end once blacks acquired useful labor skills and proved their economic value to society, was head of the Tuskegee Institute in 1881. His book "Up from Slavery."

Ruby Bridges

The first African-American girl to go to a white school; she had to have a police escort to get to and from school in New Orleans during integration

Tupac Shakur

This famous "west-coast" rapper was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996. He was known for being an outspoken civil rights activist

Martin Luther King Jr.

U.S. Baptist minister and civil rights leader. A noted orator, he opposed discrimination against blacks by organizing nonviolent resistance and peaceful mass demonstrations. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Nobel Peace Prize (1964)

Sojourner Truth

United States abolitionist and feminist who was freed from slavery and became a leading advocate of the abolition of slavery and for the rights of women (1797-1883)

Harriet Tubman

United States abolitionist born a slave on a plantation in Maryland and became a famous conductor on the Underground Railroad leading other slaves to freedom in the North (1820-1913)

Jesse Jackson

United States civil rights leader who led a national anti-discrimination campaign and ran for presidential nomination (born in 1941)

Rosa Parks

United States civil rights leader who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery (Alabama) and so triggered the national civil rights movement (born in 1913)

Mary McLeod Bethune

United States educator who worked to improve race relations and educational opportunities for Black Americans (1875-1955)

Jimi Hendrix

United States guitarist whose innovative style with electric guitars influenced the development of rock music (1942-1970)

Dred Scott

United States slave who sued for liberty after living in a non-slave state

Toussant L'Ouverture (Haiti)

Was a former slave who lead a slave rebellion in Haiti. Rebellion was against Haiti's colonial Assembly who had resisted French orders that decreed that free property-owners on Haiti should enjoy the same rights as white owners. He and his followers took up arms against the white plantation owners, with the French backing them up. Later, he achieved dominance in Hispanola, there he imposed a constitution on Haiti and made himself Governor-General for life while keeping his ties to the French. Later, Napoleon comes into reign, and distrusting him, sends troops to capture him and execute him.

Michelle Obama

Who was the first African-American woman to become First Lady of the United States?

Beyonce

World famous American musician

Jean-Michel Basquiat

an artist born in NY, of a Haitian + Puerto Rican descended, who started as a graffiti artist

John H. Johnson

founded Ebony and Jet magazines

John Lewis

student leader of SNCC - the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who organized sit-ins, spoke in Washington, & marched in Selma

Bessie Coleman

the first African-American woman to receive a pilot's license and the first to become a stunt pilot

Linda Brown

the young girl who was refused enrollment at her neighborhood grade school because of her skin color which led to the famous Supreme Court case which ended segregation in public schools