African American History AFJROTC

Lena Horne

African American jazz and pop music singer, dancer, actress, and civil rights activist whose career spanned over 70 years appearing in film, television, and theater.

Dr Charles Drew

African American surgeon and researcher who organized America's first large-scale blood bank

Frederick Douglas

African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman

Mahalia Jackson

American gospel singer. Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she was referred to as "The Queen of Gospel"

Dizzy Gillespie

American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader who was one of the leading developers of the bebop movement

Oprah Winfrey

American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist, her talk show was the highest-rated television program of its kind in history

Dr Jocelyn Elders

American pediatrician and public health administrator. She was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the first African American appointed as Surgeon General of the United States

Jackie Robinson

American professional baseball second baseman who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era

Claudette Colvin

Arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus in segregated Montgomery, Alabama, nine months prior to Rosa Parks' famous arrest for the same offense.

Dr Ben Carson

As a pioneer in neurosurgery, he performed the only successful separation of conjoined twins joined at the back of the head

Sidney Poitier

Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat. In 1964, he became the first first black actor to win an Academy Award for Best Actor

Jack Johnson

Became the first african american heavyweight boxing champion

Elijah McCoy

Canadian-American inventor and engineer who was notable for his 57 U.S. patents, most having to do with the lubrication of steam engines.

Bill Russell

Centerpiece for the Boston Celtics dynasty, he has won the more NBA titles than anyone else at a record 11

John Lewis

Chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) was one of the "Big Six" leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington--He is now a U.S. Representative for Georgia's 5th congressional district,

Gen Benjamin Davis Jr

Commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen. He was the first African-American general officer in the United States Air Force.

Rebecca Lee Crumpler

First african american woman to become a physician in the US

Thurgood Marshall

Founded the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and successfully argued the landmark Brown v Board of Education case before the Supreme Court, before becoming nominated as an Associate Justice.

Marie Van Brittan Brown

Inventor and originator of the home security system

Jim Brown

Running back for the Cleveland Browns, considered by most as the best running back ever in the NFL

Tiger Woods

This american athlete has won the second most major titles in golfing history

Michelle Howard

U.S. military officer who was the first woman to become a four-star admiral in the U.S. Navy and first African American woman to captain a U.S. naval ship

Gen Chappie James

an American fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force, who in 1975 became the first African American to reach the rank of Four-Star General.

Eugene Bulliard

first African-American military pilot

Charles Bolden

former Administrator of NASA, a retired United States Marine Corps Major General, and a former NASA shuttle pilot

Madame CJ Walker

he first black millionairess in America, invented the world's first hair-straightening formula.

A Phillip Randolp

leader in the Civil Rights Movement, the American labor movement, and socialist political parties. In 1925, he organized and led the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first predominantly African-American labor union.

Dr Daniel Hale Williams

one of the first physicians to perform open-heart surgery in the United States and founded a hospital with an interracial staff.

Garrett Morgan

saved lives by inventing an early version of the gas mask and a new form of traffic signal.

George Washington Carver

world-famous chemist who made important agricultural discoveries and inventions. His research on peanuts, sweet potatoes, and other products helped poor southern farmers vary their crops and improve their diets