| A | B |
|---|
| Nicknames "Satchmo", famous trumpet player, revolutionized jazz. | Louis Armstrong |
| Agruicultural scientist, discoveries taught southerners how to maximize land, invented over 400 peanut and sweet potato products. | Geourge Washington Carver |
| Received his first Academy Award nomination for Cry Freedom, second African American to win an Oscar for Best Actor, starred in Glory and Courage Under Fire. | Denzel Washington |
| Appointed by Geourge Bush to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, organized Operation Desert Storm, and military leader who declined to run for the presidency. | Colin Powell |
| "I KNow Why the Caged Bird Sings" author, gave a briliant reading at Bill Clinton's inauguration. | Maya Angelou |
| Took four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics, tract and field star, watched by Hitler when he defeated Germany's Aryan athletes. | Jesse Owens |
| First African American baseball player to see his team to the World Series, named Rookie of the Year (1947), played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. | Jackie Robinson |
| Founder of the Rainbow Coalition, two-time candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, found PUSH | Jesse Jackson |
| Led Montgomery Bus Boycott, gave famous civil rights speech in Washington, D.C., was assassinated April 4, 1968. | Martin Luther King Jr. |
| Was president of Tuskegee Institute, founded National Negro Business League, and wrote UP From Slavery. | Booker T. Washington |
| First African American woman elected to U.S. Congress, first African American to launch a campaign for a major party presidential nomication, founded National Political congress of Black Women. | Shirley Chisholm |
| Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. Took the gold medal at 1960 Olympics, "Arguable the greatest fighter of all time." | Muhammad Ali |
| First African American woman to speak publicly against slavery, worked with freed slaves and nursed wounded black soldiers, and asked "And ain't I a woman?" | Sojourner Truth |
| Famous jazz pianist, first authentic jazz composer, composed reviews, musicals, an opera, film scores, and television productions. | Duke Ellington |
| Often been called "father of the civil rights movement:, wrote a famous autobiography in 1845, published North Star, an abolitionist newspaper. | Frederick Douglass |
| "Moses" of her people, led some 300 African Americans out of slavery in the South, was a cook, nurse, scout, and spy for the Union Army. | Harriet Tubman |
| In 1940, wrote Native Son became the leading black U.S. author, also wrote Uncle Tom's Children. | Richard Wright |
| Currently holds the world record in the heptathlon, despite having asthma, she has won 3 Olympic medals, started the JJK Community Foundation to develop leadership programs in urban areas. | Jackie Joyner Kersee |
| Nicknamed "Brown Bomber", knocked out Nazi Germany's most prominent fighter, successfully defended his title more times than any other heavy weight in history. | Joe Louis |
| Began the modern civil rights movement, refused to give up her bus seat to a white man, her actions sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycotts. | Rosa Parks |
| His last name signifies the loss of his original last name, founded Muhammad Speaks newspaper, assassinated in Harlem, New York City. | Malcom X |
| Nicknamed "Lady Day", her composition included "God Bless the Child,""Don't Explain," and "Strange Fruit", her autobiography was titled Lady Sings the Blues. | Billy Holiday |
| First African American to write a play to be produced on Broadway, Raisin in the Sun author, playwright who died of cancer in 1965. | Lorraine Hansberry |
| Many believe his case helped bring about the Civil War, was born a slave in rural Virginia around 1795, as a result of his case, slaves continued to be owned by masters, even if they were in territories where slavery was illegal. | Dred Scott |
| The Color Purple author, the film version of her novel was directed by Steven Spielberg, author who urged Clinton to develop better relations with Cuba's President Fidel Castro. | Alice Walker |
| Famous pianist, singer, and bandleader, his trio had the hit "Straighten Up and Fly Right", in 1950, had the No.1 hit "MOna Lisa." | Nat King Cole |
| "The greatest wide reciever of all time," a San Francisco 49er, played football for Mississippi Valley State. | Jerry Rice |
| First black millionaire businesswoman, invented a new hair care process using straightening comb and pomade, marketed a line of cosmetics for black women. | Madame C.J. Walker |
| Perhaps the most famous black female journalist of her time, founded the Alpha Suffrage Club of Chicago. | Ida B. Wells-Barnett |
| Her first big hit was "A Tisket a Tasket," her second hit was "Undecided, " her singing career spanned 60 years. | Ella Fitzgerald |
| Famous for her style, costumes, and flair, at age 18, moved to Paris to dance with La Revue Negre, in 1951, she visited U.S. to perform to rave reviews. | Josephine Baker |
| Created the NAACP's magazine, The Crisis, first African American to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard. | W.E.B. Du Bois |
| World-renowned surgeon, medical scientist, and educator, medical pioneer, who found a way to preserve blood, created the first blood bank and developed a way to efficiently store blood plasma. | Dr. Charles Richard Drew |
| Was banned from singing in Washington's Constitution Hall, gave a memborable concert at the Lincoln Memeorial, first black singer to perform in a production at The Metropolitan Opera in New York. | Marian Anderson |
| Graduated from Brooklyn Law School, First African American mayor of New York City served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean conflict. | David Dinkins |
| Founded the African Methodist Episcopal Church, founded the Free African Religious Society. | Richard Allen |
| First doctor to successfully perform open-heart surgery, even begore operation on John Cornish he was highly regarded as a brilliant surgeon, found the National Medical Association. | Daniel Hale Williams |
| A pioneer in the electric lighting industry, was the only black member of Thomas Edison's team of inventors, his carbon filament creation made the light bulb practical for everyday use. | Lewis Howard Latimer |
| Beloved author, in 1993 won the Nobel Prize for literature; The Bluest eye was her first novel. | Toni Morrison |
| Broke down racial barriers in the game of tennis, first black male to win the United States tennis championship and England's Wimbledon tournament, died from AIDS which infected him after a blood transfusion. | Arthur Ashe |
| One of the first patriots to give his life in the American Revolution, was shot and killed by British soldiers, said "Don't be afraid, Knock'em over, They dare not fire." | Crispus Attucks |
| One of the original writers of the Harlem Renaissance published The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain. | Langstrom Hughes |
| Famous filmmaker, his movies have helped advance the careers of such actors as Wesley Snipes, Samuel L. Jackson, and Denzel Washington. | Spike Lee |
| Popular talk show host and actress, her show was originally "A.M. Chicago." was in the movie The Color Purple. | Oprah |
| First president of the National Association of colored Women, represented black women in the American delegation to the International Congress of Women in Berlin. | Mary Church Terrell |
| Wrote the New York Times bestseller Waiting to Exhale. | Terry McMillan |
| Founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Chose the second week in February as "Negro History Week" which later evolved into "Black History Month." | Dr. Carter G. Woodson |
| By 1920, had grown into one of the nation's favorite blues singers, first record was called "Down Hearted Blues." | Bessie Smith |
| Broke Babe Ruth's all time home run record, out batted such legends as Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and Willie Mays, "I've never tried to make people forget Babe Ruth, I'd just like them to remember." | Hank Aaron |
| Spent most of his life as a very successful trial lawyer, first black member of the United States Supreme Court, convicted the Supreme Court that segregated school systems did not give minority children an equal education. | Thurgood Marshall |
