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Dr. Mae Jemison
In 1992, Dr. Mae Jemison became the first Black woman to go into. Prior to her career in space,
she founded served as a doctor in the
Peace Corps and after her time in
space, she founded an organization
that provided space camps for
students. She has been a trailblazer
across the STEM world. -
Toni Morrison
She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, the first Black woman to earn the honor. Morrison graduated from Howard University in 1953 with a B.A. in English. She earned a master's degree in American Literature from Cornell University in 1955. Morrison had begun writing fiction as part of an informal group of poets and writers at Howard University who met to discuss their work. And In 1987, Morrison published her most celebrated novel, Beloved. -
Carol Moseley Braun
She becomes the first Black woman, and only the second Black American, to be elected to the U.S. Senate. The Democrat representing Illinois was the first woman to serve on the Finance Committee, and after losing her bid for a second term, was named the U.S. ambassador to New Zealand by President Bill Clinton and became the second Black woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000. -
Lonnie Bristow
He was appointed president of the American Medical Association and is the first Black person to hold the position. -
Rosa Parks
She was riding a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama when the driver told her to give up her seat to a white man. Parks refused and was arrested for violating the city’s racial segregation ordinance. Four days after Parks’ arrest, an activist organization called the Montgomery Improvement Association. the great majority of Montgomery’s Black citizens supported the bus boycott, its impact was immediate. -
Lee Patrick Brown
He was elected mayor of Houston, the first Black person to hold such a position. He is reelected twice to serve three terms—the maximum allowed—from 1998 to 2004. -
Serena Williams
She won the U.S. Open Women’s Singles Tennis Championship at the U.S. Open. Williams is the first Black woman to reach such an achievement since Althea Gibson won in 1958. -
Colin Powell
He was appointed the first Black secretary of state by George W. Bush, receiving unanimous confirmation and eventually serving four years in the position. -
Condoleezza Rice
She takes office as the first Black woman secretary of state, also serving under George W. Bush for four years. -
Barack Obama
He is elected the 44th president of the United States, becoming the nation's first Black American to lead the nation. A Harvard Law School graduate, Illinois state senator and U.S. senator serving Illinois, he is reelected in 2012. -
Colin Kaeperick
A quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, took a knee during the national anthem for the first time before a game with the San Diego Chargers. He pledges to donate $1 million to help stop police brutality and the oppression of Black people and people of color. Several other players join him in the protest amid mass criticism. -
Kamala Harris
She was sworn in as the first female vice president, also making her the first Black and South Asian American to hold the position. The daughter of immigrants—an Indian mother and Jamaican father—she previously served as the first Black female attorney general of California and was the second Black woman to serve in the U.S. Senate.