Lewis Howard Latimer
Lewis Howard Latimer was a black inventor and engineer who contributed to the patenting and improvement of the incandescent light bulb and the telephone.
South-View Cemetery
South-View Cemetery, home to more than 80,000 black Americans who are buried on its grounds, is the first and therefore the oldest black stockholder corporation in the U.S.
Ginger Smock
Ginger Smock was a prominent bandleader, composer, and symphony musician known for her signature horn-like jazz violin renditions.
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable
Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, a Haitian trader, trapper, and pioneer, was not only the first settler of what became Chicago, Illinois but also its founder.
Simone Biles
Simone Biles is the most decorated gymnast in U.S. history, having won more than two dozen Olympic and World Championship medals thus far.
Amanda Gorman
Amanda Gorman is a black American poet and activist. She is the youngest inaugural poet in history and the first-ever national poet laureate.
Derek Jeter
Derek Jeter is a former Major League Baseball baseball player who was a shortstop for the New York Yankees and has since become a Hall of Famer.
Lester Holt
Lester Holt is an American broadcast journalist who in 2015 made history by becoming the first black person to solo anchor a weekday nightly newscast for a major network.
Lauren Underwood
Lauren Underwood is the youngest black Congresswoman to hold office. A former registered nurse with two master’s degrees in public health nursing, she is an advocate for affordable healthcare.
Robert F. Smith
Robert F. Smith is a black American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. He is the founder of the private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, of which he is also chairman and CEO.
Sir Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Hamilton, who received knighthood in 2021, is a black Formula One race car driver with seven world championships to his name.
Rashida Jones
A veteran of MSNBC, Rashida Jones worked her way up from an executive producer and managing editor, to president of the entire cable news network.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason
Sheku Kanneh-Mason is a young British cellist who was the first black person to win BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2016. He also became the first cellist to chart in the UK in the Top 10.
Lauren Simmons
Lauren Simmons made history in 2017 when she was hired as the youngest black floor trader at the New York Stock Exchange.
Stephen Bishop
Born a slave, Stephen Bishop was an early explorer who became the first guide at Mammoth Cave, and his discoveries brought him international recognition.
Matthew Henson
Matthew Henson is the black explorer who is credited as the co-discoverer of the North Pole, along with Robert E. Peary.
Black History Month
A brief history of Black History Month, the annual celebration of black achievement, and recognition of the central role black people have played in shaping U.S. culture and history.
Juneteenth
Originating in Galveston, Texas with the June 19, 1865 announcement of General Order No. 3, former Texas slaves made a celebration out of the date and carried it wherever they migrated.
Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells was an unsung early civil rights leader, suffragist, researcher, and journalist who used her pen in ways that are yet to be rivaled.
Mary Church Terrell
Mary Church Terrell was a black suffragist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century who also advocated for racial equality.