Did you know:
Rosa Parks is credited with helping to spark the Civil Rights movement when she refused to give up her public bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama—the lesser known Claudette Colvin was arrested nine months prior for not giving up her bus seat to white passengers.
Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist who became the most visible spokesperson and leader in the Civil Rights Movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He improvised the most iconic part of his “I Have a Dream Speech.”
Bessie Coleman was an early American civil aviator. She was the first African-American woman and first Native-American to hold a pilot license.
George Washington Carver developed 300 derivative products from peanuts; among them cheese, milk, coffee, flour, ink, dyes, plastics, wood stains, soap, linoleum, medicinal oils and cosmetics.
Thurgood Marshall was the first African American ever appointed to the United States Supreme Court. He served on the court from 1967 to 1991.
Dr. Mae Jemison became the first African American woman to go into space aboard the space shuttle Endeavor.
Barack Obama became the first African-American president in U.S. history. He occupied the White House for two consecutive terms, serving from 2009 to 2017.
Madam C. J. Walker invented a line of African American hair care products and was the first African-American self-made millionaire.
Lewis Latimer was an American inventor and patent draftsman of the incandescent light bulb which enabled electric lighting to be installed within homes and throughout streets.
Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play Major League Baseball in 1947. He led the league in stolen bases that season and was named Rookie of the Year.
Kamala Harris became the first woman of African or Asian descent to become vice president, the highest-ranking female elected official, in U.S. history on January 20, 2021.
