Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner
Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner was an African-American inventor who created several life-changing devices. Learn about her groundbreaking inventions and legacy.
Reuben Ruby
Learn about the life and legacy of Reuben Ruby, a prominent 19th-century African American leader, abolitionist, and entrepreneur.
Paul Laurence Dunbar
Explore the life and triumphs of Paul Laurence Dunbar, an influential African American poet and writer who overcame racial barriers and left a lasting impact on American literature through his powerful works, despite battling racism and personal hardships.
Mary Ellen Pleasant
Mary Ellen Pleasant was a self-made millionaire and leading abolitionist who rose to fame and suffered infamy in San Francisco.
McKinley Thompson Jr
McKinley Thompson Jr broke the color barrier as the first black American to work for a major auto manufacturer when Ford Motor Company hired him in 1956.
Hot Springs and Blacks
During the Jim Crow segregation era, a coveted spa city named Hot Springs was home to black employees who served in white bathhouses and helped stoke the city's fame.
Captain Robert Smalls
Robert Smalls was born into slavery in 1839 but escaped with his family and a crew of other enslaved persons during the American Civil War. He eventually became a sea captain, a politician, businessman, and publisher.
Black on the RMS Titanic
Although various media have recounted the sinking of the Titanic over several decades, most accounts neglect to feature the only black family that sailed aboard her in second-class accommodations.
Paul Cuffee
Paul Cuffee spearheaded the first back-to-Africa movement in the U.S. at the turn of the nineteenth century and became the first free black American to meet with a sitting president at the White House.
Gold Fever
The discovery of gold in California brought white enslavers and the enslaved, immigrants from foreign nations, and many freeborn blacks from the Northeast who mined for the precious metal with varying degrees of success.
Wilma Rudolph
Wilma Rudolph, a track and field athlete, made history in 1960 by becoming the first American woman to compete in a single Olympics and win three gold medals.
Nora Douglas Holt
Nora Douglas Holt was a scholar of music who composed more than 200 original pieces. She became the first black person to earn a Master of Music degree in the U.S.
Paul Revere Williams
Orphaned at a young age and discriminated against for the color of his skin, Paul Revere Williams became one of the most renowned architects in history.
Jews and Black Schools
When Adolph Hitler rose to power in 1933 and set Jewish Scholars in his sights, many American colleges and universities refused to employ them, but not historically black ones.
Maggie Lena Walker
Maggie Lena Walker was among the foremost black business leaders of the early twentieth century. She also founded one of the longest-lived black-owned banks in U.S. history.
Daniel Hale Williams
Daniel Hale Williams was a pioneer in the medical field. He opened the first black-owned hospital in the United States and, in 1893, performed one of the first successful open-heart surgeries in the world.
The Black Fives
While baseball had the Negro Leagues, amateur and professional basketball had the Black Fives, consisting of all-black teams that played the sport well before the NBA was formed and integrated.
Rosa L. Dixon
Rosa L. Dixon spent nearly a lifetime as an educator. She rose to become an influential civic leader and educational reformer in Virginia.
Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins
Thomas Wiggins was a black composer and pianist who promoters billed as “Blind Tom.” While he could only speak a few words, he was likely an autistic savant given his extraordinary abilities and musical skills.