The Greatest Black Achievers in History
Harry Belafonte
First Black person in entertainment history to win an Emmy Award
Harry Belafonte was the first Black person in entertainment history to win an Emmy Award in 1960. Six years earlier, the actor, singer, and activist also became the first Black man to win a Tony Award. Belafonte also made a breakthrough in music outside of his acting career, introducing Trinidadian Caribbean music to a more mainstream audience.
Lena Horne
Singer, actress & civil rights activist
Lena Horne was a singer, actress, civil rights activist, and one of the top Black performers of her time. She often refused roles that portrayed racial stereotypes to better Black representation in Hollywood. Horne appeared on Broadway in more than 300 performances of her show “Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music,” among her many accomplishments during a 70-year career. In 1958, Horne became the first woman of Black ancestry to be nominated for a Best Actress in a Musical Tony Award for her role in the musical “Jamaica.”
Oprah Winfrey
Denzel Washington
Second Black man to win a Best Actor Academy Award
The second Black man to win a Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in “Training Day” in 2001, Denzel Washington has made his mark in entertainment history and broke barriers with his powerful on-screen portrayals. He has been described as an actor who reconfigured “the concept of classic movie stardom” by film historian Donald Bogle. Some of his most notable films include “Glory,” “Remember the Titans,” “Philadelphia,” “Malcolm X,” “He Got Game,” and “Fences,” which he directed.
Diahann Carroll
First Black actress to star in the prime-time TV
In 1968, Diahann Carroll made television history as the first Black actress to star in the prime-time TV series “Julia,” portraying a Black woman in a non-stereotypical way—as a character that was not the usual domestic worker. Popular shows like “Dynasty,” “The Hollywood Palace,” and “The Love Boat” all made Carroll a household name throughout the ’70s. In 1974, she received an Oscar Best Actress nomination for her work in “Claudine,” a film she appeared in with James Earl Jones.
Ossie Davis
Civil rights activist and broadway star
A civil rights activist and broadway star, Ossie Davis is well known for his Broadway performances and outspoken politics for the Black community. Davis hit his break playing a role in Broadway’s “A Raisin in the Sun” and was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 1994. He is also well known for raising money in the ’60s for the Freedom Riders’ cause.
Anika Noni Rose
Anika Noni Rose is known for voicing Princess Tiana, Disney’s first Black animated princess in the film “The Princess and the Frog,” which came out in 2009, the same year Barack Obama, the country’s first Black president, was inaugurated. It was coincidental but timely. Her film career includes the role of Lorrell Robinson in “Dreamgirls”; she won a Tony Award for best featured actress in a musical for “Caroline, or Change”; and was nominated for a Tony Award for her appearance in a revival of “A Raisin in the Sun.”
Martin Luther King Jr.
One of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African-American president of the United States. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.
John Lewis
A legend in his own time, Lewis was a prolific civil rights leader and activist. As a student, Lewis closely followed the Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka trial, which ruled the “separate-but-equal” education system unconstitutional. While the ruling was favorable, he was frustrated by the lack of change in his daily life. Still, he was spurred to create the change he sought by the words of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Montgomery Bus Boycotts, which swayed the supreme court’s decision to desegregate buses.
Using his skills as a leader and activist, John Lewis ran for Atlanta City Council and was later elected to the House of Representatives. During his time as a congressman, Lewis worked tirelessly to advocate for easily accessible healthcare, education, and poverty-fighting initiatives. If you’d like to honor the memory of John Lewis, consider supporting your local library! Growing up as a Black child in the segregated South, he wasn’t allowed a library card, which doubled his resolve to make libraries and other educational resources available for all.
Nelson Mandela
First president of South Africa & anti-apartheid activist
Social rights activist, politician, and one of the most admired leaders worldwide, Nelson Mandela, was imprisoned for 27 years for his efforts to end South African apartheid. After his release, he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work and was elected to become the first Black South African president.
In 1962, Nelson Mandela was arrested after organizing a three-day national strike. Despite the government’s attempts to squash Mandela’s influence, he became not just the symbol of the anti-apartheid movement but the symbol of resistance itself. Twenty-seven years later, with the people’s resolve as strong as ever and the nation on the verge of civil war, President F. W. de Klerk recognized the only way to begin to heal the scars of apartheid was to free the man who helped galvanize the movement. He inspired a generation to rise up, rid themselves of tyranny and reclaim their country, and his name is sung in celebration and hope all over the world.
Shirley Chisholm
Malcolm X
Dr. Charles DeWitt Watts
African-American surgeon and activist for the poor
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams
Mary Eliza Mahoney
Dr. James McCune Smith
Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler
First African American female to earn a medical degree, 1864 (New England Female Medical College, Boston). Note: Controversial with Rebecca J. Cole, (1846-1922) who received a medical degree from Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1867.
Jack Johnson
After becoming the first black heavyweight boxing champion, Jack Johnson faced the undefeated white boxer James Jeffries in 1910. Before they met in the ring, Jeffries took a personal jab at Johnson saying that he was “going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a Negro.” But in the 15th round of their match, Jack knocked his opponent out and handed Jeffries the first loss of his career. The result triggered riots across the U.S. #talkischeap #getoffme
Johnson was one of the first celebrity athletes, with a lucrative side career endorsing various products; he was also famous for dating white women. In 1913, he was convicted on trumped up charges of transporting a woman across state lines for “immoral purposes,” and after living in exile for 7 years, returned to the U.S. and served 10 months in prison. Efforts continue to obtain him a posthumous presidential pardon.
Frederick “Fritz” Pollard
Jesse Owens
Charlie Sifford
Considering the sideways racism black golfers have to put up with today, one can only imagine what early pioneers like Charlie Sifford went through. Early in his golf career, Sifford could compete solely in tournaments organized by his fellow black golfers, but he wanted more. He attempted to qualify for the 1952 Phoenix Open by using an invitation he received from boxer Joe Louis. While there, Sifford received death threats. He continued to play, and joined the PGA Tour in 1961. He went on to play in 422 tournaments, with 51 top 10 finishes, including wins at the 1967 Greater Hartford Open and the 1969 Los Angeles Open.
Jackie Robinson
Althea Gibson
Muhammad Ali
Arthur Wharton
John Taylor
Alice Coachman
Coachman was a dominant amateur competitor, winning 10 consecutive national championships in the high jump from 1939 to 1948. She also captured national championships in the 50- and 100-meter dash, along with the 400-meter relay while a student at the Tuskegee Institute. At the 1948 Olympic Games, she captured the gold in the high jump and became the only American woman to medal at the games. It was an overdue honor, as the cancellations of the 1940 and 1944 Olympics due to World War II caused her to miss the chance at both international competition and a much larger place in history.
Harriet Tubman
W.E.B. Du Bois
American sociologist and civil rights activist.
Rosa Parks
Mother of the Civil Rights Movement
Ernestine Eckstein
Dorothy Height
Marie Van Brittan Brown
Garrett Morgan
With only an elementary school education, Black inventor (and son of an enslaved parent), Garrett Morgan came up with several significant inventions, including an improved sewing machine and the gas mask. However, one of Morgan’s most influential inventions was the improved traffic light. Morgan’s was one of the first three-light systems that were invented in the 1920s, resulting in widespread adoption of the traffic lights we take for granted today.
Sarah Boone
The ironing board is a product that’s used possibly just as much as it’s overlooked. In the late 19th century, it was improved upon by Sarah Boone, an African American woman who was born enslaved. One of the first Black women in U.S. history to receive a patent, she expanded upon the original ironing board, which was essentially a horizontal wooden block originally patented in 1858. With Boone’s 1892 additions, the board featured a narrower and curved design, making it easier to iron garments, particularly women’s clothing. Boone’s design would morph into the modern ironing board that we use today.
