Trailblazers

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Robert F. Smith

Business & Entrepreneurship

The wealthiest African American in history — Robert F. Smith built a private equity empire and stunned the world when he pledged to pay off the student loan debt of an entire graduating class at Morehouse College.

Robert L. Johnson

Business & Entrepreneurship

Robert Louis Johnson founded BET — Black Entertainment Television — in 1980 and built it into the first cable network targeting Black audiences, eventually selling it to Viacom in 2001 for approximately $3 billion. The sale made him the first Black billionaire in American history. BET changed the media landscape by proving that Black audiences […]

Robert Smalls

Politics & Law

An enslaved man who commandeered a Confederate warship and sailed his family to freedom — Robert Smalls became a war hero, businessman, and U.S. Congressman.

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Robin Roberts

Media & Entertainment

Robin René Roberts is co-anchor of Good Morning America — the most-watched morning news program in America — and one of the most trusted journalists in the country. She has anchored the show through some of the most significant news events of the twenty-first century while also publicly battling two life-threatening illnesses: breast cancer in […]

Romare Bearden

Arts & Culture

Romare Howard Bearden transformed the art of collage into a vehicle for telling the Black American story with unmatched visual poetry. His works — vibrant assemblages of cut paper, photographs, fabric, and paint — capture the rhythms of jazz, the rituals of the rural South, the energy of Harlem, and the spiritual depth of Black […]

Rosa Parks

Civil Rights & Activism

The mother of the civil rights movement — Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama sparked a revolution that changed America forever.

Ruby Bridges

Civil Rights & Activism

Ruby Nell Bridges was six years old when she walked through a screaming mob of white protesters to become the first Black child to integrate an all-white elementary school in the Deep South. On November 14, 1960, flanked by four federal marshals, she walked into William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans and into history. […]

Ruby Dee

Media & Entertainment

Ruby Dee was an actress, poet, playwright, and civil rights activist whose career spanned eight decades and whose talent was matched only by her courage. She appeared in the original Broadway production of A Raisin in the Sun, the landmark film adaptation alongside Sidney Poitier, and continued working until she was 91, earning an Academy […]

Ruth Carter

Arts & Culture

Ruth E. Carter is the most acclaimed costume designer in Hollywood history and the first Black person to win the Academy Award for Best Costume Design — which she won twice, for Black Panther in 2019 and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever in 2023. Her work doesn’t just dress characters; it builds worlds, blending African traditions, […]

Ryan Coogler

Media & Entertainment

Ryan Kyle Coogler directed Black Panther — the highest-grossing film by a Black director in history and a cultural event that transcended cinema. The 2018 Marvel film grossed $1.35 billion worldwide and was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning three. It proved that a film centered on Black characters, Black culture, and African aesthetics could […]

Sammy Davis Jr.

Media & Entertainment

Samuel George Davis Jr. was the greatest entertainer of the twentieth century — a singer, dancer, actor, comedian, and impressionist whose talent was so transcendent that he broke through racial barriers in nightclubs, on Broadway, in Hollywood, and on television at a time when Black performers were expected to entertain white audiences and then leave […]

Satchel Paige

Sports

Leroy Robert “Satchel” Paige was the most dominant pitcher in the history of the Negro Leagues and one of the greatest athletes America has ever produced — yet he was barred from Major League Baseball until he was 42 years old. When he finally got his chance in 1948, signing with the Cleveland Indians, he […]

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Septima Clark

Education

The mother of the civil rights movement's Citizenship Schools — Septima Clark taught thousands of Black Southerners to read so they could register to vote, building the movement's grassroots foundation.

Serena Williams

Sports

The greatest tennis player of all time — Serena Williams won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, redefined athleticism, and proved that a Black girl from Compton could dominate the most exclusive sport in the world.

Sha’Carri Richardson

Sports

Sha’Carri Richardson runs with fire — literally, her signature orange hair streaming behind her as she blazes down the track with a style and power that has captivated the world. She became the fastest woman in America and proved that setbacks are temporary when she won the 100-meter gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, […]

Sheila Johnson

Business & Entrepreneurship

Sheila Crump Johnson became the first Black female billionaire in America when BET — the cable network she co-founded with her then-husband Robert Johnson — was sold to Viacom in 2001 for $3 billion. But her story didn’t end with BET. She went on to build Salamander Hotels & Resorts, a luxury hospitality brand, and […]

Shirley Ann Jackson

Science & Technology

The first African American woman to earn a doctorate from MIT — Shirley Ann Jackson's research in theoretical physics led to breakthroughs that made caller ID, portable fax machines, and fiber optic technology possible.

Shirley Chisholm

Politics & Law

The first Black woman elected to the United States Congress and the first woman and African American to seek a major party nomination for President — Shirley Chisholm was unbought and unbossed.

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Shirley Raines

Civil Rights & Activism

Shirley Raines was the founder of Beauty 2 the Streetz, a nonprofit organization that provides haircuts, manicures, meals, and love to the homeless population of Los Angeles’s Skid Row. Every week, Raines and her volunteers set up salon stations on the sidewalk and offered unhoused people not just basic services but dignity — washing hair, […]

Shonda Rhimes

Media & Entertainment

Shonda Lynn Rhimes is the most powerful showrunner in television history — a writer and producer whose shows have dominated prime-time television for two decades and who single-handedly changed what mainstream American audiences would watch, accept, and celebrate. Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, Bridgerton, and Inventing Anna represent a body of […]

Sidney Poitier

Arts & Culture

Sidney Poitier became the first Black man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1964 for “Lilies of the Field.” In an era when Hollywood offered Black actors only stereotypes, Poitier demanded and embodied dignity — on screen and off. Born in Miami and raised in the Bahamas, Poitier moved to New York […]

Simone Biles

Sports

The most decorated gymnast of all time — Simone Biles has won 37 World and Olympic medals, performed skills no woman has ever attempted, and showed the world that protecting your mental health is the ultimate act of strength.

Simone Manuel

Sports

Simone Manuel became the first Black woman to win an individual Olympic gold medal in swimming when she touched the wall first in the 100-meter freestyle at the 2016 Rio Olympics. She tied for gold with a time of 52.70 — an Olympic record. Growing up in Sugar Land, Texas, Manuel was acutely aware that […]

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Music

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was the godmother of rock and roll — a gospel singer and guitarist whose performances in the 1930s and 40s laid the groundwork for Chuck Berry, Elvis, and Little Richard. She was shredding on an electric guitar before the instrument was common in popular music. Her 1944 hit Strange Things Happening Every […]