Trailblazers

A. Philip Randolph

Civil Rights & Activism

Asa Philip Randolph spent twelve years fighting the Pullman Company before winning recognition for the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1937 — the first major labor victory for Black workers in American history. But that was only the beginning. Randolph would go on to pressure Franklin Roosevelt into desegregating the defense industry, push Harry […]

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A.G. Gaston

Business & Entrepreneurship

Arthur George Gaston was a Birmingham business titan who built an empire spanning insurance, banking, real estate, construction, and media — all within a segregated economy. Born in 1892 to former sharecroppers, he turned 500 dollars into a fortune worth over 130 million by the time of his death at 103. His philosophy was simple: […]

A’ja Wilson

Sports

A’ja Wilson is the most dominant player in women’s basketball — a force of nature who has redefined what is possible in the WNBA. As a forward/center for the Las Vegas Aces, she has won two WNBA championships, two Finals MVP awards, and three regular season MVP awards, putting her in conversation with the greatest […]

Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

Politics & Law

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was the most powerful Black politician in America for two decades — a Harlem congressman who chaired the House Education and Labor Committee and pushed through more progressive legislation than any committee chairman of his era. Under his leadership, the committee passed over 60 pieces of landmark legislation, including the minimum […]

Alex Haley

Literature

The author of Roots — Alex Haley traced his family's lineage back to Africa and gave millions of Americans, Black and white, their first real understanding of the horror and resilience of the enslaved experience.

Alexis Herman

Politics & Law

Alexis Margaret Herman became the first African American Secretary of Labor in 1997, appointed by President Bill Clinton. She brought to the role a lifetime of work connecting marginalized communities to economic opportunity. Growing up in Mobile, Alabama during the civil rights era, Herman was deeply shaped by watching her father — a local political […]

Alice Walker

Literature

Alice Malsenior Walker won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1983 for The Color Purple — the first Black woman to win the award — and in doing so brought the interior lives of Black women to the center of American literature. The novel, told through letters written by a poor Black woman named Celie […]

Alicia Garza

Civil Rights & Activism

Alicia Garza wrote the Facebook post that launched the Black Lives Matter movement. On July 13, 2013, after George Zimmerman was acquitted for the killing of Trayvon Martin, Garza wrote what she called “a love letter to Black people” that ended with the words: “Our lives matter, Black lives matter.” Her friend Patrisse Cullors turned […]

Althea Gibson

Sports

Althea Gibson broke the color barrier in tennis a decade before Arthur Ashe. In 1956, she became the first Black player to win a Grand Slam title at the French Open. She won Wimbledon and the U.S. National Championships in both 1957 and 1958. Growing up in Harlem, Gibson was a restless kid who found […]

Alvin Ailey

Arts & Culture

Alvin Ailey created one of the most beloved works in the history of American dance — Revelations, a thirty-six-minute ballet set to Negro spirituals that has been seen by more people worldwide than any other modern dance performance. First performed in 1960, Revelations transformed the grief and glory of the Black church into movement so […]

Amanda Gorman

Literature

The youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history — Amanda Gorman electrified the nation at President Biden's inauguration with "The Hill We Climb" and became the voice of a generation at age 22.

Amy Sherald

Arts & Culture

Amy Sherald became a household name in 2018 when her portrait of First Lady Michelle Obama was unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery — a stunning, larger-than-life painting that depicted Obama in a geometric Milly dress against a sky-blue background, her skin rendered in Sherald’s signature grisaille gray. The portrait drew record crowds and fundamentally […]

André Leon Talley

Arts & Culture

André Leon Talley was the most influential Black person in the history of fashion — a larger-than-life figure who served as editor-at-large of Vogue for over a decade and whose encyclopedic knowledge of fashion history, imposing six-foot-six frame, and dramatic personal style made him an icon. He was Anna Wintour’s right hand, a front-row fixture […]

Angel Reese

Sports

Angel Reese — “Bayou Barbie” — plays basketball with an intensity and swagger that has made her one of the most talked-about athletes in America. As a forward for the Chicago Sky, she has brought a relentless rebounding style and magnetic personality that draws fans who have never watched a WNBA game before. Her rivalry […]

Angela Davis

Civil Rights & Activism

Angela Yvonne Davis became one of the most recognizable faces of radical politics in America when, at 26, she appeared on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list in 1970. A scholar, activist, and Communist Party member, Davis was charged with conspiracy in connection with a courthouse siege in Marin County, California. Her arrest, imprisonment, and […]

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Ann Lowe

Arts & Culture

Ann Lowe designed the most famous wedding dress in American history — Jacqueline Bouvier’s gown for her 1953 marriage to John F. Kennedy — but was not credited for the work because she was Black. For decades, the dress was attributed to “a colored dressmaker” if Lowe was mentioned at all. She was the first […]

Anna Julia Cooper

Education

Anna Julia Haywood Cooper was a scholar, educator, and activist who in 1892 published A Voice from the South — one of the first works of Black feminist theory — and in 1925 became the fourth Black American woman to earn a Ph.D., receiving her doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris at the age of […]

Annie Easley

Science & Technology

Annie Jean Easley was a computer scientist, mathematician, and rocket scientist at NASA who helped develop the software that powered the Centaur rocket — the high-energy upper stage that launched communication satellites, weather satellites, and interplanetary probes including the Cassini mission to Saturn. She was one of the first Black employees at what would become […]

Annie Malone

Business & Entrepreneurship

Annie Turnbo Malone was a millionaire, philanthropist, and beauty industry pioneer who built one of the first Black-owned corporations in America — years before Madam C.J. Walker, who actually trained under Malone before starting her own competing business. Malone’s Poro Company, founded in 1900 in St. Louis, sold hair care products and cosmetics for Black […]

Aretha Franklin

Music

Aretha Louise Franklin — the Queen of Soul — sang with an authority that could shake the foundations of a building and a tenderness that could break your heart in the same breath. Her 1967 version of “Respect” became the anthem of both the civil rights and women’s movements, transforming Otis Redding’s plea into a […]

Arthur Ashe

Sports

The first Black man to win the U.S. Open, Australian Open, and Wimbledon — Arthur Ashe broke tennis's color barrier with grace, intelligence, and a quiet fire for justice.

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August Wilson

Arts & Culture

August Wilson wrote the American Century Cycle — ten plays, one for each decade of the twentieth century, each set in a different period of the Black American experience. It is one of the most ambitious and accomplished achievements in the history of American theater. Wilson won two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama, for Fences in […]

Augusta Savage

Arts & Culture

Augusta Christine Fells Savage was the sculptor who shaped the Harlem Renaissance — both literally and figuratively. As an artist, she created powerful busts and figures that celebrated Black beauty and dignity. As a teacher and advocate, she opened doors for an entire generation of Black artists, founding the Savage Studio of Arts and Crafts […]

Aurora James

Arts & Culture

Aurora James created the 15 Percent Pledge in 2020, calling on major retailers to dedicate 15 percent of their shelf space to Black-owned businesses — reflecting the fact that Black people make up approximately 15 percent of the U.S. population. The pledge was adopted by Sephora, Macy’s, Nordstrom, West Elm, and other major retailers, channeling […]