The People Who Paved the Way

Trailblazers

Pioneers, barrier-breakers, and history-makers who changed what's possible.

All A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Valerie Thomas

Valerie LaVerne Thomas invented the illusion transmitter in 1980 — a device that uses concave mirrors to create three-dimensional optical illusions of remote objects. The technology, patented by NASA, laid groundwork for advancements in 3D imaging, holographic television, and surgical visualization. Thomas spent over three decades at NASA as a data analyst and project manager, […]

Victor Glover

Science & Technology

Victor Jerome Glover Jr. is a NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy test pilot who was the first Black crew member on a long-duration mission aboard the International Space Station, serving as pilot of SpaceX Crew-1 from November 2020 to May 2021. He spent 168 days in space and conducted four spacewalks, becoming only the third […]

Viola Davis

Arts & Culture

The first Black woman to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting — an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony — Viola Davis has brought a ferocious, unforgettable power to every role and shattered every ceiling in her path.

Viola Ford Fletcher

Civil Rights & Activism

Viola Ford Fletcher was the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre — a witness to the destruction of Black Wall Street who spent the last years of her life demanding justice for what was taken from her community. She was seven years old when a white mob attacked the Greenwood District, burning […]

Virgil Abloh

Arts & Culture

Virgil Abloh became the first Black American to serve as artistic director of a major French fashion house when Louis Vuitton appointed him to lead its menswear division in 2018. He was an architect, DJ, designer, and cultural polymath who dissolved the boundaries between streetwear and high fashion, proving that a Black kid from Rockford, […]

Vivien Thomas

Science & Technology

Vivien Thomas developed the surgical technique that saved thousands of “blue babies” — infants dying from a heart defect that starved their blood of oxygen. He did this without a medical degree, without a college degree, working as a lab technician at Johns Hopkins while being classified and paid as a janitor. Thomas partnered with […]

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