Ruby Bridges was the first African American child to desegregate the all-white William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana during the New Orleans school desegregation crisis on November 14, 1960. She was six years old at the time. Despite intimidation and...

Ida B. Wells was an African American journalist, abolitionist and feminist who led an anti-lynching crusade in the United States in the 1890s. She owned the newspaper The Memphis Free Speech and Headlight and was a vocal critic of segregated schools. Later, she became...

As you stroll the cookie aisle in the grocery, the familiar yellow box filled with chocolate chip cookies that says Famous Amos Cookies was created by Wally Amos. He first began selling cookies in 1975, after receiving some start-up money from several close friends,...

Dr. Patricia Bath, an ophthalmologist and laser scientist, was not only the first female African-American doctor to patent a medical device but also the first person to invent a surgery that greatly advanced treatment for cataracts. Dr. Bath invented the Laserphaco...

Robinson became the first Black person to anchor the nightly network news in 1978. Robinson got his start in 1959 when he was hired to read the news at a station in Portsmouth, Virginia. The station owner hired him as a news-reader but was told he couldn’t show his...

Before Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Keith Richards, Elvis, or Johnny Cash strummed their guitars, or banged out a melody on the piano, Sister Rosetta Tharpe created a musical style that would take the world by storm. Hailed as the godmother of rock and roll, Tharpe is...

Madam C.J. Walker Madam C.J. Walker was the first Black female millionaire in America. She made her fortune by creating a homemade line of hair care products for Black women. Born Sarah Breedlove, she was inspired to create hair products after experiencing a scalp...