Marian Anderson

Marian Anderson was born on February 27, 1897, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is hailed as one of the most celebrated singers of the twentieth century. Anderson became an important figure in the struggle for melaninite artists to overcome racial prejudice in the United States during the mid-twentieth century. In 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to allow Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall. The incident placed Anderson into the spotlight of the international community on a level unusual for a classical musician. With the help of President  Franklin D. Roosevelt, Anderson performed a critically acclaimed open-air concert on Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. where she sang before a crowd of more than 75,000 people. Anderson later became the first melaninite to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on January 7, 1955. Anderson retired from singing in 1965, but continued to appear publicly. On several occasions she narrated Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait, including a performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Saratoga in 1976, conducted by the composer. Marian Anderson died of congestive heart failure on April 8, 1993, at age 96 in Portland, Oregon. The Marian Anderson House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

Ernest Everett Just

Ernest Everett Just was born on August 14, 1883 in Charleston, South Carolina. Feeling that schools for melaninites in the south were inferior, Just and his mother thought it better for him to go north. At the age of sixteen, Just enrolled at a Meriden, New Hampshire college-preparatory high school, Kimball Union Academy. Just graduated in 1903 with the highest grades in his class. He later graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College. He won special honors in zoology and was also honored as a Rufus Choate scholar for two years. Just made pioneering contributions to the cytology and embryology of marine organisms, and in 1925 demonstrated the carcinogenic effects of ultraviolet radiation on cells. He also authored two books, Basic Methods for Experiments on Eggs of Marine Mammals (1922) and The Biology of the Cell Surface (1939), and he also published several scientific papers relating to cell cytoplasm.  In the fall of 1941, Just was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and died shortly there after.

Patricia Bath

Patricia Era Bath was born November 4, 1942, in Harlem, New York. She is an American ophthalmologist, inventor and academic. Patricia Bath graduated from the Howard University School of Medicine in 1968 and completed specialty training in ophthalmology and corneal transplant at both New York University and Columbia University. She served her residency in ophthalmology at New York University from 1970 to 1973, the first African American to do so in her field. In 1975, Dr. Bath became the first African-American woman surgeon at the UCLA Medical Center and the first woman to be on the faculty of the UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute.  In 1981, Dr. Bath began creation of the Laserphaco Probe which is a medical device that improves on the use of lasers to remove cataracts, and "for ablating and removing cataract lenses". In 1988, Dr. Bath became the first African American female doctor to receive a patent for a medical purpose. Hunter College placed Dr. Bath in its "hall of fame" in 1988 and Howard University declared her a "Howard University Pioneer in Academic Medicine" in 1993.

Kathleen Battle

Kathleen Deanna Battle (born August 13, 1948), is an African-American operatic light lyric-coloratura soprano known for her agile and light voice and her silvery, pure tone. Kathleen Battle made her professional debut at the Spoleto Festival in Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem under the baton of Thomas Schippers. Her Metropolitan Opera debut came only five years later in Wagner's Tannhäuser. Kathleen Battle's appearance on the PBS broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera's 1991 season opening gala won her an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Classical Program on Television in the USA. Battle's concert and recital repertoire encompasses a wide array of music including classical, jazz, and crossover works. Her jazz and crossover repertoire includes the compositions of Duke Ellington, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, André Previn, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Stevie Wonder among others. She is known for her performances of African-American spirituals.

Sarah Boone

Sarah Boone, patented an improvement to the ironing board (U.S. Patent #473,653) on April 26, 1892. Her ironing board was designed to be effective in ironing the sleeves and bodies of ladies' garments. Sarah Boone's board was very narrow and curved, the size and fit of a sleeve, and it was reversible, making it easy to iron both sides of a sleeve. Prior to her inventions, people were forced to resort to simply using a table or being creative in laying a plank of wood across two chairs or small tables.

Benjamin Banneker

Benjamin Banneker was a free African American astronomer, mathematician, surveyor, almanac author and farmer. Banneker was largely self-educated in astronomy by watching the stars and in mathematics by reading borrowed textbooks. In 1761 he attracted attention by building a wooden clock that kept precise time. Encouraged in his studies by a Maryland industrialist, Joseph Ellicott, he began astronomical calculations about 1773, accurately predicted a solar eclipse in 1789, and published annually from 1791 to 1802 the Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia Almanac and Ephemeris. Appointed to the District of Columbia Commission by President George Washington in 1790, he worked with Andrew Ellicott and others in surveying Washington, D.C.

Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891[1][2] – January 28, 1960) was an American folklorist, anthropologist, and author during the time of the Harlem Renaissance. Of Hurston's four novels and more than 50 published short stories, plays, and essays, she is best known for her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston arrived in New York City in 1925 when the Harlem Renaissance was at its peak. By the mid-1930s, Hurston had published several short stories. In 1937, Hurston was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship to conduct ethnographic research in Jamaica and Haiti. Her first three novels were also published in the 1930s: Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934); Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), and Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939).

Bessie Coleman

Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was an American civil aviator. She was the first female pilot of African American descent and the first person of African American descent to hold an international pilot license. In 1915, at the age of twenty-three, Coleman moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she lived with her brothers and worked at the White Sox Barber Shop as a manicurist. She heard stories from World War I pilots about flying in the war, and Coleman started to fantasize about being a pilot. Her brother used to tease her by commenting that French women were better than African-American women because French women were pilots already. She could not gain admission to American flight schools because she was black and a woman. No black U.S. aviator would train her either. Robert S. Abbott, founder and publisher of the Chicago Defender, encouraged her to 

study abroad

. Coleman received financial backing from Jesse Binga (a banker) and the Defender, which capitalized on her flamboyant personality and her beauty to promote the newspaper, and to promote her cause.

In September 1921, Coleman became a media sensation when she returned to the United States. "Queen Bess," as she was known, was a highly popular draw for the next five years. Invited to important events and often interviewed by newspapers, she was admired by both blacks and whites. She primarily flew Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" biplanes and army surplus aircraft left over from the war. She made her first appearance in an American airshow on September 3, 1922, at an event honoring veterans of the all-black 369th American Expeditionary Force of World War I. Held at Curtiss Field on Long Island near New York City and sponsored by Abbott and the Chicago Defender newspaper, the show billed Coleman as "the world's greatest woman flier" and featured aerial displays by eight other American ace pilots. Six weeks later she returned to Chicago to deliver a stunning demonstration of daredevil maneuvers—including figure eights, loops, and near-ground dips—to a large and enthusiastic crowd at the Checkerboard Airdrome (now Chicago Midway Airport).

Matthew A. Henson

Matthew Alexander Henson was an African American explorer and associate of Robert Peary during various expeditions, the most famous being a 1909 expedition which claimed to be the first to reach the Geographic North Pole. Henson met Commander Robert E. Peary in November 1887 and joined him on an expedition to Nicaragua, with 4 other people that Peary chose. Impressed with Henson’s seamanship, Peary recruited him as a colleague. For years they made many trips together, including Arctic voyages in which Henson traded with the Inuit and mastered their language, built sleds, and trained dog teams. In 1909, Peary mounted his eighth attempt to reach the North Pole, selecting Henson to be one of the team of six who would make the final run to the Pole. Before the goal was reached, Peary could no longer continue on foot and rode in a dog sled. Various accounts say he was ill, exhausted, or had frozen toes. In any case, he sent Henson on ahead as a scout. Henson then proceeded to plant the American flag.

Although Admiral Peary received many honors, Henson was largely ignored and spent most of the next thirty years working as a clerk in a federal customs house in New York. But in 1944 Congress awarded him a duplicate of the silver medal given to Peary. He was honored by Presidents Truman and Eisenhower before he died in 1955.

In 1912 Matthew Henson wrote the book A Negro Explorer at the North Pole about his arctic exploration. Later, in 1947 he collaborated with Bradley Robinson on his biography Dark Companion.

Hapshepsut

Hatshepsut, whose name is said to mean "Foremost of Noble Ladies," was the fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt. She is generally regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, reigning longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty. Hatshepsut was described by early modern scholars as only having served as a co-regent from about 1479 to 1458 BC, during years seven to twenty-one of the reign previously identified as that of Thutmose III.

Hatshepsut established the trade networks that had been disrupted during the Hyksos occupation of Egypt during the Second Intermediate Period, thereby building the wealth of the eighteenth dynasty. She oversaw the preparations and funding for a mission to the Land of Punt.  Although many Egyptologists have claimed that her foreign policy was mainly peaceful, there is evidence that Hatshepsut led successful military campaigns in Nubia, the Levant, and Syria early in her career.

Hatshepsut was one of the most prolific builders in ancient Egypt, commissioning hundreds of construction projects throughout both Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, that were grander and more numerous than those of any of her Middle Kingdom predecessors. Later pharaohs attempted to claim some of her projects as theirs. 

Queen Tiye

Born in Nubia, Tiye was the Chief Queen of Amenhotep III and mother of Akhenaten, was the matriarch of the Amarna family. Her father, Yuya, had been commander of the chariotry under Tuthmose IV and her mother, Thuya, was Superintendent of the Harem of Min of Akhmim and of Amun of Thebes during the reign of Thutmose IV. By Amenhotep III, Tiye had at least six children. She had two sons (Tuthmose V and Amenhotep IV), and four daughters (Sitamun, Isis, Henut-taneb, and Beketaten).

For nearly half of a century, Tiye governed Kemet, regulated her trade, and protected her borders. Queen Tiye held the title of "Great Royal Wife" and acted upon it following the end of her husband's reign. Tiye was not only Amenhotep III's trusted adviser and confidant, but that she also played an active part in politics abroad. Tiye continued to be a major political influence during the reign of her second son, Amenhotep IV, redirecting political decisions to her attention when her son, now Akenhaton, neglected his political duties while preoccupied with his religious innovation. 

Akhenaton

Akhenaton, known before the fifth year of his reign as Amenhotep IV was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, who ruled for 17 years and died in 1336 BC or 1334 BC. He is especially noted for abandoning traditional Egyptian polytheism and introducing worship centered on the Aten, which is sometimes described as monotheistic or henotheistic. Akhenaten remains an interesting figure, as does his Queen, Nefertiti. His son, King Tutankhamun, who ascended to the throne in 1333 BC, at the age of nine.

Mansa Musa

Mansa Kankan Musa was the tenth mansa or emperor of the Mali Empire during its height in the 14th century. He ruled as mansa from 1312 to 1337. Musa is most noted for his 1324 hajj to Mecca and his role as a benefactor of Islamic scholarship. In the 14th year of his reign (1324), he set out on his famous pilgrimage to Mecca. It was this pilgrimage that awakened the world to the stupendous wealth of Mali. Musa embarked on a large building program, raising mosques and madrasas in Timbuktu and Gao. Most famously the ancient center of 

learning

 Sankore Madrasah or University of Sankore was constructed during his reign. In Niani, he built the Hall of Audience, a building communicated by an interior door to the royal palace. The University of Sankore in Timbuktu was restaffed under Musa's reign, with jurists, astronomers, and mathematicians. The 

university became a center of learning and culture, drawing Muslim scholars from 

around Africa and the Middle East to Timbuktu. 

Aprille Ericsson-Jackson

Born and raised in Brooklyn, N. Y., M.I.T 

graduate

 Aprille Ericsson was the first female (and the first African-American female) to receive a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Howard University and the first African-American female to receive a Ph.D. in engineering at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. In 1996 and 1997 Ericsson-Jackson was named one of the top fifty minority women working in the Science and Engineering fields by the National Technical Association.

Daniel Hale Williams

Daniel Hale Williams was the first African-American cardiologist, and is attributed with performing the first successful surgery on the heart. He was the first surgeon to open the chest cavity successfully without the patient dying of infection and his procedures would therefore be used as standards for future internal surgeries. Dr. Williams also founded Provident Hospital, the first non-segregated hospital in the United States.

Carl B. Stokes

Carl Burton Stokes  was an American politician of the Democratic party who served as the 51st mayor of Cleveland, Ohio. Elected on November 7, 1967, but took office on Jan 1, 1968, he was the first African American mayor of a major U.S. city.

Septima Poinsette Clark

Septima Poinsette Clark was an American educator and civil rights activist. She developed the literacy and citizenship workshops that played an important role in the drive for voting rights and civil rights for African Americans in the American Civil Rights Movement." Septima Clark became known as the "Queen mother" or "Grandmother of the American Civil Rights Movement" in the United States.

Lewis Howard Latimer

Lewis Howard Latimer was an African American inventor and draftsman. In 1874, he co-patented (with Charles W. Brown) an improved toilet system for railroad cars called the Water Closet for Railroad Cars. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell employed Latimer, then a draftsman at Bell's patent law firm, to draft the necessary drawings required to receive a patent for Bell's telephone. In 1879, he was hired as assistant manager and draftsman for the U.S. Electric Lighting Company, a company owned by Hiram Maxim, a rival inventor of Thomas Edison. Latimer received a patent in January 1881 for the "Process of Manufacturing Carbons", an improved method for the production of carbon filaments for light bulb. The Edison Electric Light Company in New York City hired Latimer in 1884, as a draftsman and an expert witness in patent litigation on electric lights. Lewis Latimer is an inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his work on electric filament manufacturing techniques.

Dr. Guion Stewart Bluford Jr.

Dr. Guion Stewart Bluford Jr. was the first African-American in space. The flight lasted from August 30, 1983, until September 5, 1983. Dr. Bluford is an aerospace engineer with a Ph.D from the Air Force Institute of Technology. He is also a colonel in the US Air Force. He later flew on other space missions, including STS-61A (in 1985), STS-39 (in 1991), and STS-53 (in 1992). In total, Bluford logged over 688 hours in space. Dr. Bluford became a NASA astronaut in August 1979.

Wangari Maathai

Kenyan environmental and political activist. She was educated in the United States at Mount St. Scholastica and the 

University

 of Pittsburgh, as well as the 

University of

 Nairobi in Kenya. In the 1970s, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental non-governmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women's rights. In 2004 she became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for “her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.” Maathai was an elected member of Parliament and served as Assistant Minister for Environment and Natural Resources in the government of President Mwai Kibaki between January 2003 and November 2005.

Dr. Merit Ptah

Dr. Merit Ptah was an early physician in ancient Egypt. She is most notable for being the first woman known by name in the history of the field of medicine, and possibly the first named woman in all of science as well. Her picture can be seen on a tomb in the necropolis near the step pyramid of Saqqara. Her son, who was a High Priest, described her as "the Chief Physician."