Notable People in Black History

Alice Walker, born February 9, 1944, is an author, poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender. She is best known for the critically-acclaimed novel, The Color Purple, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Alexis Herman. Born: July 16, 1947 in Mobile, Alabama. She was the 23rd U.S. Secretary of Labor, serving under President Bill Clinton. Prior to her appointment, she was Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

Bill Russell. Born February 12, 1934. He is a retired professional basketball player who played center for the Boston Celtics. A five-time winner of the NBA Most Valuable Player Award and a twelve-time All-Star, Russell was the centerpiece of the Celtics dynasty that won eleven NBA Championships during Russell's thirteen-year career.

Charlayne Hunter-Gault, born February 27, 1942, is a journalist and former foreign correspondent for National Public Radio, and the Public Broadcasting Service. In 1961, Athens, Ga., she witnessed part of the civil rights movement when she and Hamilton Holmes became the first two African American students to enroll in the University of Georgia. Upon her graduation in 1963, she became the university's first black graduate.

Charlie Sifford, June 2, 1922, is a retired professional golfer. He was the first African-American to play the PGA and the first to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. In 2006, he received an honorary degree from the University of St Andrews as a Doctor of Laws. He also received the 2007 Old Tom Morris Award from the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, GCSAA's highest honor.

Chubby Checker. Born Ernest Evans; October 3, 1941 is a singer-songwriter. He is widely known for popularizing the twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard's R&B hit The Twist. In September 2008 The Twist topped Billboard's list of the most popular singles to have appeared in the Hot 100 since its debut in 1958.

Douglas Wilder, born January 17, 1931, is a politician, the first African American to be elected as governor of Virginia, and the first to serve as governor of a U.S. state.

Doug Williams. Born August 9, 1955. He is a former football quarterback and head football coach of the Grambling State University Tigers. Williams is best known for his MVP performance in Super Bowl XXII with the Washington Redskins.

Eunice W. Johnson, April 4, 1916 - January 3, 2010, was the creator of the Ebony Fashion Fair, a celebrated annual tour of nearly 200 cities that has showcased haute couture and ready-to-wear fashion for a mostly African-American audience for more than 50 years. The fair has raised more than $55 million for civil rights groups, hospitals, community centers and scholarships.

Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth. March 18, 1922 – October 5, 2011, was a U.S. civil rights activist who led the fight against segregation and other forms of racism as a minister in Birmingham, Alabama. He was a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was instrumental in the 1963 Birmingham Campaign, and continued to work against racism and for alleviation of the problems of the homeless in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he took up a pastorate in 1961.

Gabby Douglas, December 31, 1995, is a gymnast. As a member of the U.S. Women's Gymnastics team at the 2012 Summer Olympics, she won gold medals in both the individual all-around and team competitions. Douglas is the first woman of color and the first African-American gymnast in Olympic history to become the individual all-around champion, and the first American gymnast to win gold in both the individual all-around and team competitions at the same Olympics as well as being the only American all-around champion to win multiple gold medals. She was also a member of the gold-winning U.S. team at the 2011 World Championships.

Hazel O'Leary, born May 17, 1937, was the seventh United States Secretary of Energy, from 1993 to 1997, appointed by President Bill Clinton. She is the first and only woman and first and only African American to hold the position. Since 2004 she has served as president of Fisk University, an historically black college.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr., born September 16, 1950, is a literary critic, educator, scholar, writer, editor, and public intellectual. He was the first African American to receive the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship. He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards for his teaching, research, and development of academic institutions to study black culture.

Herb Jeffries, born September 24, 1913, was a jazz and popular singer and actor. Jeffries is noted for being the first black man to star in an American western. He starred as a singing cowboy in several all-black Western films, in which he sang his own western compositions. Jeffries obtained financing for the first black western film.

James H. Meredith, June 25, 1933, is a civil rights movement figure, a writer, and a political adviser. In 1962, he was the first African American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi, an event that was a flashpoint in the American civil rights movement.

Jarome Iginla, born July 1, 1977, is a professional ice hockey player for the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League. A six-time NHL All-Star, he is the Flames' all-time leader in goals, points, and games played, and is second in assists to Al MacInnis. Named the Flames captain at the start of the 2003–04 season, Iginla was the first black captain in NHL history.

Johnnetta B. Cole, PhD, born October 19, 1936, was the first African American female president of Spelman College from 1987-1997. She was president of Bennett College from 2002-2007. She is currently serving as director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art.

Katherine Dunham, June 22, 1909 – May 21, 2006, was a dancer, choreographer, songwriter, author, educator, and activist. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in American and European theater of the 20th century and has been called the matriarch and queen mother of black dance.

Mae Jemison. Born October 17, 1956 is a physician and NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992.

Dana Owens, March 18, 1970, better known as Queen Latifah, is a rapper, actress, and singer. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy Award nomination and an Academy Award nomination. Latifah is a celebrity spokesperson for CoverGirl cosmetics, Curvation ladies underwear, Pizza Hut and Jenny Craig.

Dr. Ralph Bunche, August 7, 1903 - December 9, 1971, was a political scientist and diplomat who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation in Palestine. He was the first person of color to be so honored in the history of the Prize. In 1963, he received the Medal of Freedom from President John F. Kennedy.

Ronald McNair, Ph.D. October 21, 1950 – January 28, 1986. He was a physicist and NASA astronaut. McNair was selected as one of thirty-five applicants from a pool of ten thousand for the NASA astronaut program. He flew on STS-41-B aboard Challenger in February 1984, as a mission specialist becoming the second African American to fly in space. McNair died during the launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger on mission STS-51-L.

Sam Cooke, January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964, was a gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music. He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocal abilities and influence on the modern world of music.

Shani Davis, August 13, 1982, is a speed skater. At the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, Davis became the first black athlete to win a gold medal in an individual Winter Games sport -- 1,000 m -- and the fifth black Winter Olympics medalist. He also won the silver in the 1,500 m. At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, he became the first man to successfully defend his title in the 1,000 meters.

Suzanne de Passe, born July 19, 1948, is a television, music and film producer as well as the Co-Chairman of de Passe Jones Entertainment Group. Ms. de Passe has lectured at the Harvard Business School on several occasions.

Thomas Dorsey, July 1, 1899 - January 23, 1993, is known as the father of gospel music. In 2002, the Library of Congress honored his album Precious Lord: New Recordings of the Great Songs of Thomas A. Dorsey, by adding it to the United States National Recording Registry.

Wilma Rudolph. June 23, 1940 – November 12, 1994. She was an athlete who was considered the fastest woman in the world in the 1960s and competed in two Olympic Games, in 1956 and in 1960. In the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, she became the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field during a single Olympic Games.

Wally Amos, July 1, 1936, is an actor and writer. He is the founder of the Famous Amos chocolate chip cookie brand. He later co-founded Uncle Wally's muffins. He currently runs the Chip and Cookie gourmet cookie brand and store.

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Notable People in Black History

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