Althea Gibson: Queen of Tennis
“I Always Wanted to Be Somebody.” Althea Gibson was the first African American tennis player to win a Grand Slam title (the French Open). In...
Category : Black Firsts
Joseph Douglass: The Black concert violinist
Joseph Douglass (1871–1935) was a groundbreaking African-American concert violinist. He was the grandson of abolitionist Frederick Douglas; and was widely viewed as Douglass’s favorite grandchild....
Arthur B. C. Walker, Jr.: The African American physicist who helped develop solar telescopes
[dropcap size=small]A[/dropcap]rthur Bertram Cuthbert Walker, Jr. was an African American physicist and educator who helped develop solar telescopes used in 1987 to capture the first...
Muhammad ibn Tumart: The First Leader of the Almohads
Muhammad ibn Tumart (ca. 1080–1130) was a North African religious reformer who founded the Almohad movement in North Africa. His organisation of Berber warriors helped...
George Bonga: African American fur trader
George Bonga was a fur trader of African-American and Native American heritage, and one of the first African Americans born in what is now Minnesota....
Amelia Boynton Robinson: The Queen of Selma
“My idea, my belief, my intention is for the United States of America to be known as a UNITED States,” Amelia Platts Boynton Robinson is...
Henrietta Vinton Davis: Lady Commander Order of the Nile
Henrietta Vinton Davis was a Shakespearean actor and public speaker. She was proclaimed by Marcus Garvey to be “the greatest woman of the [African] race”....
Bridget “Biddy” Mason: From Bondage to Wealth
Bridget “Biddy” Mason was an African-American nurse and a Californian real-estate entrepreneur and notable philanthropist. Mason who was born into the Maafa (slavery) become free...
Dr. Molefi Kete Asante: The Distinguished Afrocentric Scholar
Dr. Molefi Kete Asante is one of the most distinguished contemporary scholars. Asante is known for his writings on Afrocentricity, a school of thought that...
Richard Ihetu: One of the greatest fighters to come out of Africa
Richard “Tiger” Ihetu was one of the greatest boxers to come out of Africa. He made history in 1962 when he won the world middleweight...