Viola Desmond: Black Canadian Civil Rights Pioneer
Civil rights pioneer, Viola Desmond, was a Black-Canadian businesswoman who was jailed and fined in 1946 for refusing to give up her seat in the...
Category : Black Firsts
Prince Hall: The Father of Black Masonry
“… for they know that they dare not face you man for man, but in a mob.” Prince Hall was an African American abolitionist, who...
Patrice Lumumba: The Best Son of Africa
Patrice Lumumba, was the first legally elected Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He became a legend in his own life...
Thurgood Marshall: A Civil Rights Hero
Thurgood Marshall was an African-American lawyer, civil rights activist and the first African American member of the Supreme Court. As an attorney, Marshall successfully argued...
Benjamin Oliver Davis, Sr.: The First Black General of the U.S. Army
Benjamin Oliver Davis, Sr., was the first African-American general for the U.S. Army. His army career dated from the Spanish-American war to World War ll....
Robert Allen Cole: A Pioneering Black Composer
Robert Allen “Bob” Cole (July 1, 1868 – August 2, 1911) was an African-American composer, actor, playwright, and stage producer and director, who influenced the...
York: The Black Explorer
Born into the Maafa (Atlantic trafficking and captivity) in the early 1770s, York was the only African-descended member of the Lewis and Clark expedition and...
Walter Moses Burton: The first Black elected sheriff in the United States
Walter Moses Burton holds the distinction of being the first Black elected sheriff in the United States. Burton was also a State Senator in Texas....
Vicente Guerrero: The First Black President in North America
Vicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña ( August 10, 1782 – February 14, 1831), the Mexican national hero was the first Black president in North America, when...
Janet Harmon Bragg
Janet Harmon Bragg was an American amateur aviator. She was the first African-American woman to hold a Commercial Pilot Licence. Janet Harmon was born Jane...