Harriet E. Wilson: The first female African-American novelist
Harriet E. Wilson is considered the first female African-American novelist, as well as the first African American of any gender to publish a novel on...
Category : Black Firsts
Rose Fortune: Pioneer Black Canadian Businesswoman
Rose Fortune (March 13, 1774-February 20, 1864), a Black Loyalist originally from the US, is best-known for her talent as a businesswoman at a time...
Blanche Kelso Bruce: African American Senator during the 19th Century
[dropcap size=small]B[/dropcap]lanche Kelso Bruce was the first African American to serve a full term in the U.S. Senate, representing Mississippi as a Republican from 1875...
Augusta Savage: African-American Sculptor
“I have created nothing really beautiful, really lasting, but if I can inspire one of these youngsters to develop the talent I know they possess,...
William Sanders Scarborough: The first African American classical scholar
[dropcap size=small]W[/dropcap]illiam Sanders Scarborough is generally thought to be the first African American classical scholar. Born into slavery, Scarborough became a world-respected scholar of Greek...
John “Black” Caesar: Australia’s First Bushranger
John Caesar (1764 – 15 February 1796), nicknamed ‘Black Caesar’ was the first Australian bushranger and one of the first people of recent African descent...
Moneta Sleet Jr.: The Pulitzer Prize-winning Photojournalist
Moneta Sleet Jr. was the Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist, best remembered for his photograph of Coretta Scott King and her daughter at the funeral of the...
Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler: The first Black woman awarded a medical degree in the United States
“I early conceived a liking for, and sought every opportunity to relieve the suffering of others.” [dropcap size=small]R[/dropcap]ebecca Davis Lee Crumpler, was the first African-American...
Frederick Bruce Thomas: The Black Russian
Frederick Bruce Thomas also known as Fyodor Fyodorovich Tomas was an African American who led an extraordinary life in Russia and later, Constantinople (now known...
Peter Hill: The First African-American Clockmaker
Peter Hill was the first known African American clockmaker, and the only Black clockmaker known to have worked in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth...