Frances Ellen Watkins Harper: The Mother of African American journalism
Frances E.W. Harper was a leading African-American poet and writer. She was also an ardent activist in the abolitionist and women’s rights movements. Harper had...
Tag : Black Firsts
Learie Constantine – West Indian Cricket Legend and first Black man to be appointed to the House of Lords
Learie Nicholas Constantine, Baron Constantine, Kt. was a West Indian cricket legend, barrister, author, broadcast journalist and political activist who served as Trinidad’s High Commissioner...
Jakob Marengo: National Hero of Namibia
Jakob Marenga (also known as Jacob Morenga), is a national hero of Namibia. Marenga, which means King in Otjiherero, was an early resistance hero of...
George Wells Parker: A forgotten historian
George Wells Parker was an African-American political activist and historian who co-founded the Hamitic League of the World, to promote African pride and black economic...
Jesse Owens: Olympic Legend
Jesse Owens achieved what no Olympian before him had accomplished, and was recognized in his lifetime as “perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in...
Euphemia Lofton Haynes: The first African-American woman to gain a PhD in mathematics.
Euphemia Lofton Haynes was an American mathematician and educator. In 1943, she became the first African-American woman to gain a PhD in mathematics. Euphemia Lofton...
Josephine Silone Yates: The first Black woman to hold a full professorship
Josephine Silone Yates was an African American teacher, journalist and clubwoman, who was the first African American certified to teach in the public schools of...
Henry E. Baker: The First Chronicler of African American inventors
Henry Edwin Baker, Jr. was the third African American to enter the United States Naval Academy. He later served as an assistant patent examiner in...
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...
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....