Prior to 1976, Black History Week invited all Americans to celebrate the rich culture of African Americans and learn about African American inventors, scientists, athletes, and entertainers that made history. It has since been expanded to being recognized throughout the entire month of February.
Here are 8 important African American figures that made history you may or may not already be aware of:
1. Shirley Chisholm - The first black female U.S. Representative (NY – 1969-83) and first black major-party candidate to run for President of the United States in the (1972).
2. Robert Johnson – First black billionaire (2001) and founder and former owner of B.E.T. – Black Entertainment Television.
3. Toni Morrison – famous African American author and first black to receive the Noble Peace Prize for Literature (1993).
4. Jackie Robinson – first African American Major League Baseball player – Brooklyn Dodgers (1947).
5. Guion Bluford – American Aerospace Engineer and first African American to go to space – NASA’s Challenger STS-8 (1983).
6. Daniel Hale Williams – African American general surgeon and first person in the world to ever perform pericardium (heart) surgery (1893).
7. Barack Obama – First black President of the Harvard Law Review and later, the first black President of the United States (2008).
8. Garrett Morgan – African American inventor with most notable developments being the traffic light and gas mask. He lived between 1877 and 1963.
