Garrett Morgan opened up a sewing machine and shoe
repair shop in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1907. An innovative
mind, he kept busy creating prototypes to solve many
everyday
 problems. One of his first creations was a liquid that
straightened fabric—which he later sold as a product for
hair straightening.
In 1911, after hearing about the tragic deaths in the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, Morgan invented a
safety hood and smoke protector for firefighters. The
hood, which contained a wet sponge to filter out smoke
and cool the air, became the precursor to the gas mask.
To sell his safety hood, Morgan had to hire a white actor
to pretend to be the inventor.
In 1923, Morgan patented another useful invention: A
hand-cranked mechanical signal machine for traffic
crossing. It would eventually lead to the creation of the
traffic light.
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African-American surgeon
Charles Drew felt called to the
study of medicine after his sister,
Elsie, died of Influenza. He
excelled in medical school, and
became a doctor around the
beginning of World War II. Drew
was recruited to set up a
program for blood storage in
Britain, which laid the
foundation for the American Red
Cross Blood Bank. In 1943, Drew
was chosen as the first AfricanAmerican surgeon to serve as
examiner on the American Board
of Surgery.
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Though Thomas Edison is
recognized as the inventor of
the light bulb, AfricanAmerican inventor Lewis
Latimer played an important
role in its development. In 1881,
Latimer patented a method for
making carbon filaments,
allowing light bulbs to burn for
hours instead of minutes.
Latimer also drafted the
drawings that helped Alexander
Graham Bell receive a patent
for the telephone.
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The 44th and current
president of the United
States, Barack Obama was
born August 4, 1961 in
Honolulu, Hawaii. He was a
civil rights lawyer before
pursuing a political career,
first as Illinois State Senator,
and later as the first AfricanAmerican president of the
United States. President
Obama continues to enact
policy changes in response
to the issues of health care
and economic crisis.

Writer and African American
activist Maya Angelou was
born on April 4, 1928 in St.
Louis, Missouri. Maya
Angelou's five
autobiographical novels were
met with critical and popular
success. Her volume of poetry,
Just Give Me a Cool Drink of
Water 'Fore I Die was
nominated for the Pulitzer
Prize. In 1993, Angelou wrote a
poem for Clinton's
inauguration. In 2008, she
earned a NAACP Award.
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Beyoncé Knowles (b. September
4, 1981) is an American Pop and
R&B singer. Knowles rose to
fame in the late 1990s as the
lead singer of the R&B girl group
Destiny's Child. Knowles is the
only artist in history to have all
her studio albums win the
Grammy Award for Best
Contemporary R&B Album. In
February 2010, the RIAA listed
her as the top certified artist of
the decade.

Born Jan. 15, 1929, Atlanta, Ga.,
U.S.—died April 4, 1968,
Memphis, Tenn.) Baptist minister
and social activist who led the civil
rights movement in the United
States from the mid-1950s until
his death by assassination in
1968. His leadership was
fundamental to that movement's
success in ending the legal
segregation of African Americans
in the South and other parts of
the United States. King rose to
national prominence as head of
the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference,

Thurgood Marshall was an
American jurist and the first
African American to serve on
the Supreme Court of the
United States. Before
becoming a judge, he was a
lawyer who was best
remembered for his high
success rate in arguing before
the Supreme Court and for the
victory in Brown v. Board of
Education. He was nominated
to the court by President
Lyndon Johnson in 1967.

Dubbed the King of Pop, singer-song
writer Michael Jackson was born in
Gary, Indiana on August 29, 1958. As a
child, he was lead singer of the Jackson
family's popular Motown group, The
Jackson 5. Michael Jackson went on to
become one of the most internationally
famous award-winning solo pop
sensations to date. . He made the
charts in 1971 with "Got to Be There"
from the album of the same name. His
1972 album, Ben, featured the
eponymous ballad about a rat. The
song became Jackson's first solo No. 1
single.
Langston Hughes was born
February 1, 1902, in Joplin,
Missouri. He published his first
poem in 1921. He left Columbia
University after one year,
traveling and supporting himself
with odd jobs. His poetry was
later promoted by Vachel
Lindsay, and Hughes published
his first book in 1926. He wrote
poetry, stories, and plays, as well
as a popular column for the
Chicago Defender. He died May
22, 1967.
Bill Cosby was born July 12, 1937,
Philadelphia, Pa. During his
sophomore year, he left college to
entertain as a stand-up comedian.
Cosby's first acting assignment, in
the espionage series I Spy (19651968), made him the first black
actor to perform in a starring
dramatic role on network
television. Cosby's most
successful work, The Cosby Show,
appeared on NBC from 1984 to
1992.
Jesse Owens was born
September 12, 1913, in
Oakville, Alabama. In high
school, he won three track
and field events at the 1933
National Interscholastic
Championships. In 1935,
while competing for Ohio
State University, he equaled
one world record broke three
others. In 1936 he won four
gold medals at the Olympic
Games in Berlin. In 1976 he
received the Presidential
Medal of Freedom.
Born January 31, 1919, in Cairo,
Georgia, Jackie Robinson was
the first African-American to
play major league baseball.
Throughout his decade-long
career with the Brooklyn
Dodgers, he made
advancements in the cause of
civil rights for black athletes. In
1955, he helped the Dodgers
win the World Series. He
retired in 1957, with a career
batting average of .311.
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Jesse Jackson was born October 8,
1941, Greenville, South Carolina.
While an undergraduate, Jackson
became involved in the civil rights
movement. In 1965 he went to
Selma, Alabama, to march with
Martin Luther King, Jr. In the 1980s
he became a leading national
spokesman for African Americans.
After being appointed special envoy
to Africa, he was awarded the 2000
Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Quotes
"We must not measure greatness
from the mansion down, but from the
manger up."
– Jesse Jackson

Born on August 9, 1963, in
Newark, New Jersey, Whitney
Houston released her debut
album at age 22 and scored
three number one singles.
Whitney (1987) delivered four
more number ones and earned
Houston her first Grammy.
With her marriage to singer
Bobby Brown in 1992,
Houston's career got off track.
She made a comeback with
2009's I Look to You. Houston
died on February 11, 2012.

Born in New York City in 1924,
Shirley Chisholm became the
first black congresswoman and
for seven terms represented
New York State in the House.
She ran for the Democratic
nomination for president in
1972. Throughout her political
career Chisholm fought for
education opportunities and
social justice. She left congress
in 1983 to teach and lecture. She
died in 2005.
Media giant Oprah Winfrey was
born in the poor rural town of
Kosciusko, Mississippi on
January 29, 1954. In 1976,
Winfrey moved to Baltimore,
where she hosted a hit TV chat
show, People Are Talking, after
which she was recruited by a
Chicago TV station to host her
own morning show. Later she
went on to pursue her twoand-a-half decade stint as host
of the wildly popular Oprah
Winfrey show.

Jennifer Hudson is an
American actress and singer.
In 2004, she auditioned for
FOX's American Idol, gaining
exposure and a fan base . In
2006, she was chosen to play
a Motown singer in the film
Dreamgirls. She won
numerous awards for her
performance, including an
Oscar. She won a Grammy in
2008 for her debut, selftitled album.
Civil rights activist Rosa Parks
was born on February 4, 1913, in
Tuskegee, Alabama. Her refusal
to surrender her seat to a white
passenger on a Montgomery,
Alabama bus spurred a city-wide
boycott. The city of
Montgomery had no choice but
to lift the law requiring
segregation on public buses.
Rosa Parks received many
accolades during her lifetime,
including the NAACP's highest
award.

Born February 27, 1897, in
Philadelphia, Marian
Anderson displayed vocal
talent as a child, but her
family could not afford to pay
for formal training. Members
of her church congregation
raised funds for her to attend
a music school for a year, and
in 1955 she became the first
African American singer to
perform as a member of the
Metropolitan Opera in New
York City.
In a time of both gender and racial
discrimination, Bessie Coleman broke barriers
and became the first black woman in the world
to earn a pilot's license. Because flying schools
in the United States denied her entry, she took
it upon herself to learn French and move to
France to achieve her goal. After only seven
months, Coleman earned her license from
France's well known Caudron Brother's School
of Aviation. Though she wanted to start a
flying school for African Americans when she
returned to the U.S., Coleman specialized in
stunt flying and parachuting and earned a living
barnstorming and performing aerial tricks. In
1922, hers was the first public flight by an
African American woman in America. Tragically,
Bessie Coleman's life ended at the age of 33
when she was killed in an accident during a
rehearsal for an aerial show. She remains a
pioneer of women in the field of aviation.
Pearl Bailey was an American
entertainer remembered for
her sultry stage voice. Bailey
started off signing in
nightclubs, later taking
secondary roles in many films.
She played the title role in the
all-black Broadway production
of Hello, Dolly! in 1968. She
wrote several books, including
Hurry Up America and Spit. She
earned her bachelor's degree in
theology from Georgetown
University at age 67.
In 1902, Maggie Lena Walker
founded the St. Luke Herald to
carry news of the Independent
Order of St. Luke to local
chapters and to help in its
educational work. In 1903, she
opened the St. Luke Penny
Savings Bank, of which she was
president. By 1924, the bank
served a membership of more
than 50,000 in 1,500 local
chapters. She also helped found
the Richmond Council of Colored
Women in 1912.