Mamokgethi Phakeng became the first black female South African to obtain a PhD in Mathematics Education in 2002.

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Darius Rucker became the first black person to win the New Artist Award from the Country Music Association, and the second black person to win any award from the association in 2009.

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Moms Mabley 1894 to 1975 was one of the first openly LGBT comedians.

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Jomo Kenyatta was the first prime minister from 1963 to 1964 and then the first president from 1964 to 1978 of independent Kenya.

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Augusta Savage was the first black artist to join the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors in 1934.

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Martin Kilson, 1931-2019 was Harvard University’s first black tenured professor.

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Jesse Ernest Wilkins Jr. attended the University of Chicago at the age of 13 in 1936, becoming its youngest student to ever attend.

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Ruth Negga became the first Irish and Ethiopian actress to be nominated as Best Actress in a Leading Role in the Academy Awards for her role in Loving in 2016.  

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Dexter Gordon was the first jazz musician to be nominated for Best Actor in the Academy Awards for his role in Round Midnight in 1986.

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Kathleen Adebola Okikiolu was the first black person to receive a Sloan Research Fellowship in 1997.

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