Amy Sherald

Amy Sherald is the 1st black female artist commissioned for US first-lady portrait to be displayed in the Smithsonian, 2018.

Vinnette Justine Carroll

Vinnette Justine Carroll was the 1st woman Broadway director; Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope, 1972.

Wesley A. Brown was the 1st black graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, 1949.

Matthias de Souza was the 1st black officeholder in colonial America, 1641.

Juanita Kidd Stout was the 1st black woman elected to the U.S. judgeship and appointed to a state supreme court, 1988.

Violet Palmer first woman official in any U.S. professional sport, the NBA, 1997.

Ida Gray Nelson Rollins first black, male or female to practice dentistry in Chicago, 1895.

Charles LeRoy Gittens was the 1st black Secret Service agent, 1956.

Sahle-Work Zewde, a black woman, Ethiopia’s first female president, 2018.

Epsy Campbell Barr 1st black woman to become Vice President of Costa Rica, 2018.