Sir W. Arthur Lewis (1915-1991) is the first and only black person to win a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1979.

Jackie Aina became the first black YouTuber -and first YouTuber ever- to win an NAACP Image Award in 2018.

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) was the first Black person to be represented by a New York Gallery in 1941.

Dr. Roslyn C. Artis served as the first female President of a collegiate institution in the United States after being named President of Benedict College in 2017.  

The National Museum of African American History and Culture is a Smithsonian Institution museum established in Washington D.C. in 2003.

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice is a national memorial to commemorate the victims of lynching in the United States that opened in Montgomery, Alabama in September 2016.

Autherine Lucy Foster received an honorary doctorate from the University of Alabama in 2019 at age 89. She originally applied in 1952, was denied because she was Black, enrolled in 1956, was dismissed after three days because of riots and threats on her life. In 1988 the dismissal was annulled and she graduated with her […]

Dr. Andrea L. Miller became the first woman and the second alumnus to serve as president of LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, TN after taking office in 2015.  

Ethiopian leader, Haile Selassie (1892-1975) became the first Black man on the cover of Time magazine in 1930 and was later named “Man of the Year” in 1936.