Don Newcombe

Don Newcombe was the 1st black man to win the Cy Young Award as the top pitcher in Major League Baseball; Brooklyn Dodgers, 1956.

Nadine Burke Harris

Nadine Burke Harris, a black woman, was appointed California’s first surgeon general, 2019.

Alan Bell was the first black publisher of a mainstream gay publication; Gaysweek, 1977.

Marsha P. Johnson co-founded Gay Liberation Front in 1969.

Joe Azbell was the black founder and editor of the Air University Dispatch, the official newspaper for the Maxwell Air force base; 1947.

Lisa Perez Jackson is a chemical engineer who in 2008 became the 1st black person of any gender to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Martin Luther King Jr. was the youngest black person to win a Nobel Peace Prize, age 35; 1964.

Jane Bolin 1st black woman to graduate Yale Law School, 1928.

Willie Thrower was the 1st black quarterback to play in the National Football League during the modern (Post- World War II) era; Chicago Bears, 1953.

Pierre Caliste Landry was the 1st black city mayor, Donaldsonville, South Louisiana; 1868.