Bernice Johnson Reagon founded the all-black a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock, 1973.

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Eleanor Holmes, appointed by President Jimmy Carter, was the 1st black female Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1977.

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Macon B. Allen was the 1st black man to practice law, passed the Maine bar exam in 1844.

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York was an enslaved black explorer who joined the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806.

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Mary Church Terrell was the 1st national president and founder of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896 and was also a founding member of the National Association of College Women in 1910.

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Gloria Richardson Dandridge was the black female leader of the Cambridge movement, a civil rights struggle in Cambridge, Maryland in the early 1960s.

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Sonia Sanchez gained a reputation as an important voice in the Black Arts movement after publishing the book of poems Home Coming in 1969, using experimental poetic forms to discuss the development of black nationalism and identity.

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Sgt. William H. Carney was the 1st black Congressional Medal of Honor winner, 1900.

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David Harold Blackwell was the 1st black member of the National Academy of Sciences, 1965.

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Hank Aaron is best known for being the first MLB player, of any race, to break Babe Ruth’s record of 714 career home runs; Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, 1935.

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