Wesley A. Brown

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

Matthias de Souza

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.

Richard Theodore Greener was the 1st black graduate of Harvard College, 1870.

Janie L. Mines was the 1st black female to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy, 1980.