Comedian and talk show host Stephen Colbert was a mock news correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show before hosting his own spin-off, The Colbert Show.

Comedian and writer Conan O'Brien rose to fame as the host of the talk show Late Night and later the Tonight Show and Conan.

Barack Obama is the 44th and current president of the United States, and the first African American to serve as U.S. president. First elected to the presidency in 2008, he won a second term in 2012.

John F. Kennedy, the 35th U.S. president, negotiated the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty and initiated the Alliance for Progress. He was assassinated in 1963.

Maya Angelou is a poet and prize-winning memoirist. She is the author of the critically acclaimed I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Marian Anderson was an African American singer, one of the finest contraltos of her time, and recipient of the Grammy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Bluford became the first African American to travel in space in 1983, as a mission specialist aboard the space shuttle Challenger.

Arthur Ashe is the first African American to win the men's singles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, and the first black American to be ranked No. 1 in the world.

Ernie Davis became the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy before his life was tragically cut short by leukemia at the age of 23.