BIO Classroom

In 1950, African-American Mahalia Jackson became the first gospel singer to perform at New York's Carnegie Hall.

In 2010, Vanessa James and Yannick Bonheur became the first black couple in history to compete in Olympic pairs skating.

Mae Jemison became the first black female astronaut in 1992.

Jack Johnson was the first African-American heavyweight boxing champion of the world.

Robert Johnson, the owner of Black Entertainment Television, became the first black billionaire in America in 2001.

Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones was the first African-American opera singer to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York.

In 2007, Beyonce Knowles was featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue as the first female non-model and non-athlete to pose for the magazine.

John Mercer Langston, was the first black man to become a lawyer in Ohio when he passed the Bar Exam in 1854. His great-nephew was renowned African-American poet Langston Hughes.

The first African-American professional basketball player was Harry Lew. In 1902, he became a member of the New England Professional Basketball League, where he was a skillful guard.

Edmonia Lewis was the first professional African-American sculptor, often sculpting courageous and inspirational people such as Cleopatra, Phillis Wheatley and President Ulysses S. Grant.

Businessman Reginald Lewis was the first African-American to build a billion dollar company.

Alain Locke, a writer, philosopher and intellectual, was the first African-American Rhodes Scholar. A strong supporter of African-American arts, he wrote about the Harlem Renaissance in The New Negro (1925).

Louis Lomax became the first black television journalist in 1958, when he joined the staff of WNTA-TV in New York.

Donyale Luna was the first black cover girl, appearing on the cover of the British version of Vogue magazine in March 1966.

Wangari Maathai became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She won for her contributions to preventing deforestation in Kenya.

Thurgood Marshall was the first African-American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Hattie McDaniel was first black performer to win an Academy Award, earning Best Supporting Actress for her role of Mammy in the epic film, Gone with the Wind.

Actress Hattie McDaniel was the first black woman to sing on the radio in America.

In 1919,Oscar Micheaux became the first African-American director with his film, Homesteader.

Dancer Arthur Mitchell opened the first African-American classical ballet company, Dance Theatre of Harlem, in 1969.

Author Toni Morrison, was the first African-American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 for her work, Beloved.

In 1964, Constance Baker Motley became the first African-American woman to serve as a New York State senator.

The first interracial kiss to be seen on network television was on an episode of the sci-fi drama, Star Trek in 1968. The scene was a romantic moment between African-American actress Nichelle Nichols and white Canadian actor William Shatner.

Artist Jackie Ormes became the first African-American cartoonist with her 1937 serial comic "Dixie to Harlem." The strip featured character Torchy Brown, a teen who finds fame as an entertainer at New York's Cotton Club.

Black Swan Records, founded in 1921 by Harry Pace in Harlem, was the first U.S. record label owned and operated by African-Americans. It was originally the Pace Phonograph Corporation and was renamed Black Swan Records after the 19th century opera singer Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, who was known as the Black Swan.

Gordon Parks was the first African-American to write, direct, and score a major Hollywood film with the 1969 movie The Learning Tree. The plot was based on Parks' semi-autobiographical book of the same name.

Photojournalist Gordon Parks was the first African-American to work at Life magazine.

Sam Pierce, one of the members of the legal defense team for Martin Luther King, Jr., became the first black partner of a major New York City law firm, and the first African-American to serve on the board of directors of a Fortune 500 corporation.

In 1872, P.B.S. Pinchback of Louisiana was the first African-American to become a U.S. governor, when he replaced a governor who had died while in office.

In 1963, Sidney Poitier became the first black man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the film, Lilies of the Field.

Charley Pride (1938 - ) is one of the most successful African-American country singers of all time, with a career spanning over 40 years and 36 number one hits. He is also the first African-American to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000. Pride was a baseball player with the Negro League and the Memphis Red Sox before becoming a successful musician.

In 1981, Congressman Charles B. Rangel became the first African-American Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Judy W. Reed was the first African-American woman to receive a patent in 1884 for a hand-operated machine used to knead and roll dough.

Singer and actress Della Reese was the first black woman to serve as guest host of The Tonight Show.

Hiram Rhodes Revels became the first African-American U.S. Senator in 1870, serving the state of Mississippi. He was also the first African-American in U.S. Congress.

Educator Condoleezza Rice was the first African-American woman to serve as the U.S. Secretary of State.

Scholar and politician, Condoleezza Rice, was the first African-American woman to serve as the U.S. National Security Advisor.

In 1993, educator and politician Condoleezza Rice became the first female, first minority, and youngest provost at Stanford University.

When he signed on to lead the Cleveland Indians, Frank Robinson became the first black manager in Major League Baseball history.

Major League Baseball's first African-American manager, Frank Robinson, managed the Cleveland Indians, the San Francisco Giants, the Baltimore Orioles, the Montreal Expos and the Washington Nationals.

Baseball player Jackie Robinson was the first individual African-American to be the subject of a Life magazine cover on May 8, 1950.

Max Robinson was the first black network news anchor in the United States. He is also a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists.

Roscoe Robinson was the first African-American to become a four-star U.S. Army Major General.

Hip-hop group Run-D.M.C. became the first rap act to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone and make a video appearance on MTV.

David Satcher was the first African-American male to serve as Surgeon General of the United States.

Educator Ruth Simmons became Brown University's 18th president in 2001, making her the first black president of an Ivy League institution. That same year, Time magazine named her America's best college president.

In 1995, educator Ruth Simmons became the first African-American woman to head a major college, when she was named president of Smith College. She started the school's first engineering program.

In 1992, Carole Simpson became the first African-American to moderate a presidential debate. It was between presidential candidates Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush.

Norma Sklarek became the first licensed, black female architect in 1954, and remained the only African-American woman architect for 20 years.

James McCune Smith is the first African-American in the United States to practice medicine. He was denied entry into several American colleges, so he moved to Scotland to attend the University of Glasgow in 1835.

Musician and composer, William Grant Still, was the first African-American to conduct a major American symphony orchestra and the first to have a symphony of his own performed by a leading orchestra.

Toni Stone became the first woman—and first African-American—to play professional baseball when she was selected as a second baseman for the Negro American League's Indianapolis Clowns.

Percy E. Sutton was the first African-American President of the Borough of Manhattan.

Robert Robinson Taylor was the first professionally-educated black architect in the United States.

In 1958, Ruth Carol Taylor became the first African-American flight attendant. She worked for Mowhawk Airlines.

The first African-American poet on record is Lucy Terry, who wrote the poem 'Bar's Fight' in 1746. It is her only surviving poem.

Debi Thomas (1967 - ), the talented figure-skater, is the first African-American to win a medal (bronze) at the Winter Olympic games (1988).

In 2002, Vonetta Flowers became the first African-American to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympic games.

Charles Henry Turner (1867 - 1923), a zoologist and educator, was the first person to discover that insects can hear.

Vermont native Alexander Lucius Twilight was the first black college graduate. He received a B.A. from Middlebury College in 1823.

Madame C.J. Walker (born Sarah Breedlove) (1876 - 1919) invented specialized hair products for African-American hair and became the first American woman to become a millionaire.

Booker T. Washington was the first African-American invited to the White House.

On April 7, 1940, educator and author Booker T. Washington became the first African-American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.

Educator Booker T. Washington was the first African-American to be featured on a coin: the Booker T. Washington Memorial Half Dollar. The coin was minted in the U.S. from 1946 to 1951.

Harold Washington was an American lawyer and politician who became the first African-American mayor of Chicago.

Singer and performer Ethel Waters became the first African-American star of a network television show. The sitcom, Beulah, was about a cook and housekeeper of the same name.

In 1966, Robert Weaver served as the first United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (also known as HUD). After his death in 1997, the HUD headquarters was renamed the Robert C. Weaver Federal Building in his honor.

Politician Robert Weaver was the first African-American to hold a cabinet-level position in the United States.

Black civil rights activist Ida B. Wells was one of the first American women to continue to keep her last name after her marriage.

In 1998, Mark Whitaker became the editor of Newsweek, making him the first African-American to lead a national newsmagazine. During his tenure, the magazine won four National Magazine Awards.

In 1956, Willye B. White earned a silver medal in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, becoming the first American woman to ever medal in the long jump. She was only 16 years old.

In 1989, L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia became the first African-American elected governor in U.S. history.

Harriet E. Wilson is considered the first African-American writer to publish a novel in the United States with her 1859 autobiography, Our Nig.

Oprah Winfrey became the first female U.S. billionaire in 2003.

In 1986, Oprah Winfrey became the first black female TV host when she started The Oprah Winfrey Show.

In 1997, Tiger Woods was the first African-American man to win the Masters tournament.

In 1965, Lobo became the first African-American character to headline his own comic book series. The story centers on a fictional character who lived in the Old West, and was published by Dell Comics.

The African Free School in New York City was the first free school for African-Americans. It was started by the abolitionist group the New York Manumission Society in 1787.

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first African-American pilots in the U.S. armed forces. Beginning in 1941, select groups of extensively tested and rigorously trained African-Americans were trained at The Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The Tuskegee Airmen are depicted in the G.I. Joe action figure series.

In 2010 Geoffrey Fletcher becomes the first African-American screenwriter to win an Academy Award for writing Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire.