BIO Classroom

Henry ("Hank") Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record when he hit his 715th home run in 1974. He set a Major League record with 755 home runs in his career.

When Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired from the NBA in 1989, he had scored the most points, blocked the most shots, won the most MVP awards, and played in more All-Star Games than any other player in the sport.

In 1995, writer Maya Angelou was recognized for remaining on The New York Times Paperback Nonfiction Bestseller List for two years—the longest running record in history.

Olympic track champion Evelyn Ashford became the first athlete to run the Women's 100-meter in under 11 seconds, a record she would hold for four years.

In 1992, 35-year-old athlete Evelyn Ashford became the oldest woman to win an Olympic gold medal in track-and-field.

In 2008, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt became the first man in history to set three world records in a single Olympic games.

Wilt Chamberlain was the first basketball player to score 100 points in a single game during the 1961 season and the first player in the NBA to score 30,000 points.

Athlete Alice Coachman leapt to a height of 5-feet 6 1/8-inches in the 1948 high jump finals at the Summer Olympics. Her record stood for eight years afterward.

Jazz drummer William "Cozy" Cole broke Billboard records in 1958 with the single "Topsy," when it became the only drum solo to sell more than one million records.

In 2002, Maritza Correia became the first black female swimmer to break an American record, beating out Jenny Thompson, the most decorated American swimmer in Olympic history. She is also the first female black swimmer to make it onto the U.S. Olympic team.

Comedian Bill Cosby's 1984 sitcom, The Cosby Show, became the highest ranking sitcom for 5 years in a row. The program aired for eight years.

African-American speed skater Shani Davis is the only U.S. skater to ever make both the short and long track Junior World teams three years in a row.

Poet Gwendolyn Brooks is the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for "Annie Allen."

In 1974, collegiate track star Denis Fikes ran the mile in a time of 3:55.0, the fastest time by an African-American, the second fastest in the U.S. that year, and the 15th-fastest in the world. The record stood for more than a decade.

Music legend Aretha Franklin is one of the most honored artists in Grammy Award history, with 18 wins to date.

Athlete Edward Gourdin was the first man in history to break the long jump record, with a jump of 25-feet 3-inches. He later became the first African-American Superior Court judge in New England.

Florence "Flo Jo" Griffith-Joyner a runner known for her stylish flair on the track, set the world record for the 100 and 200 meter dash at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Korea.

At age 23, Great Britain's Lewis Hamilton became both the youngest Formula One World Champion in history, as well as the first black one.

In 2006 Whitney Houston, a celebrated singer, songwriter and actress, was named the most awarded female artist of all time by the Guinness World Records.

In 1980, singer and performer Michael Jackson secured the highest royalty rate in the music industry—37 percent of the album's profit.

Pop icon Michael Jackson has earned several Guiness World Records, including most Grammy Awards won in a year, best selling album of all time and highest annual earnings ever for a pop star.

The video for Michael and Janet Jackson's duet, "Scream", cost $7 million to produce, making it the most expensive music video ever made.

Michael Jackson, singer, songwriter, and entertainer extraordinaire, won a total of 13 Grammys. Eight of them he won in one night in 1984. He is also a double inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as part of the Jackson 5 and as a solo artist). He is the first artist to have five singles reach number one from the same album (Bad) and the first to have the most Top 10 singles from an album for Thriller.

During the 2008 Olympic trials, Cullen Jones became the first African-American swimmer to hold a world record when he completed the 50-meter freestyle in 21.59 seconds.

Music composer and producer, Quincy Jones is the most Grammy-nominated artist in the history of the awards with 79 nominations and 27 awards.

The Buffalo Soldiers served in the Spanish American war, various Indian wars and helped to settle the west by installing telegraph lines, protecting wagon trains and defending new settlements. More than 20 Buffalo Soldiers have received the highest military award, the Medal of Honor—the most any military unit has ever received.

At the 2010 Grammy Awards, singer Beyonce Knowles walked away from the ceremony with six awards—the most wins in a single night by a female artist in the history of the event.

In 2011, singer Beyonce Knowles made the Forbes list of Entertainment's Highest-Earning Women.

Beyonce Knowles, an award-winning singer, songwriter and actress, holds the record for the longest run on the Billboard Hot 100's No. 1 spot in 2003 with the songs "Crazy in Love" (8 weeks) and "Baby Boy" (9 weeks).

African-American entrepreneur Reginald Lewis' 1992 gift to Harvard Law School was the largest single donation the school ever received from an individual at that time.

Track and Field star, Jesse Owens (1913 - 1980) broke many records at the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, including becoming the first athlete to win four gold medals in one Olympiad.

Baseball star Satchel Paige was more than 40 years old the entire time he pitched for the major leagues, making him the oldest rookie in baseball history.

Deval Patrick is the first African-American to be governor of Massachusetts and the second man in U.S. history to be elected African-American governor.

Susan Rice is America's third woman ambassador to the UN, and the first black woman to hold the position.

In 1960, Olympian Irvin Roberson broke Jesse Owens' 25-year-old world indoor record in the broad jump with a 25-foot 9-inch leap. After breaking the record, Roberson began a six-year professional football career in which he landed an MVP title. After retiring from the game, Roberson earned a Ph.D. in psychology.

Frank Robinson is the only baseball player to win MVP honors in both the National and American Leagues.

Wilma Rudolph (1940 -1994) a record breaking track star was born the 20th of 22 children, and stricken with polio as a child. She not only overcame polio but broke world records in three Olympic track events and was the first American woman to win three gold medals at the Olympics (1960).