ROAR ENTERPRISES, INC.

Roar provides resources for colleges, community organizations, and anyone seeking creative and sustainable diversity solutions

ROAR ENTERPRISES, INC.

Roar provides resources for colleges, community organizations, and anyone seeking creative and sustainable diversity solutions

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Black History Facts

  1. A Black inventor named Garrett Morgan created the first gas mask in 1912 and the first traffic signal with a warning light in 1923.

  2. In Montgomery, Alabama in 1955, Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old Black girl, refused to give up her seat on a bus, nine months before Rosa Parks did the same.

  3. Mae Jemison became the first Black woman astronaut in 1992 when she went into space aboard the space shuttle Endeavour.

  4. During World War II, the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African American pilots, flew over 15,000 missions and received numerous commendations for their bravery and skill.

  5. In 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first Black person appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States.

  6. Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to Congress in 1968 and the first Black woman to run for president of the United States in 1972.

  7. In 1984, Jesse Jackson became the first Black person to win a presidential primary in a major political party.

  8. Toni Morrison became the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993.

  9. Serena Williams has won a record 23 Grand Slam singles titles, making her the most successful tennis player, male or female, in the Open Era.

  10. In 2009, Barack Obama became the first Black person to be elected President of the United States.

Black History Facts for Today

  1. Madam C.J. Walker created a line of haircare products for African American women, leading her to later become the first female African American self-made millionaire. There is now a Netflix series based upon her journey, titled Self Made.
  2. In 1940, Hattie McDaniel became the first Black person to win an Oscar, for her supporting role in Gone With the Wind. Twenty-four years later, Sidney Poitier became the first Black man to win an Oscar, for his leading role in Lilies of the Field.
  3. Phillis Wheatley was the first African American to publish a book of poetry, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, in 1773. Born in Gambia and sold to the Wheatley family in Boston when she was 7 years old, Wheatley was emancipated shortly after her book was released.
  4. William Tucker was the first known Black person to be born in the 13 colonies. He was born in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1624. his parents were indentured servants and part of the first group of Africans brought to colonial soil by Great Britain.
  5. Clotel: or, The President’s Daughter, was the first novel published by an African American, in 1853. It was written by abolitionist and lecturer William Wells Brown.

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