19 Black figures who changed history
Honoring the trailblazers whose courage, innovation, and resilience left an indelible mark on history and continue to inspire generations.
Looking for a quick Black history lesson? Here’s a round-up of important Black historical figures you need to know about. Whether you’re wanting to brush up on your Black history or are a full-on history buff looking for your next source of inspiration, you’re bound to discover something new.
1. Harriet Tubman (1822–1913)
Who was Harriet Tubman?
Harriet Tubman is one of the most famous Black historical figures out there. She was born into slavery in Maryland in the early 19th century.
What did Harriet Tubman accomplish?
Tubman escaped slavery at the age of 27. As a conductor on the Underground Railroad and later a spy for the U.S. military, she dedicated the rest of her life to helping others find freedom too.
Where can I learn more about Harriet Tubman?
If you’re interested in learning about Tubman’s service in the Civil War, pick up “Harriet Tubman, Secret Agent,” a book by Tom Allen. You can also watch “Harriet,” the 2019 biopic starring Cynthia Erivo.
2. Frederick Douglass (1818–1895)
Who was Frederick Douglass?
Like Tubman, Frederick Douglass was born into slavery and sent to work in Maryland. Against all odds, he learned to read while enslaved and escaped when he was 20 years old.
What did Frederick Douglass accomplish?
By campaigning against slavery across the United States using the eloquent speech he’d acquired from years of unsanctioned studying, Douglass earned his place in the pantheon of Black leaders.
Where can I learn more about Frederick Douglass?
Douglass wrote three autobiographies during his lifetime that provide an unfiltered glimpse into his experiences: “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave,” “My Bondage and My Freedom” and “Life and Times of Frederick Douglass.”
3. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968)
Who was Martin Luther King Jr.?
Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister from Atlanta who became one of the most important political figures of the 20th century.
What did Martin Luther King Jr. accomplish?
King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and advocated for nonviolent protest against racist laws. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.
Where can I learn more about Martin Luther King Jr.?
King wrote several books and released recordings of his most important speeches. You can also watch the biopic “Selma” (2014) directed by Ava DuVernay.
4. Rosa Parks (1913–2005)
Who was Rosa Parks?
Rosa Parks was an Alabama native and a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) activist who fought for civil rights in the United States.
What did Rosa Parks accomplish?
Parks became one of the most impactful Black women in American history almost overnight when she refused to move to the “colored” section of a public bus in 1955. This act of protest kicked off a series of legal challenges to racial segregation.
Where can I learn more about Rosa Parks?
You can read Parks’ life story in her autobiography “Rosa Parks: My Story.”
5. Nelson Mandela (1918–2013)
Who was Nelson Mandela?
Nelson Mandela’s crusade against apartheid made him a hero in the eyes of many in the global Black community.
What did Nelson Mandela accomplish?
Mandela was a lawyer and anticolonial activist when he was thrown in prison for political reasons. After 27 years behind bars, Mandela was freed and immediately reimmersed himself in politics. He became the first president of post-apartheid South Africa.
Where can I learn more about Nelson Mandela?
If you want to read up on this Black historical figure, there are multiple biographies you can check out. You can also watch Idris Elba portray Mandela in the biopic “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” (2013).
6. Sojourner Truth (1797–1883)
Who was Sojourner Truth?
Sojourner Truth was born Isabella Baumfree in New York and escaped slavery in her late twenties.
What did Sojourner Truth accomplish?
Like Frederick Douglass, Truth became a powerful orator who traveled the country urging an end to slavery. Unlike Douglass, she accomplished all that without ever learning to read or write.
Where can I learn more about Sojourner Truth?
You can hear Truth’s account of her life in the biography “Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave.”
7. Malcolm X (1925–1965)
Who was Malcolm X?
Malcolm X was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and spent his childhood moving from one foster home to another and committing petty crimes.
What did Malcolm X accomplish?
In prison, Malcolm adopted the last name “X” and joined the Nation of Islam. He eventually became the public face of the organization and an ideological alternative to Martin Luther King’s nonviolent approach to Black liberation.
Where can I learn more about Malcolm X?
Malcolm X’s life story has been adapted into TV series, movies and even an opera, but the best place to start is probably with “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” It was released just months after his assassination.
8. Thurgood Marshall (1908–1993)
Who was Thurgood Marshall?
Thurgood Marshall was a lawyer and civil rights activist who became one of the most important historical figures in the American justice system.
What did Thurgood Marshall accomplish?
In 1967, Marshall became the first Black person to serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Where can I learn more about Thurgood Marshall?
There are plenty of books you can read for more about Marshall’s personal life and legal philosophies, but if you’re a visual learner you can see Chadwick Boseman play the famous judge in “Marshall” (2017).
9. W.E.B. Du Bois (1868–1963)
Who was W.E.B. Du Bois?
W.E.B. Du Bois was a sociologist and activist who became the first Black person to earn a doctorate from Harvard University.
What did W.E.B. Du Bois accomplish?
After completing his education, Du Bois helped found the NAACP, promoted Pan-African unity and wrote the groundbreaking collection of essays “The Souls of Black Folk.”
Where can I learn more about W.E.B. Du Bois?
Du Bois was a prolific author and journalist who published many books, novels and articles in his lifetime. He also penned three memoirs, the most accessible of which is probably “Dusk of Dawn: An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept.”
10. Maya Angelou (1928–2014)
Who was Maya Angelou?
Maya Angelou was a Missouri-born poet, writer and civil rights activist who worked with both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
What did Maya Angelou accomplish?
Angelou’s poems, essays and series of autobiographies have received dozens of awards and inspired countless Black Americans to tell their own stories.
Where can I learn more about Maya Angelou?
There’s no one better equipped to teach you about Angelou than the woman herself, who was a dedicated chronicler of her own life. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is the first and most famous of her autobiographies.
11. Ida B. Wells (1862–1931)
Who was Ida B. Wells?
Ida B. Wells was an influential journalist, co-founder of the NAACP and dogged advocate for the rights of the Black American woman.
What did Ida B. Wells accomplish?
Wells dedicated much of her career to documenting the brutal practice of lynching across the United States, exposing the violence as a concerted effort by white Americans to maintain political and economic power through fear.
Where can I learn more about Ida B. Wells?
You can read Wells’ autobiography, “Crusade for Justice,” or watch the PBS documentary “Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice” (1989).
12. Barack Obama (born 1961)
Who is Barack Obama?
Of all the historical Black figures on this list, you’re probably most familiar with Barack Obama, the Hawaiian-born community organizer who became president.
What did Barack Obama accomplish?
Obama became the first Black president in American history after winning the 2008 election race against John McCain. While in office, he earned a Nobel Peace Prize, worked to limit climate change and vocally supported LGBTQ Americans.
Where can I learn more about Barack Obama?
You can read or listen to Obama’s autobiographies, “Dreams from My Father,” “The Audacity of Hope” and “A Promised Land.”
13. Booker T. Washington (1856–1915)
Who was Booker T. Washington?
Booker T. Washington was born into slavery in Virginia and freed during the Civil War. He was empowered by trade-focused education to make his own way in life.
What did Booker T. Washington accomplish?
Thanks to these experiences, Washington became a fierce advocate for higher education, eventually being named the first leader of Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute. He also helped establish the National Negro Business League to support Black businesses.
Where can I learn more about Booker T. Washington?
Washington wrote many books during his life, but the most famous one is his 1901 autobiography “Up from Slavery.”
14. Ella Baker (1903–1986)
Who was Ella Baker?
You may not have heard of Ella Baker before, but this Virginia-born activist was just as indispensable to the U.S. Civil Rights Movement as Martin Luther King Jr. or W.E.B. Du Bois.
What did Ella Baker accomplish?
As part of the NAACP, SCLC and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Baker played a major role in organizing countless protests, but rarely received the same level of attention as the more charismatic male leaders of these movements.
Where can I learn more about Ella Baker?
There are a handful of biographies you can read to learn more about Baker’s activism, including “Ella Baker: Freedom Bound,” “Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement” and “Ella Baker: Community Organizer of the Civil Rights Movement.”
15. Jackie Robinson (1919–1972)
Who was Jackie Robinson?
Jackie Robinson was a Georgia-born athlete who single-handedly changed the face of baseball and American culture overall.
What did Jackie Robinson accomplish?
On April 15, 1947, Robinson became the first African American to play for a Major League Baseball team.
Where can I learn more about Jackie Robinson?
There are many books you can read about Robinson’s life and career. You can also see the baseball star play himself in “The Jackie Robinson Story” (1950) or Chadwick Boseman’s take on the role in “42” (2013).
16. Bessie Coleman (1892–1926)
Who was Bessie Coleman?
Bessie Coleman was born into a Texas family of sharecroppers, spending her youth working in the cotton fields.
What did Bessie Coleman accomplish?
As an adult, Coleman earned scholarships so she could attend flight school in France. Upon her return to the United States, Coleman became the first Black woman and the first Native woman to get her pilot license.
Where can I learn more about Bessie Coleman?
Books about Coleman’s life include “Brave Bessie: Flying Free,” “Up in the Air: The Story of Bessie Coleman” and “She Dared to Fly: Bessie Coleman.”
17. Ruby Bridges (born 1954)
Who is Ruby Bridges?
Ruby Bridges was thrust into activism at just six years old when she earned admission to an all-white school in New Orleans.
What did Ruby Bridges accomplish?
Bridges was at the center of the crisis around the racial integration of public schools in the United States. As the first Black child to attend William Frantz Elementary School, Bridges persevered through harassment and threats of violence to get the education she was legally entitled to.
Where can I learn more about Ruby Bridges?
You can hear Bridges’ story in her own words in the memoir “Through My Eyes.”
18. Claudette Colvin (born 1939)
Who is Claudette Colvin?
Claudette Colvin is a civil rights activist and retired nurse aide from Montgomery, Alabama.
What did Claudette Colvin accomplish?
Like Rosa Parks, Colvin was arrested in 1955 for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus. In fact, this happened nine months earlier than Parks’ more famous protest, but Colvin was deemed insufficiently moral to be the face of the bus boycott because she was pregnant and unmarried.
Where can I learn more about Claudette Colvin?
You can learn more about this unsung hero from the young adult book “Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice” (2009).
19. Jane Bolin (1908–2007)
Who was Jane Bolin?
Jane Bolin was a New York-born lawyer who broke multiple barriers for both women and Black people throughout her career.
What did Jane Bolin accomplish?
Bolin became the first Black woman to graduate from Yale Law School, join the New York City Bar Association and serve as a judge in the United States.
Where can I learn more about Jane Bolin?
You can dive deeper into Bolin’s groundbreaking career in the 2011 biography “Daughter of the Empire State: The Life of Judge Jane Bolin.”
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