Johnson (1949) is a businesswoman and philanthropist who co-founded Black Entertainment Television (BET) in 1980, the first cable television network focused exclusively on Black audiences. BET revolutionized media representation by showcasing Black music, culture, and entertainment at a time when mainstream television largely excluded Black talent. The network launched the careers of countless Black artists, created original programming that reflected Black experiences, and provided news coverage focused on issues important to the Black community, eventually reaching over 88 million households. In 2001, BET was sold to Viacom for $2.9 billion, making Johnson the first Black woman billionaire. Beyond BET, she serves as CEO and founder of the Salamander Collection, a luxury hotel company, and made history as the first Black woman to have ownership stakes in three professional sports franchises as a partner in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NBA's Washington Wizards, NHL's Washington Capitals, and WNBA's Washington Mystics.

Keckley (1818) was born enslaved, she purchased her freedom for herself and her son for $1200, was a seamstress and confidant of First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, and published her memoirs.

Wilkinson (1935-2018) was the first Black woman to join a major ballet company when she joined the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1955.

Motivated by her childhood love for Star Wars and Star Trek, Dr. Brown (1969-2008) became an Astrophysicist in the Sciences and Exploration Directorate at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She was also the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan's Department of Astronomy.

Civil Rights

Gilmore (1920-1990) was a midwife, cook, founder of The Club from Nowhere, and an unsung heroine of the Civil Rights Movement.

Tate (1905-1996) was an intrepid adventurer, educator, author, polyglot, and international diplomacy expert. She was the first Black woman from the United States to attend Oxford University, earning her B.Litt. degree in 1935. She later became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in government and international relations from Harvard's Radcliffe College in 1941. She joined Howard University's history department in 1942, where she served as professor until 1977. Her scholarly work included five books on diplomatic history, extensive research across Asia, the Pacific, and Africa, and service as an advisor to then General Eisenhower on disarmament in the late 1940s. Tate's legacy also includes significant philanthropic contributions, notably a $1 million donation to establish the Merze Tate Student Education Endowment Fund as well as endowments for two Medallion Scholarships at Western Michigan University.

Fisher (1924-1995) challenged the legal basis of segregated classes at the graduate level in the United States in Sipuel v Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma (1948).

“My voice is what I think life is, my voice is beauty, my voice is America, my voice is my blackness, my voice is love, my voice is God.” Extraordinary spinto soprano and Prima Donna, Price (1927) is ...

Starring Tisha Campbell

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was established in 1909 and is one of America's oldest civil rights organizations. While founded by a multi-ethnic group of activists, it focused on combating discrimination and violence against Black Americans. Mary White Ovington, a founding member, documented the organization's inception in her article "How the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Began". Published in The Crisis, her firsthand account is considered one of the most important primary sources about the NAACP's founding. In it, she describes the events that led to "The Call."

Bass (1874-1969), is known as the first African American woman to own and operate a newspaper (The California Eagle) in the United States.

Cardwell (1894-1962) was a Musician, Educator, and founder of the extraordinary National Negro Opera Company (Pittsburg, 1941), and the Cardwell School of Music.

Cinematographer, Director, Writer

Lowery (1925-2013) was a founding member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

Born Chloe Ardelia Wofford (1931-2019), “Toni” Morrison was a Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize - winning novelist, editor, and professor. Her most notable works include “The Bluest Eye” (1970), “Song of Solomon” (1977), and “Beloved” (1987), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988.

Hope (1871-1947) was a "race woman", life-long activist, community organizer, and lecturer who established programs and worked with institutions that advanced racial and social justice in the Black community. She worked tirelessly to improve the lives of Black families, women, and children in Atlanta through the Neighborhood Union, an organization she founded with either other women in 1908. During World War I, as Chair of the Women's Committee of the YWCA war work council (1917-1919), she worked with Black soldiers and their families at Camp Gordon, providing support and recreational services that they were denied by the United Services Organization (USO).