1.  Lewis Latimer was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1848.  Latimer set out to make a longer lasting bulb. Latimer devised a way of encasing the filament within an cardboard envelope which prevented the carbon from breaking and thereby provided a much longer life to the bulb and hence made the bulbs less expensive and more efficient.

2.  Garrett Morgan was an inventor and businessman from Cleveland who invented a device called the Morgan safety hood and smoke protector in 1914.  On July 25, 1916, Garrett Morgan made national news for using his gas mask to rescue 32 men trapped during an explosion in an underground tunnel 250 feet beneath Lake Erie.  Morgan and a team of volunteers donned the new “gas masks” and went to the rescue.

3.  The exact day and year of his birth are unknown; he is believed to have been born into slavery in Missouri in January 1864.  Carver's reputation is based on his research into and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts, soybeans and sweet potatoes, which also aided nutrition for farm families.

4.  Dr. José Hernández- Rebollar is a native of the Mexican state of Puebla. He arrived in the United States in 1998.  A graduate of a Bachelors and Master's degrees in the University of Puebla, he is the inventor of an electronic glove, [2] known as the AcceleGlove, which translates hand movements from the American Sign Language into spoken and written words [2]

5.  Carlos Juan Finlay (December 3, 1833 – August 20, 1915) was a Cuban physician and scientist recognized as a pioneer in yellow fever research.

6.  Ellen Ochoa (born May 10, 1958) is a former astronaut and engineer, and current Deputy Director of the Johnson Space Center.

7.  Roger Arliner Young (1899 - November 9, 1964) was an American scientist of z oology, biology, and marine biology. She was the first African American woman to receive a doctorate degree in zoology

8.  Bessie Virginia Blount (November 24, 1914 – December 30, 2009) was a physical therapist, inventor, and forensic scientist also known by her married name, Bessie Blount Griffin.

9.  Mae Carol Jemison (born October 17, 1956) is an American physician an d NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on September 12, 1992.

10.  Madam C.J. Walker (December 23, 1867 – May 25, 1919), born Sarah Breedlove, was an African- American businessw oman, hair care entrepreneur and philanthropist.