Black History Month

Do Now Who are some famous African Americans you learned about for Black History Month?

Hank Aaron

Considered one of the best baseball players of all time, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home-run record when he hit his 715th home run in He later set a new MLB record with 755 career home runs. “My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling bad or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was to keep swinging.” -Hank Aaron “My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling bad or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was to keep swinging.” -Hank Aaron

Muhammad Ali

Ali is considered one of the greatest athletes in boxing history, winning both the coveted Golden Gloves title and an Olympic gold medal, among several other honors. Since his retirement, Ali has devoted much of his time to philanthropy.

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong was a trumpeter, bandleader, singer, soloist, film star and comedian. Considered one of the most influential artists in jazz history, he is known for songs like "Star Dust," "La Via En Rose" and "What a Wonderful World.” “A lotta cats copy the Mona Lisa, but people still line up to see the original.” - Louis Armstrong

Arthur Ashe

Arthur Ashe is the first African American to win the men's singles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, and the first black American to be ranked No. 1 in the world.

Mary Bethune

Mary Bethune was an educator and activist, serving as president of the National Association of Colored Women and founding the National Council of Negro Women. She also founded a school for African American students in Daytona Beach, Florida became which later became Bethune-Cookman College

George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver was a prominent African-American scientist and inventor. Carver is best known for the many uses he devised for the peanut.

W.E.B. DuBois

W.E.B. Du Bois was one of the most important African-American activists during the first half of the 20th century. He co-founded the NAACP and supported Pan-Africanism (the freeing of African colonies from European powers.)

Colonized Africa

Frederick Douglass

Douglass was a prominent American abolitionist, author and orator. Born a slave, Douglass escaped at age 20 and went on to become a world-renowned anti-slavery activist. His three autobiographies are considered important works of the slave narrative tradition as well as classics of American autobiography.

Frederick Douglass Quote

Morgan Freeman

Respected actor and narrator Morgan Freeman has appeared in such films as Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption, Unforgiven, and Batman Begins. He also won an Oscar for his role in the film Million Dollar Baby.

Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes was an American poet, novelist, and playwright whose African-American themes made him a primary contributor to the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.

Mae Jemison

Mae C. Jemison is the first African-American female astronaut. In 1992, she flew into space aboard the Endeavour, becoming the first African-American woman in space.

Michael Jordan

Michael Jordan is a former American basketball player who led the Bulls to six national championships and earned the NBA Most Valuable Player Award five times.

Michael Jordan Quote

B.B. King

"King of the Blues" B.B. King began as a disc jockey in Memphis before finding fame as a blues and R&B guitarist, with hits like "The Thrill Is Gone.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and social activist, who led the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death by assassination in 1968.

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa in 1994, serving until A symbol of global peacemaking, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall was a big part of in ending legal segregation and became the first African-American justice of the Supreme Court.

Barrack Obama

Barack Obama Barack Obama is the 44th and current president of the United States, and the first African American to serve as U.S. president.

Michelle Obama

First Lady Michelle Obama is a lawyer, writer, and the wife of the 44th and current President, Barack Obama. She is the first African-American First Lady of the United States. Through her four main initiatives, she has become a role model for women and an advocate for healthy families, service members and their families, higher education, and international adolescent girls education.

Michelle Obama Quote

Jessie Owens

Jesse Owens American track-and-field athlete Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. His long jump world record stood for 25 years.

Rosa Parks

Civil rights activist Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, spurring the Montgomery boycott and other efforts to end segregation.

Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson became the first black player in the major leagues in 1947, signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was named Rookie of the Year in 1947, National League MVP in 1949 and a World Series champ in 1955.

Sojourner Truth

An African-American abolitionist and women's rights activist, Truth was born into slavery, but escaped with her infant daughter to freedom in Her best-known speech on racial inequalities, "Ain't I a Woman?" was delivered at the Ohio Women's Rights Convention in 1851.

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman escaped slavery to become a leading abolitionist. She led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom along the route of the Underground Railroad.

Booker T. Washington

Educator Booker T. Washington was one of the foremost African-American leaders of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, founding the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, now known as Tuskegee University.

Oprah Winfrey

Billionaire Oprah Winfrey is best known for hosting her own internationally popular talk show from 1986 to She is also an actress, philanthropist, publisher and producer.