Black History Month Jackie Robinson Born January 31, 1919, he was a baseball player who became the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern age. Over 10 seasons, Robinson played in six World Series and contributed to the Dodgers' 1955 World Championship. He was selected for six consecutive All-Star Games, from 1949 to 1954 and was the winner of the first MLB Rookie of the Year Award in He also won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949 — the first black player. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in On April 15, 2004, Major League Baseball has adopted a new annual tradition, "Jackie Robinson Day", on which every player on every team wears #42. He died on October 24, 1972 from a heart attack.

Black History Month Marvin Gaye Born on April 2, 1939 in Washington D.C. Marvin Gaye was an American singer, songwriter and instrumentalist. Stared in the group the Moonglows. He had over 40 top 40 hit songs as a solo artist including “Ain’t no mountain high enough.” He won 2 Grammy award in He was killed by his father on April 1, He was posthumously inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

Black History Month Oprah Winfrey Born January 29, 1954, she is an American television presenter, actress, producer and publisher. Her internationally-syndicated talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, has earned her multiple Emmy Awards and is the highest-rated talk show in history. She has been ranked the richest African-American of the 20th century. In 2013, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama and an honorary doctorate degree from Harvard.

Black History Month Booker T. Washington Born April 5, 1856, he was a slave who worked on a plantation in Virginia before the Civil War. After he was freed, he walked 500 miles to attend college. Later, he opened a school for African American children in Tuskegee, Alabama. He wrote several books about the importance of hard work and financial independence for African Americans. In 1901 President Theodore Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to the White House, making him the first African American to be so honored. He remained the President of Tuskegee University until his death on November 14, He is remembered as one of the foremost African-American leaders of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Black History Month Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908– January 24, 1993) was an American jurist and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Before becoming a judge, he was a lawyer who was best remembered for his high success rate in arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v. Board of Education. He was nominated to the court by President Lyndon Johnson in His most famous case as a lawyer was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, (1954), the case in which the Supreme Court ruled that "separate but equal" public education was unconstitutional because it could never be truly equal. In total, Marshall won 29 out of the 32 cases he argued before the Supreme Court.

Black History Month Julius Erving Born February 22, Raised in Roosevelt, New York, commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is a retired American basketball player who helped start a modern style of play that emphasizes leaping and play above the rim. Erving won three championships, four Most Valuable Player Awards, and three scoring titles while playing with the ABA's Virginia Squires and New York Nets and the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers.

Black History Month Maya Angelou Born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, Maya Angelou was a writer, actress, poet, dancer, and civil rights activist. She is remembered for her 1969 memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which made history as the first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman. She later wrote the poem "On the Pulse of Morning"—one of her most famous works—which she recited at President Bill Clinton's inauguration in Angelou received several honors throughout her career, including two NAACP Image Awards in the outstanding literary work (nonfiction) category, in 2005 and She died on May 28, 2014.

Black History Month Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles born March 17, 1919 in Montgomery, Alabama. He was known as Nat King Cole, Over the course of his career, Cole appeared on numerous television shows and in several films. He was an American singer who became famous as a leading jazz pianist as well as for his soft, baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres. He was the first African American to host a television variety show and has maintained worldwide popularity over 40 years past his death. In December 1964, Cole was diagnosed with lung cancer. Nat “King” Cole died on February 15, He was 45 years old.

Black History Month Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.; January 17, 1942) is an African American former professional boxer, considered among the greatest heavyweights in the sport's history. Ali is today widely regarded for not only the skills he displayed in the ring but also the values he exemplified outside of it: religious freedom, racial justice and the triumph of principle over expedience. He is one of the most recognized sports figures of the past 100 years.

Black History Month Hiram R. Revels Born September 27, 1827 in North Carolina, Revels was a member of a free family. He and his brother both apprenticed as barbers. In 1845, he was ordained as a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, working as a preacher. Revels participated in the Civil War, organizing two black regiments for the Union Army. He also fought for the Union at the Battle of Vicksburg. In 1870, the Mississippi state congress selected Revels to fill a vacant seat in the United States Senate. Revels became the first African American to serve in the United States Senate (R). Revels died on January 16, 1901, while attending a meeting of Methodist ministers in Aberdeen, Mississippi.

Black History Month Tuskegee Airmen The Tuskegee Airmen were determined young men who volunteered to become America's first African American military squadron during World War 2 ( ). The Airmen’s record included not losing a single bomber to enemy fire in more than 200 combat missions. The 332nd Fighter Group was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for its longest bomber escort mission to Berlin, Germany, March 24, In 1948, President Harry Truman enacted Executive Order No directing equality of treatment and opportunity in all of the United States Armed Forces, which in time led to the end of racial segregation in the U.S. military forces.