This astrophysicist was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for his contributions to aeronautical engineering. He patented the “Image Converter,” which detects electromagnetic radian in short wave lengths. In 1970, his invention recorded the first observation of molecular hydrogen in outer space. In 1972, he invented the first moon-based observatory, which was later used during the Apollo 16 mission. He received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2013.

Lawyer, Educator, and Politician. 1^stAfrican American woman to serve as a Texas State Senator. 1^stAfrican American to represent Texas in U.S. House of Representatives.

This physicist and inventor invented 3D TV. She received a patent in 1980 for inventing an illusion transmitter that extends the idea of television and makes images look three-dimensional. From 1964 to 1995, she worked in a variety of capacities for NASA where she developed real-time computer data systems, conducted large-scale experiments and managed many operations, projects, and facilities. Her team spearheaded “Landsat,” the first satellite to send images from space.

Invented the “Jenny Coupler” in 1897, a device which allowed train cars to hook themselves together when they are bumped into one another. The device saved the lives of many railroad workers, who originally had the dangerous job of hooking the moving cars together by hand.

A son of a slave, this mathematician was also an astronomer, inventor, and writer. Acclaimed for the almanacs he published between 1792 and 1798, he was appointed by President George Washington to the District of Columbia Commission and helped map out the new national capital. In 1980, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp in his honor.

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

The earliest known person of African descent to arrive in present-day Texas. He was born in Morocco in the early sixteenth century and at some point, came to Spain and was enslaved by Andres Dorantes de Carranza, with whom he later traveled as a member of the Panfilo de Narvaez expedition, which landed in the Americas in 1528.

She became the first black woman to earn a pilot’s license and the first black woman to stage a public flight in the United States. She specialized in stunt flying and parachuting and remains a pioneer for women in aviation.

Nicknamed “the black gazelle,” she was born premature and was stricken with polio as a child. Though her doctor said she would never be able to walk without her brace, she went on to become a track star. She became the first American woman to win three gold medals at a single Olympics in 1960.