Nicknamed Satchmo, he was the first African American man to write an autobiography and star in a movie in the same year.

He spent some time in foster care and prison, but later became a minister with the Nation of Islam. He believed in equal rights "by any means necessary."

She was close friends with first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and worked with President Roosevelt helping figure out what black people needed in America. She was an educator and opened a school for Negro girls in 1904.

Performed the first ever successful heart surgery and founded a hospital and nursing school in Chicago.

A botanist, chemist, and inventor, he earned the nickname "the plant doctor" and helped restore the struggling agricultural economy of the South. He made over 300 products from peanuts, such as ink, shampoo, soap, and candy.

The first African American millionaire businesswoman in the United States by creating her own hair care products.

He invented many life saving products such as the gas mask and traffic light.

The first African American woman astronaut. She was also a teacher, physician, and business woman.

Risked her life over and over to help over 70 people escape from slavery as a conductor of the underground railroad.