Part Three

Antonio and Mary Johnson (mid 1600's) First African American landowners

Oliver Cromwell (1753-1853) Soldier, crossed the Delaware with George Washington

Elizabeth Freeman (1742-1829) First African American freed under the Massachusetts Constitution

James Derham (1763-?) First African American physician

James Fortren, Sr. (1766-1842) Inventor, businessman, abolitionist

James Beckwourth (1798-1866) Trapper, scout, and pioneer in the West

Maria Miller Stewart (1803-1879) Women's rights activist, orator, educator

Norbert Rillieux (1806-1894) Inventor, revolutionized the sugar industry

William Wells Brown (1814-1884) First African American novelist to publish a book

Frederick Douglass (1818?-1895) Abolitionist, escaped slavery disguised as a sailor

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911) First African American to publish a short story

William H. Carney (1840-1908) First African American to receive the Medal of Honor

Daniel Murray (1852-1925) Librarian, bibliographer and bibliophile

Madam C.J. Walker (1867-1919) First African American woman millionaire

Bill Pickett (1870-1932) First black cowboy inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame

Bert Williams (1874-1922) First African American to star in a movie

James Reese Europe (1881-1919) First African American officer in World War I combat

Jack L. Cooper (1889-1970) First Disc Jockey

Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) First African American to write a collection of black folklore

Frederick McKinley Jones (1893-1961) Inventor, refrigeration unit for trucks

Ethel Waters (1896-1977) First African American to receive a leading role on Broadway

William "Count" Basie (1904-1984) Fist African American to win a Grammy

Langston Hughes (1902-1967) Poet Laureate of Harlem

Willa Brown-Chappell (1906-1992) First African American female commercial pilot

Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) First African American Supreme Court Justice

Jacob Lawrence (1917-2000) Artist, portrayed black history from the Civil War to Civil Rights

The New York Renaissance (1922-1949) First African American professional basketball team

Sidney Poitier (1927- ) First African American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor

Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965) First African American woman to write a Broadway play

Charlie Pride (1939- ) First African American singer inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame