Black History Month (also known as National African American History Month) was created in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson, an African American historian, scholar, educator, and publisher. It began as “Negro History Week” and February was chosen to coincide with Frederick Douglass’ and Abraham Lincoln’s birthdays. , the Post-War I generation with rising racial pride and consciousness.
Black History Month became a national month-long celebration in 1976 and a part of the United States Bicentennial. President Gerald Ford spoke in regards to this that year, urging Americans to “seize the opportunity to honour the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavour throughout our history’. Canada celebrates Black History Month in February and The U.K. celebrates it in October.
African American history is about much more than chronicling a series of ‘firsts’. The time and place of a breakthrough reflects not only remarkable individual achievement but is itself an indication of the progress or lack of progress of black people in realising the centuries-old intertwined goals of freedom, equality, and justice. We don’t have a list of all the first blacks because while compiling, we found out Africans are such badass and have to been making history since forever.
The List:
First Professional Black Baseball Player: Jackie Robinson, 1947. F
Oscar Winner: Hattie McDaniel, 1940.
Self-Made Millionaire: Madam C.J. Walker.
First Woman Representative: Shirley Chisholm, 1968.
First Senator: Hiram Rhodes Revels, 1870.
Eminent Scientist & Inventor: George Washington Carver, 1864 – 1943.
Supreme Court Justice: Thurgood Marshall, 1967.
Heavyweight Champ: Jack Johnson, 1908.
First Lawyer: John Mercer Langston, 1854.
Woman Secretary of State: Condoleezza Rice, 2005.
Nobel Peace Prize winner: Ralph J. Bunche, 1950.
Woman patent holder: Judy Reed, 1884.
Woman astronaut: Mae Jemison, 1992.
Pulitzer prize winner: Gwendolyn Brooks, 1950.
Pulitzer prize winner in Drama: Charles Gordone, 1970
Graduate of an Ivy League School: Theodore Sedgewick Wright, 1828
Theatrical company: The African Company, 1821.
Male Grammy Award winner: Count Basie, 1958.
Woman Grammy Award winner: Ella Fitzgerald, 1958.
Woman director for a major Hollywood Studio: Julie Dash, 1991.
Oscar, Best Actress: Halle Berry, 2001.
First President of The Oscars: Cheryl Boone Isaacs, 2013.
Film director: Oscar Micheaux, 1919.
First Oscar winner: Hattie McDaniel, 1940.
Black-owned television station: WGPR-TV, 1975
Woman television show host: Oprah Winfrey, 1986.
Star of a network television show: Bill Cosby, 1965.
Black-owned radio station: WERD, 1949.
Professional Golfer: John Matthew Shippen, Jr., 1896.
Golf champion: Tiger Woods, 1997.
NFL quarterback: Willie Thrower, 1953.
Wimbledon tennis champion: Althea Gibson, 1957.
Black-owned Bank: True Reformers Bank, 1889.
Record Company: Black Swan Records, 1921.
Black-owned metropolitan newspaper: Robert Maynard and the Oakland Tribune, 1983.
Billionaire: Robert Johnson, 0wner of Black Entertainment Television, 2001.
Flight around the world: Barrington Irving, 2007.
Explorer, North Pole: Barbara Hillary, 2007.
First Black President: Barack Obama, 2008.
