Black History Month Presentation 2027: 28 People to Feature, One a Day, With a 10-Slide Outline

Disclosure: NOXI publishes this guide and is the tool in its build section. Every outline, person and project here works in PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote or on paper. Each fact comes from an official, museum, university or encyclopaedic page checked 12 November 2026, numbered in the sources at the end.

You probably need a deck for a class, an assembly, a staff meeting or a church service in February, and you want the facts right. So this page gives you the theme, a calendar of 28 people with one checked fact each, a ready 10-slide outline, and shorter versions for younger children, offices and congregations. Pick your audience, then your time.

Black History Month presentation 2027: 28 people, one per day of February

February 2027 starts on a Monday and has 28 days, so the calendar falls into four clean weeks. Each week has a field; each day has one person and one fact you can put on a slide. The source number points to the page the fact was read from on 12 November 2026.

Key numbers

Six dates to anchor your opening slides, each read on 12 November 2026.

Black History Month 2027 theme: From Black Print Culture to Digital Blackness

The national theme comes from ASALH, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, which Carter G. Woodson led and which calls itself the founder of Black History Month. Its themes page lists the 2027 theme as "From Black Print Culture to Digital Blackness" and the 2026 theme as "A Century of Black History Commemorations" [1]. ASALH asks only one thing of anyone who uses the theme: cite asalh.org [1].

A note on how we read it. On 12 November 2026, asalh.org showed our reader a security check instead of the page on two separate tries, so the theme above was read from the Internet Archive's copy of asalh.org's own themes page, captured on 14 June 2026 [1]. If you print the theme on a slide, open asalh.org yourself the week you present.

What the theme means for a deck: it invites a story of how Black Americans used print, from Phillis Wheatley's poems of 1773 and Frederick Douglass's Narrative of 1845 to Ida B. Wells's reporting, and how that story continues on screens today. Several of the 28 people below wrote for print, so a theme slide can link straight to them.

How the month began: a short timeline

1. 9 September 1915: Woodson, George Cleveland Hall, William B. Hartgrove, Jesse E. Moorland, Alexander L. Jackson and James E. Stamps found the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History [1].
2. 1925: Woodson and the association announce Negro History Week [2].
3. February 1926: the first Negro History Week is celebrated during a week that took in the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass [2]. ASALH now sets a national theme each year [1].
4. 1976: in the nation's bicentennial year, the week becomes a month, and President Gerald R. Ford urges Americans to honour the accomplishments of Black Americans [2].
5. 1 October 1987: the first UK Black History Month event is held in London; the UK's month is in October [3].
6. 2026: ASALH's 100th theme, "A Century of Black History Commemorations" [1]. Canada's theme the same year marks 30 years of its February month [4].
7. February 2027: "From Black Print Culture to Digital Blackness" [1].

The UK in one line: Black History Month there is in October, dating from a first event on 1 October 1987, so a UK school deck belongs in the autumn term [3]. Canada keeps February [4].

Which version fits your room

Six quick routes. Each names the version and why it fits.

• If you teach ages 5 to 7 → the kids version: 6 slides and 10 minutes, starting with Ruby Bridges, who was six when she started first grade in a newly integrated school [28].
• If you teach grades 3 to 5 → the elementary version: 8 slides, the 1926 story, four people and a quiz, then one person a day on the board.
• If you teach grades 6 to 8 → the 10-slide outline below, with the 2027 theme and a timeline, and a research project for each student.
• If it is a staff meeting or lunch-and-learn → the workplace version: 7 slides in 15 minutes, built on the theme, with colleagues invited, never assigned, to speak.
• If you lead a church service → the church version, which starts with Richard Allen's Mother Bethel church of 1794 and Dr. King's pastorate at Dexter Avenue [33] [34].
• If you need the slides built tonight → use the outline below in PowerPoint or Google Slides, or paste one request into NOXI's Presentation format and edit the result by chat.

Black History Month presentation ideas: 10 angles beyond a list of names

A list of names is a start, not a presentation. These ten angles give the deck a question to answer. Each fits the 28 people above, and each has a short slide plan.

1. One person a day. A four-slide daily opener for February: who, when, the one fact, one question for the class. Best for: homeroom and morning meetings.
2. From print to digital (the 2027 theme). Wheatley's poems, Douglass's Narrative, Wells's reporting, Hughes's first book, then how stories are shared online now. Best for: middle school, high school, staff.
3. Firsts. Robinson in 1947, Gibson in 1956, Marshall in 1967, Chisholm in 1968, Jemison in 1992. Ask what each first made possible for the next person. Best for: ages 8 to 14.
4. Inventors and scientists. Banneker's survey, Carver at Iowa State, Williams at Provident Hospital, Morgan's traffic signal, Drew's blood bank work. Best for: science classes and STEM clubs.
5. To space and back. Katherine Johnson's trajectory work for the 1961 flight and Mae Jemison's 1992 mission, side by side. Best for: ages 7 to 12.
6. Olympians. Owens in Berlin in 1936 and Rudolph in Rome in 1960, with a map of both cities. Best for: PE and assemblies.
7. Voices on stage. Marian Anderson at the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 and Louis Armstrong's 1920s records. Play a licensed recording if your school allows it. Best for: music classes.
8. Words that lasted. Hughes, Hurston, Angelou and Morrison: one book each, the year and why it is still read. Best for: English classes, ages 12 and up.
9. Courage at school age. Ruby Bridges at six. A gentle deck about being brave and being kind. Best for: ages 5 to 9.
10. Our local history. One person or place from your own town, found through your library or historical society, beside one national name. Best for: any age; it makes the month personal.

For more topic angles in other subjects, see our presentation ideas and presentation topics pages.

The 28 people, with one sourced fact each

One sentence per person, written to go straight onto a slide. Each sentence names its source; the numbers match the list at the end. Where sources disagree on a detail, the sentence keeps only what the named page states.

Week 1, 1 to 7 February: learning, school and sport

1. Carter G. Woodson. In 1912 he earned a PhD in history from Harvard, the second Black American to graduate with a Harvard PhD after W.E.B. Du Bois, according to the National Park Service [26]. Slide idea: "The man who started it", with the 1926 week.
2. Mary McLeod Bethune. In October 1904 she opened the Daytona Educational and Industrial Institute in Daytona Beach, Florida, in a rented house with six students, five girls and her own son, says the National Park Service [27]. Slide idea: a school that started with six pupils.
3. Jesse Owens. At the 1936 Berlin Olympics he won four gold medals and tied the 100-metre world record of 10.3 seconds, according to Ohio State University Libraries [29]. Slide idea: four medals, four events.
4. Jackie Robinson. He made his National League debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers on 15 April 1947, and every Major League team marks Jackie Robinson Day on 15 April, says the National Baseball Hall of Fame [30]. Slide idea: the date every team remembers.
5. Althea Gibson. She won the French Championships in 1956 and Wimbledon and the US Nationals in 1957, the first African American to win each, according to the National Women's History Museum [31]. Slide idea: three trophies in two years.
6. Wilma Rudolph. At the 1960 Rome Olympics she won three gold medals, the first American woman to win three track and field golds at one Games, says the National Women's History Museum [32]. Slide idea: three golds at one Games.
7. Ruby Bridges. In November 1960, aged six, she started first grade at William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans, escorted by US Marshals, according to the National Women's History Museum [28]. Slide idea: a first day of school that changed history.

Week 2, 8 to 14 February: freedom and justice

8. Harriet Tubman. After escaping slavery, she spent ten years making about 13 trips back into Maryland to bring family and friends to freedom, says the National Park Service [19]. Slide idea: a map of the routes north.
9. Frederick Douglass. In 1845 he published his first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, which became a bestseller and helped the cause of abolition, according to the National Park Service [20]. Slide idea: the book as evidence.
10. Ida B. Wells. In 2020 the Pulitzer Prizes gave her a special citation for her reporting on violence against African Americans during the era of lynching [21]. Slide idea: a reporter who followed the evidence.
11. Thurgood Marshall. As the NAACP's chief counsel he helped lay the groundwork for Brown v. Board of Education, and on 2 October 1967 he became the first African American justice of the US Supreme Court, says the National Park Service [22]. Slide idea: from arguing cases to deciding them.
12. Rosa Parks. Her arrest on 1 December 1955 for refusing to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott, according to the National Park Service [23]. Slide idea: one seat, thirteen months of boycott.
13. Martin Luther King Jr. The Nobel Peace Prize of 1964 went to him "for his non-violent struggle for civil rights", in the Nobel Prize's own words [24]. Slide idea: the prize and the movement behind it.
14. Shirley Chisholm. First elected in 1968, she was the first African American congresswoman, and in 1972 she campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination, says the US House of Representatives' history office [25]. Slide idea: from Congress in 1968 to a presidential run in 1972.

Week 3, 15 to 21 February: science, medicine and invention

15. Benjamin Banneker. In February 1791 he became an assistant surveyor of the new federal district, making astronomical observations at Jones Point in Alexandria, Virginia, and he wrote and published almanacs, according to the Library of Congress [5]. Slide idea: mapping a capital by the stars.
16. George Washington Carver. When he began at Iowa State Agricultural College in 1891 he was its first Black student, and he later worked at the Tuskegee Institute for 47 years, says the National Park Service [6]. Slide idea: a scientist who taught farmers.
17. Daniel Hale Williams. He founded Provident Hospital and Training School in Chicago, which the US National Library of Medicine calls the first Black owned and operated hospital in the country, and operated on a patient's heart there in 1893 [7]. Slide idea: a hospital built for everyone.
18. Garrett Morgan. On 20 November 1923 he was granted a patent for an improved traffic signal with movable arms worked by a hand crank, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office [9]. Slide idea: the safety inventor.
19. Charles Drew. He helped create the Blood for Britain program during the Second World War, which led to what became the American Red Cross blood bank, says the US National Library of Medicine [8]. Slide idea: how stored blood saves lives.
20. Katherine Johnson. She did the trajectory analysis for Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 flight in May 1961 and checked the orbital maths for John Glenn's flight in 1962, according to NASA [10]. Slide idea: maths that sent people to space.
21. Mae Jemison. Selected as an astronaut candidate in 1987, she became the first African American woman in space, flying aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-47 in September 1992, says NASA [11]. Slide idea: doctor, engineer, astronaut.

Week 4, 22 to 28 February: arts and words

22. Phillis Wheatley. Her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was published in London in 1773, and she is broadly recognised as the first African American to publish a book of poetry, according to the National Women's History Museum [12]. Slide idea: the 2027 theme starts here, in print.
23. Langston Hughes. His first book of poems, The Weary Blues, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926, notes the Library of Congress [13]. Slide idea: a poet of the Harlem Renaissance; read one poem from a library copy.
24. Louis Armstrong. Born in New Orleans on 4 August 1901, he began recording under his own name in 1925, and his improvised solos on the Hot Five and Hot Seven records turned jazz into a soloist's art, says the Louis Armstrong House Museum [15]. Slide idea: a trumpet that changed music.
25. Zora Neale Hurston. Her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God was first published in 1937, and she wrote it in seven weeks, according to the National Endowment for the Arts [14]. Slide idea: a novel rescued from obscurity decades later.
26. Marian Anderson. On Easter Sunday, 9 April 1939, she sang on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to an integrated crowd of 75,000 people, says the National Park Service [16]. Slide idea: a concert that became a civil rights symbol.
27. Maya Angelou. The first coin of the US Mint's American Women Quarters Program, shipped from January 2022, shows her with her arms uplifted, a bird in flight and a rising sun, according to the US Mint [17]. Slide idea: look for her on a quarter.
28. Toni Morrison. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, according to the Nobel Prize's own record [18]. Slide idea: a closing slide on stories that last.

Want a different 28? Swap in people from your own field or town, and hold each new fact to the same test: one sentence, one named source, one date.

A 10-slide Black History Month PowerPoint outline (grades 6 to 8, 20 minutes)

This is the deck most teachers and student presenters ask for: ten slides, one idea each, with a timeline and a class activity. It works for a student project as well as a teacher's lesson. Use illustrations or rights-cleared archival photos, and put each source in small type at the foot of its slide.

1. Cover: "Black History Month 2027: From Print to Digital", the theme in small type with "Source: asalh.org", your class and the date.
2. Why February: Woodson's first Negro History Week in 1926 took in the birthdays of Lincoln and Douglass; it became a month in 1976 [2].
3. Timeline: 1915 association founded, 1926 first week, 1976 a month, 1987 the UK's October month, 2026 the 100th theme, 2027 this year's theme [1] [2] [3].
4. The 2027 theme: from print to digital, with Wheatley (1773), Douglass (1845) and Hughes (1926) as three print milestones [12] [20] [13].
5. Five in science: Banneker, Carver, Drew, Katherine Johnson and Mae Jemison, one line each.
6. Five in the arts: Wheatley, Hughes, Armstrong, Anderson and Morrison, one line each.
7. Five in civil rights and law: Tubman, Douglass, Parks, Marshall and King, one line each.
8. One story in depth: Ruby Bridges at six, or Katherine Johnson's maths for the 1961 flight. Pick the one your class will remember.
9. Class activity: each student picks one of the 28, writes one sentence and its source, and adds it to the class timeline.
10. Sources and thanks: every page you used, with the date you opened it.

Twenty minutes splits as two minutes on slides 1 to 2, three on the timeline, three on the theme, two minutes each on slides 5 to 8, and four for the activity and close. For timeline layouts that read well from the back of a room, see our timeline templates.

Versions by audience: kids, elementary, workplace and church

The same 28 people, cut to the room. Times are for presenting; slide counts include the cover.

Black History Month presentation for kids (ages 5 to 7, 6 slides, 10 minutes)

Short sentences, big pictures, one question per slide. Illustrations work better than old photos for this age, and they avoid any confusion about who is real.

1. What is Black History Month? "Every February we learn about Black Americans who changed history."
2. Ruby Bridges: she was six, like some of you, when she started at a new school in 1960 [28]. Ask: how would you help a new classmate?
3. Mae Jemison: a doctor who flew into space in 1992 [11]. Ask: where would you fly?
4. Jackie Robinson: his first big league game was on 15 April 1947 [30]. Ask: what is your favourite sport?
5. Maya Angelou: a writer whose picture is on a quarter [17]. Bring one in, if you have it, and pass it round.
6. Your turn: draw a person you think is brave, and say one kind thing about them.

Black History Month presentation for elementary students (grades 3 to 5, 8 slides, 15 minutes)

1. Cover: "Black History Month 2027", with an illustrated calendar of February.
2. How it started: Carter G. Woodson's Negro History Week, February 1926 [2] [26].
3. A simple timeline: 1926 a week, 1976 a month, 2027 this year's theme [1] [2].
4. Harriet Tubman: about 13 trips to lead family and friends to freedom [19].
5. George Washington Carver: Iowa State's first Black student, then 47 years at Tuskegee [6].
6. Katherine Johnson: the maths behind a 1961 space flight [10].
7. Wilma Rudolph: three Olympic golds in Rome in 1960 [32].
8. Quiz and calendar: four questions from the slides, then one person a day on the class board for the rest of February.

Black History Month presentation for middle school (grades 6 to 8)

Use the 10-slide outline above, and turn slide 9 into a research project: each student takes one person, finds one more fact on a museum, university or government page, and presents it in 60 seconds with its source.

Black History Month presentation for work (7 slides, 15 minutes)

For a lunch-and-learn or a staff meeting. Keep it optional, inside working hours, and invite colleagues to share rather than asking any one person to speak for a community. Check your organisation's own policy on observances first.

1. Cover: the 2027 theme and "Source: asalh.org" [1].
2. Why February, why a theme: 1926, 1976 and ASALH's yearly theme [1] [2].
3. The theme at work: print to digital, and how information reaches people in your own field.
4. Three people from your field: for a hospital, Williams and Drew; for engineering, Banneker, Morgan and Katherine Johnson; for law, Marshall; for media, Wells and Douglass.
5. Local history: one person or place from your city, found with your local library.
6. What we will read or watch this month: a short list chosen by the group.
7. Thanks and sources.

Black History Month presentation for church (6 slides, 10 to 15 minutes)

For a service, a youth group or a fellowship hour. Let your minister choose any reading, and keep each slide to one sentence and one picture.

1. Welcome: "Black History Month 2027" and the theme [1].
2. Richard Allen and Mother Bethel: in 1794 Allen formed (Mother) Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, says the National Park Service [34].
3. Dr. King the pastor: he served as pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, from 1954 to 1960 [33], and in December 1955 his city's bus boycott began after Rosa Parks's arrest [23].
4. Marian Anderson on Easter Sunday: 9 April 1939, the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, 75,000 people [16].
5. Our own church's story: founders, pastors and members from your church's records, with their families' permission for any photos.
6. Reflection and prayer: led by your minister.

Black History Month project ideas for students, by grade

Ten projects that end in a short presentation, each with the grades it suits. Every one asks students to name a source, which is the habit worth building in February.

For group projects, the roles and handovers in our group presentation ideas guide work here too, and teachers planning the month can start from our lesson plan templates.

Pictures: archival photos, illustrations and what to avoid

A history deck lives or dies on its pictures, and this is where well-meant decks go wrong.

• Archival photos: museum and library collections hold many photos of the 28 people. Check each photo's rights statement and credit line before you use it, and print the credit on the slide.
• Illustrations: drawn or generated pictures of settings, objects and moments, such as a 1940s blood bank, a school door, a trumpet or a shuttle launch, are safe and often clearer for children.
• Never present an AI picture as a photo of a real person. If you use a drawn portrait, label it as an illustration. A made-up "photo" of Harriet Tubman teaches the wrong history.
• Avoid caricature: no exaggerated features, no costume "dress-up" slides, and no stereotyped clip art.

Black History Month presentation PDF: print, share or hand out

A PDF is the safest way to share a finished deck: it looks the same on every screen and prints cleanly. Every major presentation app can save or export a PDF from its file menu. Three tips:

• For handouts, print the timeline slide and the 28-day calendar on one sheet each; they work on a classroom wall for the whole month.
• For sharing, keep source lines on every slide so the PDF still carries its evidence when it is forwarded.
• For downloads you find online, check the facts against the sources on this page, because free PDFs are rarely dated and many repeat old themes.

If students will build their own decks on a phone, our sibling guide on how to make a PowerPoint on your phone shows the steps app by app.

Ready requests to paste

These work in NOXI and most AI presentation tools. Replace the brackets, then check every fact against its source.

Make a Black History Month PowerPoint in NOXI from one request

NOXI (noxi.ai) is an AI maker for presentations and documents: you describe what you need in one request, and it builds a designed deck or document in one of 14 formats; the free plan covers five documents a month, downloads carry no watermark, and files export to PowerPoint, Word and PDF.

Here is the 10-slide middle-school deck from Request 1, start to finish. The engine itself is described in our NOXI 2.0 launch article.

NOXI is free to start: the free plan covers five documents a month, and every change after that, by chat or by hand, is free. New accounts get a welcome gift to use in their first 14 days, and no credit card is needed. Teachers comparing tools can see our guide to AI presentation tools for teachers, and our page on AI presentations with research citations explains how sources stay on slides.

What to check before you present

A history deck is judged on its facts. Ten minutes with this list prevents most mistakes.

Black History Month presentation questions people ask

What is the Black History Month theme for 2027?

ASALH, the association that founded Black History Month, lists "From Black Print Culture to Digital Blackness" as the 2027 national theme. The 2026 theme was "A Century of Black History Commemorations", ASALH's 100th. ASALH asks anyone using the theme to cite asalh.org, so put that source line on your cover slide.

What should a Black History Month presentation include?

A cover with the year's theme, why the month is in February, a short timeline from 1926 to today, a few people with one sourced fact each, one story told in depth, an activity or question for the audience, and a sources slide. Ten slides and about twenty minutes suits most classes in grades 6 to 8.

What are good Black History Month presentation ideas?

Ten that work: one person a day, the 2027 print to digital theme, firsts, inventors and scientists, space from Katherine Johnson to Mae Jemison, Olympians, voices on stage, books that lasted, courage at school age with Ruby Bridges, and your own local history. Each angle gives the deck a question, not just a list of names.

What are easy Black History Month project ideas for kids?

For ages 5 to 7, a person-of-the-day card read each morning or a drawing about Ruby Bridges's first day of school. For ages 7 to 10, a one-slide report on the Maya Angelou quarter or an Olympic map of Berlin 1936 and Rome 1960. Each ends with one sentence the child presents, with its source.

How do I make a Black History Month presentation for elementary students?

Keep it to about eight slides and fifteen minutes: a cover, how Woodson's week began in 1926, a simple timeline, four people with one fact each such as Tubman, Carver, Katherine Johnson and Wilma Rudolph, and a short quiz. Use large type, illustrations and one question per slide.

What can a church include in a Black History Month presentation?

Six slides fit a service: the 2027 theme, Richard Allen forming Mother Bethel AME Church in Philadelphia in 1794, Dr. King's pastorate at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church from 1954 to 1960, Marian Anderson's Easter Sunday concert in 1939, your own church's history, and a reflection led by your minister.

Why is Black History Month in February?

Because Carter G. Woodson's first Negro History Week, celebrated in February 1926, was set in a week that took in the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, according to the Library of Congress. The week became a month in 1976, the United States bicentennial year, with a call from President Gerald R. Ford.

When is Black History Month in the UK and Canada?

In the UK it is October: the first UK Black History Month event was held on 1 October 1987, and the UK month is still held in October. Canada marks Black History Month in February, like the United States, and its 2026 theme celebrated thirty years of the observance. Check each country's own theme before presenting.

Can I use AI pictures in a Black History Month presentation?

Yes, for places, objects and moments, such as a school door in 1960 or a shuttle launch, labelled as illustrations. Never present an AI picture as a photo of a real person. For portraits, use archival photos whose rights statement allows your use, and print the credit line on the slide.

Can AI make a Black History Month PowerPoint for me?

Yes. In NOXI, keep the Presentation format and describe the deck in one request, such as ten slides for grade 7 with a timeline, the 2027 theme and illustrations. NOXI researches the live web and keeps each fact's source, designs the deck, shares a view link with the class and exports to PowerPoint. The free plan covers five documents a month.

Sources & methodology

How this guide was made: every date, theme, figure and achievement comes from the official, museum, university or encyclopaedic page below, each checked 12 November 2026. The calendar order, angles, outlines, times, grade bands and projects are editorial recommendations. Grace Community Church and Rev. Samuel Price in Request 3 are fictional. No poems, lyrics or long quotations are reproduced. Where pages disagree on a detail, such as which surgery came first or how a "first" is defined, we kept only what the named page states.

• [1] 2027: From Black Print Culture to Digital Blackness; 2026: A Century of Black History Commemorations ("For our 100th theme"); 2028: Black American Citizenship, 1868-2028; ASNLH founded 9 September 1915 by Woodson, Hall, Hartgrove, Moorland, Jackson and Stamps; Woodson established Negro History Week in 1926 and realised the importance of a theme; the only requirement for using the theme is to cite asalh.org · ASALH, Black History Themes; asalh.org returned a Cloudflare security check on 12 November 2026 (and again on a second try that day), so the page was read from the Internet Archive capture of 14 June 2026, checked 12 November 2026.
• [2] Woodson and the ASNLH conceived and announced Negro History Week in 1925; first celebrated during a week in February 1926 that encompassed the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass; expanded to a month in 1976, the nation's bicentennial, when President Gerald R. Ford urged Americans to honour the accomplishments of Black Americans · Library of Congress and partners, African American History Month, About, checked 12 November 2026.
• [3] "The first Black History Month event in the UK was held on the 1st October 1987", launched in London with the London Strategic Policy Unit · Black History Month UK, The Origins of Black History: an interview with Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, checked 12 November 2026.
• [4] Each February, people across Canada take part in Black History Month; 2026 theme: 30 Years of Black History Month: Honouring Black Brilliance Across Generations, From Nation Builders to Tomorrow's Visionaries; no 2027 theme shown · Government of Canada, Black History Month, checked 12 November 2026.
• [5] In February 1791 Banneker travelled to Virginia to serve as an official assistant surveyor to Andrew Ellicott, made astronomical observations at Jones Point in Alexandria, and wrote and published almanacs · Library of Congress, In Custodia Legis, Benjamin Banneker: Surveyor, City Planner, Astronomer (21 February 2024), checked 12 November 2026.
• [6] Carver began at Iowa State Agricultural College in 1891 as its first Black student; master's degree 1896; worked at the Tuskegee Institute for 47 years; Congress authorised George Washington Carver National Monument in July 1943 · National Park Service, George Washington Carver, checked 12 November 2026.
• [7] Daniel Hale Williams, founder of Provident Hospital and Training School in Chicago, "the first black owned and operated hospital in the United States"; performed heart surgery at Provident in 1893 (the page calls it the world's first open heart surgery; other accounts qualify that claim, so we state only the operation) · US National Library of Medicine, Opening Doors exhibition, checked 12 November 2026.
• [8] Drew helped create the Blood for Britain Program during World War II, which led to the American Red Cross Blood Bank · US National Library of Medicine, Father of the Blood Bank, checked 12 November 2026.
• [9] On November 20, 1923, Garrett Morgan was granted a patent for his improved traffic signal, with movable arms adjusted by a hand crank; inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame · US Patent and Trademark Office, Of courage and caution, checked 12 November 2026.
• [10] Johnson did trajectory analysis for Alan Shepard's May 1961 Freedom 7 mission and checked the orbital math for John Glenn's 1962 flight; Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015 · NASA, Katherine Johnson biography, checked 12 November 2026.
• [11] Selected as an astronaut candidate in 1987, Jemison became the first African American woman in space; STS-47 aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, September 1992 · NASA, Former Astronaut Mae C. Jemison, checked 12 November 2026.
• [12] Wheatley is broadly recognised as the first African American and the second US woman to publish a book of poetry; Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, published in London after her journey of March 1773 (biography revised 2026) · National Women's History Museum, Phillis Wheatley, checked 12 November 2026.
• [13] Hughes's first book of poems, The Weary Blues, accepted by Alfred A. Knopf and published in 1926 · Library of Congress, Folklife Today, Langston Hughes: Experimental Folklorist, checked 12 November 2026.
• [14] Their Eyes Were Watching God, published 1937, written in only seven weeks, rescued from obscurity four decades later · National Endowment for the Arts, NEA Big Read, checked 12 November 2026.
• [15] Armstrong born in New Orleans on August 4, 1901; recorded under his own name from 1925; the Hot Five and Hot Seven records are the most influential in jazz; his improvised solos transformed jazz from an ensemble-based music into a soloist's art · Louis Armstrong House Museum, Biography, checked 12 November 2026.
• [16] Easter Sunday, April 9, 1939: Anderson sang on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to an integrated crowd of 75,000 people; the concert became a symbol for civil rights activism · National Park Service, Marian Anderson and Constitution Hall, checked 12 November 2026.
• [17] The Mint began shipping the first coins in the American Women Quarters Program, honouring Maya Angelou, in January 2022 (release dated January 10, 2022); reverse shows her with arms uplifted, a bird in flight and a rising sun · United States Mint, press release, checked 12 November 2026.
• [18] Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize in Literature 1993 · The Nobel Prize, Toni Morrison facts, checked 12 November 2026.
• [19] Tubman escaped five years after her 1844 marriage and spent the next ten years making about 13 trips into Maryland to rescue family and friends; she also gave instructions to about 70 more · National Park Service, Harriet Tubman, checked 12 November 2026.
• [20] In 1845 Douglass published his first autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, which became a bestseller and was influential in promoting abolition · National Park Service, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, checked 12 November 2026.
• [21] 2020 Pulitzer Prize special citation to Ida B. Wells "for her outstanding and courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans during the era of lynching" · The Pulitzer Prizes, Ida B. Wells, checked 12 November 2026.
• [22] Marshall, the Supreme Court's 96th justice and first African American justice, sworn in 2 October 1967; as NAACP chief counsel he helped lay the groundwork for Brown v. Board of Education, decided 17 May 1954 · National Park Service, Thurgood Marshall; nomination 13 June 1967 and confirmation 30 August 1967 from the Federal Judicial Center, both checked 12 November 2026.
• [23] Parks's arrest on December 1, 1955, launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott by 17,000 Black citizens; the buses were desegregated thirteen months later · National Park Service, Rosa Parks, checked 12 November 2026.
• [24] Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Peace Prize 1964, "for his non-violent struggle for civil rights for the Afro-American population" · The Nobel Prize, Martin Luther King Jr. facts, checked 12 November 2026.
• [25] "The first African-American Congresswoman", first elected in 1968; campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972 · US House of Representatives, History, Art and Archives, Shirley Anita Chisholm, checked 12 November 2026.
• [26] In 1912 Woodson earned his PhD in history from Harvard, the second Black American after W.E.B. Du Bois to graduate with a PhD from Harvard · National Park Service, Carter G. Woodson, checked 12 November 2026.
• [27] In October 1904 the Daytona Educational and Industrial Institute opened with Bethune as president, in a rented house with six students, five girls and her own son · National Park Service, Mary McLeod Bethune, checked 12 November 2026.
• [28] Louisiana schools began to desegregate on November 14, 1960; Bridges, aged six, attended William Frantz Elementary School as a first grader, escorted by US Marshals · National Women's History Museum, Ruby Bridges, checked 12 November 2026.
• [29] Owens won four Olympic gold medals in Berlin in 1936, tied the world record of 10.3 seconds in the 100 metres and set Olympic records in the 200 metres and long jump · Ohio State University Libraries, 1936 Olympics, checked 12 November 2026.
• [30] National League debut on April 15, 1947, as Brooklyn's first baseman; every Major League team celebrates Jackie Robinson Day on April 15 · National Baseball Hall of Fame, Jackie Robinson, checked 12 November 2026.
• [31] Gibson won the French Championships in 1956 and Wimbledon and the US Nationals in 1957, the first African American to win each · National Women's History Museum, Althea Gibson; her 11 major titles from 1956 to 1958 are listed by the International Tennis Hall of Fame, both checked 12 November 2026.
• [32] At the 1960 Rome Olympics Rudolph won three gold medals, the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field at the same Games · National Women's History Museum, Wilma Rudolph, checked 12 November 2026.
• [33] Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. served as pastor from 1954 to 1960 · National Park Service, Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, checked 12 November 2026.
• [34] Richard Allen continued to minister to the community through his formation of (Mother) Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1794 · National Park Service, Independence National Historical Park, Free African Society, checked 12 November 2026.