Originalpeople.org

Fannie Lou Hamer (/ˈheɪmər/; née Townsend; October 6, 1917 – March 14, 1977) was an American voting and women’s rights activist, community organizer, and a leader in the civil rights…

Mae Carol Jemison (born October 17, 1956) is an American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel into space when she served as…

Katherine Mary Dunham (June 22, 1909 – May 21, 2006) was an American dancer, choreographer, creator of the Dunham Technique, author, educator, anthropologist, and social activist. Dunham had one of…

Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, c. February 1817 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland,…

Martin Robison Delany (May 6, 1812 – January 24, 1885) was an abolitionist, journalist, physician, soldier, and writer, and arguably the first proponent of black nationalism. Delany is credited with…

Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. (December 18, 1912 – July 4, 2002) was a United States Air Force (USAF) general and commander of the World War II Tuskegee Airmen. He was…

Alexander Crummell (March 3, 1819 – September 10, 1898) was a pioneering African-American minister, academic and African nationalist. Ordained as an Episcopal priest in the United States, Crummell went to…

William Henry Cosby Jr. (/ˈkɒzbi/; born July 12, 1937) is an American retired stand-up comedian, actor, and author. Cosby began his career as a stand-up comic at the hungry i…

John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane…

John Henrik Clarke (born John Henry Clark; January 1, 1915 – July 16, 1998) was an American historian, professor, and pioneer in the creation of Pan-African and Africana studies and…