Bessie Coleman

Bessie Coleman (1892 – 1926), a pilot, was the first to earn an international pilot license in 1921.

Georgiana Simpson

Georgiana Simpson (1866 – 1944), an educator, was the first to receive a Ph.D. in German from the University of Chicago in 1921.

Etta Moten Barnett

Etta Moten Barnett (1901 - 2004), an actress, was the first to entertain at the White House, in 1934.

Janet Harmon Bragg

Janet Harmon Bragg ( b. March 22, 1907), an aviator, was the first to earn a commercial pilot’s license in 1934.

Margaret Burroughs

Margaret Burroughs ( November 1, 1915 - 2010), an educator, artist, author and legend was known as the First Lady of African American Art Movement.

Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks (1917 - 2000), a poet, was the first to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (Annie Allen) in 1949.

Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry (1930 - 1965), a writer and author, was the first to receive the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for A Raisin in the Sun in 1959.

Jewel S. Lafontant Mankarious

Jewel S. Lafontant Mankarious (1922 – 1997), a lawyer, was the first to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1963.

Katherine Dunham

Katherine Dunham (1909 - 2006), a choreographer and dancer, was the first to choreograph for the Metropolitan Opera, in its new production of Aida during the 1963-64 seasons.

Margaret Rosezarian

Margaret Rosezarian (1943 - 2000), a musician and educator, was the first to conduct the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, and thirteen other cities in the 1970’s.

Ethel L. Payne

Ethel L. Payne (1911 – 1991), a journalist and civil rights activist, was known as the “First Lady of the Black Press”, (affiliated with the Chicago Defender), was the first radio and television commentator to be employed by a national network in 1971.

Cardiss Collins

Cardiss Collins (1931 – 2013), was the first to represent Illinois and the Midwest in Congress in 1973. She was also the first to chair the Congressional Black Caucus in 1979.

Carole Simpson

Carole Simpson (b. December 7, 1940) is an American broadcast journalist, news anchor, and author. Simpson, a graduate of the University of Michigan, began her career on radio at WCFL in Chicago, Illinois, and was later hired at WBBM. She moved to television at Chicago's WMAQ and onto NBC News in 1975, becoming the first African-American woman to anchor a major network newscast. She joined ABC News in 1982, and was an anchor for the weekend edition of World News Tonight from 1988 until October 2003.

Barbara Sizemore

Barbara Sizemore (1927-2004), a teacher and researcher, was the first to head a public school system, when she was elected Superintendent of the District of Columbia Schools in 1973.

Jewel Plummer Cobb

Jewel Plummer Cobb (b. 1924), an educator, was the first to become president of a major west coast university, California State University at Fullerton in 1981.

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey (b. January 29, 1954) an American media proprietor and philanthropists, was the first to form and create her own television and film production company (Harpo Productions in 1986). She was the first to become a billionaire, and additionally was the first producer to be nominated for an Academy Award (Selma 2014).

Carol Mosley Braun

Carol Mosley Braun was the first to be elected to the United States Senate in 1992.

Mae Jemison

Mae Jemison (b. October 17, 1956), physician and NASA astronaut, became the first to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, on September 12, 1992.

Mahalia Jackson

Mahalia Jackson (1911 - 1972), a civil rights activist and gospel singer, is referred to as the Queen of Gospel and was the First to be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, for her 1948 recording of Move On Up A Little Higher.

Linda Johnson Rice

Linda Johnson Rice (b. May 22, 1958), was the first to be named Chief Executive Officer of Johnson Publishing Company in 2002, a company listed among the top five of the Black Enterprise 100’s (the nation’s largest black-owned companies)

Lula M. Ford

Lula M. Ford (b. 1945), an educator and commissioner, was the first in its 95-year history, to be appointed to the Illinois Commerce Commission in 2003, by Governor Rod Blagojevich. She was reappointed to a second term in January 2008.

Robin Lynne Kelly

Robin Lynne Kelly (b. April 30, 1956), a politician, was the first to serve as the U.S. Representative for the 2nd Congressional District of Illinois, elected in 2013.

Shonda Rhimes

Shonda Rhimes (b. January 13, 1970), a writer and producer, was the first to create and produce a top-rated TV series, Grey’s Anatomy in 2004. She has since created and/or produced other highly popular shows such as Scandal, and How to Get Away with Murder.

Bobbie Steele

Bobbie Steele (b. October 18, 1937), an educator and community activist, was the first to head the Cook County Board of Commissioners, assuming the position on August 1, 2006.

Valerie Jarrett

Valerie Jarrett (b. November 14, 1956), an attorney, was the first to become a Senior Advisor to the President of the United States, and an Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. She was appointed to these positions in January 2009 by President Barack Obama.

Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama (b. January 17, 1964), a lawyer and author is the 44th First Lady of the United States of America. She assumed the role of First Lady in January 2009.

Desiree Rogers

Desiree Rogers (b. June 16, 1959), was the first to hold the position of White House Social Secretary, an appointment made by President Barack Obama in 2009.

Ayanna Pressley

Ayanna Pressley (b. February 3, 1974) in Chicago, Illinois and is a graduate of Francis W. Parker School in 1992. In 2018, she was the First black woman to be elected to Congress from Massachusetts.

Patricia Roberts Harris

Patricia Roberts Harris (May 31, 1924-March 23, 1985) in Mattoon, Illinois and was the first to hold a Cabinet position, serve as U.S. ambassador and head a law school.

Niva Lubin-Johnson

Since the founding of the National Medical Association in 1895, Dr. Niva Lubin-Johnson will be only the third person, and the First female, to serve as President, Speaker, and Chair of the Board of Trustees. She was born in Chicago, Illinois and has been in private practice for 28 years (in the neighborhood where she grew up and currently resides).

Toni Preckwinkle

Toni Preckwinkle (March 17, 1947) is an American politician and the First Black women to become Cook County Board President in Cook County, Illinois, United States in November 2010.

Lucia “Lucy” Kay McBath

Lucia “Lucy” Kay McBath was born in Joliet, Illinois, U.S., on June 1, 1960. She is an American gun control advocate and First black woman elected to the United States House of Representatives from Georgia's 6th congressional district. Her son Jordan Davis was shot and killed in November 2012.

Juliana Stratton

Juliana Stratton (b. September 8, 1965) is an American lawyer and politician, the 48th and current lieutenant governor of Illinois, since 2019. She is the First African American woman to become Illinois' lieutenant governor.

Lauren Ashley Underwood

Lauren Ashley Underwood (b. October 4, 1986) is an American nurse and politician who will be the First black women to serve as the U.S. Representative for Illinois's 14th congressional district. Upon her swearing in, Underwood became the youngest black woman to serve in Congress.

Willa Beatrice Brown

Willa Beatrice Brown (b. January 22, 1906-July 18, 1992) became the First African-American woman in the U.S. to earn a commercial pilot’s license in 1937. Brown achieved another distinction in 1941, when she became the First black officer in the U.S. Civil Air Patrol (CAP); she was commissioned a Lieutenant. Brown became a co-founder of the National Airmen's Association of America. Brown was the director/coordinator of two Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) programs: one at the Harlem Airport and the other at Wendell Phillips High School in Chicago.

Zelda “Jackie” Ormes

Zelda “Jackie” Ormes (August 1, 1911-December 26, 1985) is widely considered the First African American cartoonist in the United States. She created four comic strips, Torchy Brown in Dixie to Harlem (1937), Candy (1945), Patty Jo ‘n’ Ginger (1946), and Torchy Brown, Heartbeats (1950). In 1945, at The Chicago Defender, she created brief comic strip titled Candy which ran for four months on the editorial page.

Sarah Goode

Sarah Goode (1850 - 1905), an inventor and entrepreneur, was the first African American woman to be granted a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, for invention of a folding cabinet bed in 1885.

Ida Gray Nelson Rollins

Ida Gray Nelson Rollins 1867 – 1953), a dentist, was the first to earn a dental –surgeon degree when she graduated in 1890 from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Ida B. Wells

Ida B. Wells (1862 – 1931), a civil rights activist, journalist, and crusader of justice, was the first writer to document lynching of African Americans in the South in the 1890s.

Annie Turnbo Malone

Annie Turnbo Malone (1869 – 1957), an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and scientist, was recorded as the first U.S millionaire in 1920. The income was received from her beauty and cosmetic enterprise located in St. Louis and Chicago.