Lucy Prince Terry

Lucy Prince Terry (c. 1730-1821), a poet, abolitionist and orator who argued a case before the Supreme Court, was the author of the first poem, Bars Fight, a ballad published in 1746.

Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), a pioneering African-American poet and slave, was the first to publish a book in 1773. Her book of poems was entitled, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral.

Jarena Lee

Jarena Lee (1783-?), an evangelist and itinerate preacher, was the first sanctioned to preach in the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church by founder Richard Allen, during the 1800s.

Mary Elizabeth Lange

Mary Elizabeth Lange (1784-1882), an organizational founder of the first Black Religious Order in the United States, in 1829

Sojourner Truth

Sojourner Truth (Isabella Baumfree, 1797-1883), an abolitionist and women’s rights activist was the first to have a sculpture permanently placed in Emancipation Hall of the United States Capitol building, in 2009.

Maria Stewart

Maria Stewart (1803-1879), a journalist, lecturer, abolitionist, and women’s rights activist, was the first to address a diverse audience on the topic of abolition, in Boston on September 21, 1832.

Elizabeth Keckley

Elizabeth Keckley (1818-1907), a fashion designer, was a slave who purchased her freedom and became the first to serve as a personal confidante, companion, and dress designer for Mary Todd Lincoln [wife of President Abraham Lincoln) from 1861 - 1865.

Elizabeth Freeman

Elizabeth Freeman (Mum Betts, (1742-1829), an abolitionist, was the first slave to successfully sue for her freedom, encouraging Massachusetts to abolish slavery in 1781.

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield (1819-1876), a concert artist, was the first to win recognition outside of the United States when she gave a command performance for England's Queen Victoria, at Buckingham Palace in 1853.

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman (Araminta Harriet Ross, c.1822-1913), an abolitionist, humanitarian, Civil War spy, was the first to become a conductor of the Underground railroad and the first to be honored on a U.S. Postage Stamp, in 1978.

Mary Ann Shadd Carey

Mary Ann Shadd Carey (1823-1893), an abolitionist, journalist, publisher, teacher and lawyer, was the first newspaper editor. She began publishing a weekly paper, the Provincial Freeman in 1853, which had the motto, “Self-reliance is the true road to independence.”

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911), an abolitionist and author whose antislavery verse, Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects (1854) sold thousands of copies and her work, The Two Offers (1859) was the first short story published by an African-American.

Harriett E. Wilson

Harriett E. Wilson (1825-1900), a writer, was the first to publish a novel, Our Nig: Sketchesfrom the Life of a Free Black, in 1859.

Sarah James Woodson Early

Sarah James Woodson Early (1825-1907), an educator abolitionist, and feminist, was the first to become a college professor, at Wilberforce University, in 1859.

Lucy Stanton

Lucy Stanton (1831 – 1910), an educator and abolitionist is believed to be the first to graduate from college, completing a Ladies Literary Course from Oberlin College, in 1850.

Rebecca Lee Crumpler

Rebecca Lee Crumpler (1831-1895), a medical doctor, was the first to earn a medical degree in 1864, from what is now Boston College School of Medicine.

Mary (Stagecoach) Fields

Mary (Stagecoach) Fields (1832-1914), a postal service worker, was the first to become a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in 1895 Montana, at approximately age 60.

Charlotte Forten Grimke

Charlotte Forten Grimke (1837-1914), an educator, poet, and abolitionist, was the first teacher in the world to work with white students, at the Salem Public School in 1855.

Fanny Jackson Coppin

Fanny Jackson Coppin (1837-1913), an educator and missionary, was the first to receive the title of Principal at the Institute for Colored Youth, in Philadelphia in 1869.

Mary Jane Patterson

Mary Jane Patterson (1840-1894), an educator, was the first to receive a B.A. Degree from Oberlin College, in 1862.

Cathay Williams

Cathay Williams (1842-1892), a Buffalo soldier, was enlisted as male Williams Cathay, in the U.S. Army in 1866. She became the first and only known female Buffalo Soldier.

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin (1842-1924), a publisher, journalist and civil rights activist, was the editor of the first African-American women’s newspaper, Women Era from 1890-1897

Edmonia Lewis

Edmonia Lewis (1845 – 1907), an artist, was the first to become a professional sculptor in the U.S., during the 1860s.

Mary Eliza Mahoney

Mary Eliza Mahoney (1845-1926), a nurse, was the first to graduate with a nursing degree from the New England Hospital for Women and Children, in Boston in 1879.

Susie King Taylor

Susie King Taylor (1848-1912), the first nurse with the 33rd U.S. Colored Troop during the Civil War, from 1861-1865, and the first teacher to openly instruct former slaves, in a school in Georgia.

Charlotte E. Ray

Charlotte E. Ray (1850-1911), was the first permitted to practice law in the United States, in 1872.

Lucy Craft Laney

Lucy Craft Laney (1854-1933), a famous educator, was the founder of the first school for black children, in Augusta, Georgia in 1883.

Sarah Goode

Sarah Goode (1855-1905), an entrepreneur and inventor, was the first to be granted a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office for the invention of a folding bed, in 1885.

Anna Julia Cooper

Anna Julia Cooper (1858-1964),a distinguished scholar, author, and pioneering black feminist was the first to publish a black feminist analysis, A Voice from the South, in 1892.

Ida Burnett Wells

Ida Burnett 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, during the 1890s.

Mary Church Terrell

Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954), an educator and activist, was the first president of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896, and was the first to serve on the Washington, D.C. School Board, in 1898.

Maggie Lena Walker

Maggie Lena Walker (1864-1934), a teacher and businesswoman, was the first to become a bank president [St Luke Penney Savings BANK, Richmond VA], in 1903.

Georgiana Simpson

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

Mary Burnett Talbert

Mary Burnett Talbert (1866-1923),a civil rights and ant-lynching activist was the first to receive the NAACP Spingam Medal Award, in 1922.

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.

Madame C. J. Walker

Madame C. J. Walker (Sarah Breedlove,1867-1919), a civil rights activist, philanthropist and entrepreneur, was regarded as the first to become a self – made millionaire; however, history now records her mentor in the hair care industry, Annie Turnbo Malone, as the first millionaire.

Sissieretta Jones

Sissieretta Jones (1868-1933), performed at the White House for President Benjamin Harrision in 1892, and was the first world famous soprano to perform at carnegie Hall, in New York in 1892.

Annie Turnbo Malone

Annie Turnbo Malone (1869-1957), an entrepreneur, philanthropist and scientist, was the first U.S. millionaire, based on her company's assets of fourteen million dollars, in 1920. She was a mentor to Madame C. J. Walker and introduced her to the black hair care industry.

Charlotta Bass

Charlotta Bass (1874-1969), a newspaper publisher-editor and civil rights activist, was the first to be named to the Progressive Party as the nominee for Vice President of the United States, in 1952.

Mary Annette Anderson

Mary Annette Anderson (1874-1922), an American professor, was the first to be inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society, in 1899.

Mary McLeod Bethune

Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955), an educator and civil rights activist, was first to head a federal agency, as Director of the Division of Negro Affairs. She was appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1930. She was also the first to establish a school with five students that continues to function today.

Lucy Diggs Slowe

(1883-1937), an educator, was the first president of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority in 1908, was first to serve as dean of any American University (Howard) in 1922, an athlete, was first to win a national sports title (tennis) from the American Tennis Association in 1917.

Hazel Harrison

Hazel Harrison (1883-1969), a concert orchestra pianist was the first fully American-trained musician to appear with a European orchestra, in the 1920s.

Mamie Smith

Mamie Smith (1883-1946), a vocalist, was the first performer to make a phonograph record, paving the way for all the classic blues women of the 1920s and beyond.

Ethel Hedgeman Lyle

Ethel Hedgeman Lyle (1887-1950), an educator considered the “guiding light” and conceptual founding mother of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, Inc., the first Greek letter organization founded by and for African American college educated women, established at Howard University, in 1908.

Florence Beatrice Smith Price

Florence Beatrice Smith Price (1887-1953), a composer and pianist, was the first to have her work performed by a major symphony, in the late 1930s.

Martha Euphemia Lofton Haynes

Martha Euphemia Lofton Haynes (1890-1980), an educator and mathematician, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics, in 1943 from the Catholic University in Washington, D.C.

Lillian Evanti

Lillian Evanti (1890-1967), a lyric soprano, was the first to perform with a major European company in the 1920s, while simultaneously maintaining deep ties to her native home, Washington, D.C.

Nella Larsen

Nella Larsen 1891-1964), a poet, was the first to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship Award for creative writing, in 1930.

Bessie Coleman

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

Eva Dykes

(1893-1986), an educator, was the first to earn a Ph.D. in English-Philosophy from Radcliff College in 1921.

Ella Myers Phillips Stewart

Ella Myers Phillips Stewart (1893-1987), a pharmacist, was the first to graduate from the College of Pharmacy, at the University of Pittsburgh in 1916.

Crystal Byrd Fauset

Crystal Byrd Fauset (1894 – 1965), a former teacher, was the first state legislator in the United States when she was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, in 1938.

Jackie Moms Mabley

Jackie Moms Mabley (1894-1975), a comedian was the first to establish herself as a single act in standup comedy, during the early 1960s

Eva Jessye

Eva Jessye (1895-1992), a Choral Director, actress, author, and poet was first to win international distinction as director of a professional choral group. She was the first choral director for Porgy and Bess (1935).

Hattie McDaniel

Hattie McDaniel (1895-1952), an actress was the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in her performance as Mammy in the 1939 film, Gone with the Wind.

Ethel Waters

Ethel Waters (1896-1977), a film, television, theater actress and singer, was the first to be broadcast on radio, on April 21, 1922.

Mary Lou Allison Little

(1896-1992), an educator, was the first president and national president of the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority when elected in 1925.

Florence Mills

Florence Mills (1896-1927), an entertainer and dancing jazz performer, was the first international female superstar when she appeared in the Plantation Review in England, in 1923.

Marian Anderson

Marian Anderson (1897-1993), a contralto singer, was the first to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera, in 1955.

Arizona Cleaver Stemons

(1898-1978), an educator, was a founder and served as the first president of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority in 1920, and became the first national president of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander (1898-1989), an activist was the first to earn a doctoral degree in economics, the first to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. and the first national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.