This singer-songwriter and musician helped to shape the sound of Motown Records in the 1960s with a string of hits, including How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) and I Heard It Through the Grapevine. During the 1970s, he recorded the concept albums What'

He invented peanut butter.

He was a proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, inspiring the Nation of Islam and the Rastafarian movement. Developed the UNIA Universal Negro Improvement Association.

At the age of 14, this young man developed the stitching technique to help reduce surgical complications.

She leads TSA’s IT office as the Assistant Administrator and Chief Information Officer.

This singer and actress was part of the 1960s trio the Supremes as well as a solo artist, and starred in such films as Lady Sings the Blues and The Wiz.

This scientist and engineer is credited with helping develop a number of landmark technologies, including the color PC monitor, the Industry Standard Architecture system bus and the first gigahertz chip.

He co-founded the NAACP and supported Pan-Africanism. He published his seminal work, The Souls of Black Folk, a collection of 14 essays.

At the age of 16, he became the youngest pilot to solo six airplanes and one helicopter in the same day.

She created the original, legendary Playboy Bunny outfit and stage costumes for the Dance Theater of Harlem.

This female artist is the co-founder and ambassador of the Keep a Child Alive organization, which provides medication and support to the children and families affected by HIV/AIDS in countries such as South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and India.

She was a physician and cancer researcher who dedicated her professional career to the advancement of chemotherapy techniques.

He was one of the Tuskegee Airmen and a career officer in the United States Air Force for 30 years. He holds a US Air Force record of 409 fighter combat missions flown in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

She became the CEO of her own hair line at 9 years old. She is the youngest entrepreneur to ever open the NASDAQ.

She invented a method of eye surgery that has helped many blind people see.

He is the founder of the Show Me Campaign. The organization works to give every child in the U.S. access to a quality education

This geologist, paleontologist and artist from Philadelphia founded Dinosaurs Fossils and Adventures.

She refused to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, spurring the Montgomery boycott and other efforts to end segregation.

At age 13, he started his own tech company, which specializes in web design and other IT services, and expanded it into a global enterprise now worth around $3.5 million dollars.

He is the 7th black astrophysicist in the world and is currently the director of the Hayden Planetarium in NYC.

The most influential figure in reggae music.

He became the country’s first Black oceanographer, working for nearly 30 years with the NOAA tracking oil spills and nuclear material in oceans.

He was a leader and prominent figure in the Nation of Islam, who articulated concepts of race pride and black nationalism in the 1950s and '60s.

At 7 years old, she became the youngest person to create a mobile video game. The Philadelphia native developed the game using programming language Bootstrap.

She was a poor black tobacco farmer whose IMMORTAL cells—taken without her knowledge in 1951—became one of the most important tools in medicine, vital for developing the polio vaccine, cloning, gene mapping, in vitro fertilization, and more.