First black man to win a Wimbledon singles title, defeating Jimmy Connors in 1975.

This woman joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1935 as a field secretary and later served as a national director.

In the early 1900s she developed a hair care system and other beauty products. Her business, headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, amassed a fortune, and she became a generous patron of many black charities.

Spelman College, the first college for black women in the U.S., founded by Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles.

Appear in several blockbuster movies, including Man on Fire, The Book of Eli and American Gangster, and won Oscars for his roles in Glory and Training Day.

First black woman to win Tony Award for dramatic lead on Broadway, in 2004, role of Lena Younger in "A Raisin in the Sun."

In 1891, she helped found the newspaper Memphis Free Speech and began to publish articles denouncing the outbreak of lynchings in the South.

One of his most important inventions was a telegraph that allowed moving trains to communicate with other trains and train stations, thus improving railway efficiency and safety.

Howard University's law school becomes the country's first black law school.

In 1964, he won an Academy Award (best actor) for his performance in Lilies of the Field (1963)—marking the first Oscar win by an African-American actor.

First black woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize, in 1950.

Advocated for both the establishment of a separate black community (rather than integration) and the use of violence in self defense (rather than non-violence).

She is a co-founder of the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness. She is best known for her invention of the Laserphaco Probe for the treatment of cataracts.

In the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans., the Supreme Court rules unanimously that segregation in public schools in unconstitutional.

Her projects with Harpo Studios have included the highly rated 1989 TV miniseries, The Women of Brewster Place.

First African-American to win an Academy Award for Best Actress, in 2001 for Monster's Ball.

Convinced that blacks could not secure their rights in countries where they were a minority race, he urged a "back to Africa" movement.

He invented a gas mask (patented 1914) that was used to protect soldiers from chlorine fumes during World War I.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends federal troops to ensure integration of the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. The Little Rock Nine were the first black students to attend the school.

She became a dancer at the Cotton Club in Harlem and later sang at Carnegie Hall and appeared in such films as Stormy Weather and The Wiz.

First African-American president of the Harvard Law Review, 1991.

Introduced the concept of the "talented tenth," a black elite whose duty it was to better the lives of less fortunate African Americans.

He led the team of IBM scientists that developed the ISA bus—a device that enabled computer components to communicate with each other rapidly, which made personal computers fast and efficient for the first time.

Frederick Douglass Patterson establishes the United Negro College Fund to help support black colleges and black students.

Starred in Driving Miss Daisy, The Bucket List, and The Human Factor.