Honoring Black History

Black History is American History

Lonnie Bunch is the director of Smithsonian Institution and first African American historian to serve as head of the Smithsonian.

"There is no more powerful force than a people steeped in their history. And there is no higher cause than honoring our struggle and ancestors by remembering" 

Lonnie Bunch

Remembering and Honoring Historical Black Figures

Martin Luther King Jr.

(1929-1968)

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

Malcolm X 

(1925-1965)

"You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom."

Rosa Parks (1913-2005) 

"No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in."

Ella Baker 

(1903-1986)

“Until the killing of black men, black mothers' sons, becomes as important to the rest of the country as the killing of a white mother's son, we who believe in freedom cannot rest until this happens.” 

Robert Abbot (1870-1940)

"No greater glory, no greater honor, is the lot of man departing than a feeling possed deep in his hear that the world is a better place for his having lived"

Ida B. Wells (1862-1931)

“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, and it does seem to me that notwithstanding all these social agencies and activities there is not that vigilance which should be exercised in the preservation of our rights."

Harriet Tubman (1820-1913)"I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other."
Sojourner Truth (1797-1883)"Truth is powerful and it prevails."

Black Figures Who Influenced Education

Booker T. Washington(1856-1915)"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome."
W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963)

“Children learn more from what you are than what you teach.” 

Mary Mcleod Bethune (1875-1955)
"We have a powerful potential in out youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends."
Nathan Hare(1933-Present)"It will be an irony of recorded history that "integration" was used in the second half of this century to hold the Black race down just as segration was so instituted in the first half"  
Little Rock Nine September 4, 1957Thelma Mothershed Wair, Minnijean Brown Trickey, Jefferson Thomas, Terrence Roberts, Carlotta Walls LaNier, Gloria Ray Karlmark, Ernest Green, Elizabeth Eckford, and Melba Pattillo Beals.
Ruby Bridges(1954- Present)"Each and every one of us is born with a clean heart. Our babies know nothing about hate or racism. But soon they begin to learn – and only from us. We keep racism alive. We pass it on to our children. We owe it to our children to help them keep their clean start."

Black Writers Who Influenced Literature

Frederick Douglass(1818-1895) "Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."
James Baldwin(1924-1987)"The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated."
Maya Angelou(1928-2014)"You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lines. You may trod me in the very dirt, but still, like dust, I'll rise."
Toni Morrison(1931-2019)"If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it."

Black Figures who Influenced Science

George Washington Carver (1864-1943)Agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternatives to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. 
Lewis Howard Latimer (1848-1928)
In 1881, he invented the carbon light bulb filament for long lasting light bulbs. 
Garrett Morgan (1877-1963)

In 1923, he invented the three-light traffic light. 

Henrietta Lacks (1920-1951)
Doctors stole her cells in Hopkins in 1951, which are the only human cell line able to reproduce indefinitely. Her cells remain as a prolific and durable line of cells used in research around the world and saving many lives.

Black Figures Who Shaped Media and Culture

Black Athletes

Black Representatives 

Thurgood Marshall1908-1993
Thurgood Marshall was an American lawyer and civil rights activist who served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from October 1967 until October 1991. Marshall was the Court's first African-American justice
Jane Bolin(1908-2007)
Jane Bolin was the first Black woman to attend Yale Law School in 1931. In 1939, she became the first Black female judge in the United States, where she served for 10 years.
Shirley Chisholm(1924-2005)
In 1968, Chisholm became the first black woman elected to the U.S. Congress. Chisholm fought for improved education; health and social services, including unemployment benefits for domestic workers; providing disadvantaged students the chance to enter college while receiving intensive remedial education; the food stamp program; and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children program.
Jesse Jackson(1941- Present) Jesse Jackson laid the foundation for electing a black president, one of the signature achievements of the 21st century. Jackson’s are the biggest shoulders that Barack Obama stands on.
Kamala Harris (1964-present)
American politician and attorney currently serving as the 49th and current vice present of the United States. She is the United States first female and Black vice present. 
Barack Obama (1961-present)

He served as our 44th president and is the first Black president of the United States. He served from 2009-2017.

Stacey Abrams (1973-present)
Known as a voting rights activist, lawyer, and the House Minority Leader for the Georgia General Assembly and the State Representative for the 89th House District (2007-2017).
Andrea Jenkins (1961-present)
Known as the first openly transgender Black woman elected to public office in the United States. She is an American policy aide.