Kareen Abdul-Jabbar : athlete, author, public speaker
Cato Alexander : mixologist
Madeline Anderson : producer, documentarian, director
Maya Angelou : poet, author, activist, professor
Amy Ashwood Garvey : activist
Augusta Braxton Baker : librarian, teacher
James Baldwin : author, essayist, scholar
Edward Bannister : artist
jean-Michel Basquiat : artist
1936 Berlin Olympics athletes : athletes
Mary McLeod Bethune : educator, college founder/president
Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, Ayọ Tometi : Black Lives Matter cofounders, activists
Terence Blanchard : musician
Guion Stewart Bluford : military pilot, astronaut
J. Max Bond Jr. : architect
Bronner Brothers : entrepreneurs
LeRonn P. Brooks : curator, archivist
Steve Cannon : writer, publisher, mentor
Terri Lyne Carrington : musician
Ben Carlson : neurosurgeon, politician
Ruth E. Carter : stylist, costume designer
Charleston Caterers : chefs
Leah Chase : chef, restaurateur
Shirley Chisholm : activist, politician
Kathleen Neal Cleaver : activist
Mary Francis Hill Coley : midwife
Kathleen Collins : playwright, writer, filmmaker
John William Coltrane : musician
Claudette Colvin : activist
The Compton Cowboys : athletes
Fanny Jackson Coppin : educator
Dorothy Dandridge : actor, performer
Julie Dash : film director
Daniel Day : entrepreneur, haberdasher
Roy DeCarava : photographer
Ruby Dee + Ossie Davis : actors, activists
Emory Douglas : artist, graphic designer
Frederick Douglass : activist, orator, statesman
Paul Laurence Dunbar : writer, poet
Katherine Dunham : choreographer, dancer
Francine Everett : actor, performer
Abby Fisher : culinary guru
John Stanley Ford : entrepreneur
Aretha Franklin : musician, singer, songwriter
Lenora Branch Fulani : activist, politician
Eloyce + James Gist : evangelicals, filmmakers
Nathan "Nearest" Green : distiller
Dick Gregory : comedian, writer, performer, activist
Fannie Lou Hamer : activist, organizer
Bethann Hardison : model, agent
Frances Ellen Watkins Harper : poet, author, activist
Dorothy Height : activist
Anita Hill : lawyer, professor
Gregory Hines : actor, activist, dancer, performer
bell hooks : writer, activist, professor
Lena Horne : singer, actor
Langston Hughes : writer, poet
Zora Neale Hurston : writer, playwright, anthropologist
Amy Jacques Garvey : activist
Judith Jamison : dancer, choreographer, executive director
Baby Esther Jones : performer
Bill T. Jones : dancer, choreographer, executive director
Grace Jones : actor, performer, model
Jackie Joyner-Kersee : athlete
Colin Kaepernick : athlete, activist
Henrietta Lacks : medical pioneer
Edna Lewis : culinary guru
John Lewis : activist, politician
Alain LeRoy Locke : writer, activist, editor
Annie Turnbo Malone : entrepreneur
54th Massechusetts Infantry : soldiers
Oscar Micheaux : writer, producer
Toni Morrison : author, editor
Archibald Motley Jr. : artist
Nicholas Brothers : choreographers, dancers
Suzan-Lori Parks : playwright
Eva Jefferson Paterson : civil rights attorney, activist
Leah Penniman : farmer, food-justice activist
Harriet Powers : textile artist
Richard Pryor : comedian, performer
Minnie Riperton ; singer, performer
Paul Robeson : actor, performer, activist
David Ruggles : abolitionist
Patrice Rushen : musician, composer, musical director
Jason Samuels Smith : dancer
Augusta Savage : sculptor
Gil Scott-Heron : musician, activist
Nina Simone : musician, performer, songwriter
Norma Merrick Sklarek : architect
Moneta Sleet Jr. : photographer
Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor : culinary guru
Robert F. Smith : entrepreneur, philanthropist
André Leon Talley : fashion muse
Robert Robinson Taylor : architect
Mary Church Terrell : activist
Sister Rosetta Tharpe : musician
Mickalene Thomas : artist
Vivien Thomas : medical pioneer, surgeon
Toni Tipton-Martin : culinary guru
Kwame Ture : organizer, activist
Morrie Turner : artist, cartoonist
Melvin Van Peebles : writer, filmmaker, producer
Sarah Vaughan : singer performer
Madam C.J. Walker : entrepreneur
Maggie Lena Walker : activist, businesswoman
Carrie Mae Weems : photographer
Ida B. Wells : journalist, publisher, activist
Clarence "Cap" Wigington : architect
George Washington Williams : historian, soldier, minister
Marie Selika Williams : opera singer
Paul Revere Williams : architect
Bradford Young : cinematographer, director
Essayists. Marvin K. White ; Emil Wilbekin ; Bryant Terry ; Patrice Peck ; Oriana Koren.