28 Faces of Black History Month

28 Faces

February is Black History Month

Martin Luther King 1929-1968

Civil Rights

At 35, the youngest man to earn the Nobel Peace Prize

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.�

Martin Luther King, Jr.

February is Black History Month

Jackie Robinson 1919-1972

Athletics: Baseball First black Major League Baseball player

“I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.�

Jackie Robinson

February is Black History Month

Col. Guion Bluford 1942-

Aviation: Astronaut The first African American in space, Bluford worked aboard four Space Shuttle missions serving scientific research and logged over 688 hours in space.

February is Black History Month

Dr. Charles Drew 1904-1950

Science: Developed Blood Plasma

“I am blood and blood is me.”

Dr. Charles Drew

February is Black History Month

Muhammad Ali 1942-2016

Athletics: Boxing

"I know where I'm going and I know the truth and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want."

Muhammad Ali

February is Black History Month

Ruby Dee 1922-2014

Entertainment: Acting

“The kind of beauty I want most is the hard-to-get kind that comes from within strength, courage, dignity.�

Ruby Dee

February is Black History Month

Malcolm X 1925-1965

Civil Rights

“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.�

Malcolm X

February is Black History Month

Dizzy Gillespie 1917-1993

Entertainer: Music

“Men have died for this music. You can't get more serious than that.�

Dizzy Gillespie

February is Black History Month

Richard Wright 1908-1960

Literature

“Men can starve from a lack of self-realization as much as they can from a lack of bread.�

Richard Wright

February is Black History Month

Lorraine Hansberry 1930-1965

Literature

Author of Raisin In The Sun

“Never be afraid to sit awhile and think.�

Lorraine Hansberry

February is Black History Month

Constance Baker Motley 1921-2005

Politics

First African American Women elected to the New York State Senate

“I rejected the notion that my race or sex would bar my success in life.�

Constance Baker Motley

February is Black History Month

Duke Ellington 1899-1974

Entertainment: Music

“A problem is your chance to do your best.�

Duke Ellington

February is Black History Month

Percy Julian 1898-1975

Science

Steroid research set the foundation for cortisone and the birth control pill

“Don't nurse your anger, but get together and help make this a really united nation.�

Percy Julian

February is Black History Month

Rosa Parks 1913-2005 “Mother of the Freedom Movement” Refused to surrender her bus seat to a white passenger, spurring the Montgomery boycott and other efforts to end segregation

“I have learned over the years that when one's mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”

Rosa Parks

February is Black History Month

Booker T. Washington 1856-1915

Education: Tuskegee Institute

First African American ever invited to the White House First African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp

“Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company.�

Booker T. Washington

February is Black History Month

Count Basie 1904-1984

Entertainment: Music

First Black Male to win a Grammy Award

“If you play a tune and a person don't tap their feet, don't play the tune.�

Count Basie

February is Black History Month

Gwendolyn Brooks 1917-2000

Literature: Poet Laureate 1950 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry

“When you use the term minority or minorities in reference to people, you're telling them that they're less than somebody else.�

Gwendolyn Brooks

February is Black History Month

Robert Smalls 1839-1916

Politics: U.S Freed from slavery by commandeering a Confederate ship and turning it over to Union officers.

“My race needs no special defense, for the past history of them in this country proves them to be equal of any people anywhere. All they need is an equal chance in the battle of life.�

Robert Smalls

February is Black History Month

Frederick Douglass 1817-1895

Abolitionist

“Without a struggle, there can be no progress.�

Frederick Douglass

February is Black History Month

Marcus Garvey 1887-1940

Politics

Inspired Nation of Islam and the Rastafarian movement.

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.“

Marcus Garvey

February is Black History Month

Dred Scott 1795-1885

Human Rights While the U.S. Supreme Court denied his freedom, the Dred Scott case led to Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and post-Civil War amendments abolishing slavery and granting citizenship to former slaves.

February is Black History Month

W.E.B. Du Bois 1868-1963

Civil Rights

“Education is that whole system of human training within and without the school house walls, which molds and develops men.”

W. E. B. Du Bois

February is Black History Month

Thurgood Marshall 1908-1993

Law: Supreme Court First Black U.S. Supreme Court Justice

“What is the quality of your intent?”

Thurgood Marshall

February is Black History Month

Sidney Poitier 1927-

Actor First Black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor in Lilies of the Field (1963)

“I had chosen to use my work as a reflection of my values.”

Sidney Poitier

February is Black History Month

Mary McLeod Bethune 1875-1955

Educator/Human Rights Advocate

Founder of Bethune-Cookman University

“The true worth of a race must be measured by the character of its womanhood.”

Mary McLeod Bethune

February is Black History Month

Ella Fitzgerald 1918-1996

Entertainment: Music “First Lady of Song”

“It isn't where you came from, its where you're going that counts.”

Ella Fitzgerald

February is Black History Month

Sojourner Truth 1797-1883

Abolitionist/Women’s Rights

“You may hiss as much as you please, but women will get their rights anyway.

You can’t stop us, neither.”

Sojourner Truth

February is Black History Month

Barack Obama 1961Politics First Black President of the United States

“One voice can change a room.”

Barack Obama

February is Black History Month