GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER (1864-1943) was a Botanist, Agricultural Scientist, and Inventor. He is heralded as one of the most important agricultural scientists and inventors in American history. He was recruited by Booker T. Washington to teach at the Tuskegee Institute and taught revolutionary crop rotation to prevent soil depletion. He invented hundreds of products, using peanuts, sweet potatoes and soybeans. From peanuts, he developed over 300 products, such as soap, facial cream and ink.

BENJAMIN BANNEKER (1731 - 1806) was a Mathematician, Astronomer, and Author. He is celebrated for assisting with surveying the land that became America’s National Capital, Washington, DC. His almanacs were published between 1792 and 1797, and included astronomical calculations, as well as opinion pieces, literature, medical information, and tidal information useful to fishermen. As a result of his almanac writings, he had the opportunity to exchange letters with Thomas Jefferson about black achievements. Banneker became one of the most famous African Americans in early United States histor

SARAH BOONE (1832-1904) was an Inventor and became one of the first African Americans to receive a patent. She acquired her patent on April 26, 1892, for her ironing board improvements that consisted of a wooden board with collapsible legs that made ironing clothes neatly possible. She was inspired to make this invention because, as a dressmaker, she had difficulty ironing the bodies of women’s garments and sleeves, using a table or a plank between two chairs that was the normal practice.

ELIJAH J. MCCOY (1843 – 1929) was an Inventor and earned more than 57 exclusive rights (patents) for his exceptional inventions. The term “real McCoy” came into common usage because people wanted one of McCoy’s superior original inventions, as opposed to similar products invented by others. The superior product invented by McCoy that was in such high demand was his graphite lubricator cup that automatically greased moving parts on steam engines.

LEWIS LATIMER (1848-1929) was a Draftsman and Inventor who invented the water closet for trains. Latimer created, also, a safety elevator in 1894. He improved Thomas Edison’s light bulb by developing a longer-lasting filament since Edison’s original lightbulb had a short life of only a few days.

GRANVILLE T. WOODS (1856 - 1910) was an Engineer, and Inventor who was known as the “Black Thomas Edison.” Woods became the first African American mechanical and electrical engineer after the Civil War. He received 60 patents for his inventions. A few notable inventors, such as Thomas Edison, sought to claim credit for some of Woods’ inventions.

DANIEL HALE WILLIAMS (1856-1931) was a Physician and performed the world’s first successful heart surgery in 1893. His meticulous use of emerging antiseptic methods made him a leader in medicine. He established the Provident Hospital & Training School Association in 1891 and used an interracial staff. His hospital had an 87% success rate which was unheard of during that era.

MADAM C. J. WALKER (1867 – 1919) was an Inventor, and Entrepreneur who became one of the first American women to become a millionaire. She created a line of hair care products for African American women and, in 1867, established the Madam C.J. Manufacturing Company and made her fortune by selling her products directly to African American women.

IDA GREY (1867-1953) became the first African American dentist in America. Her practice had equal numbers of white and black patients. Even though her reputation in Chicago was for her gentleness with children, she successfully inspired Olive M. Henderson, one of her patients, to become the second African American woman dentist.

ANNIE TURNBO MALONE (1869 - 1957) was a Chemist, and Entrepreneur who became a millionaire, and was one of the nation’s wealthiest African American women. She was Madam C.J. Walker’s employer. Malone created a line of beauty and hair care products that were sold door-to-door before the business rocketed to success after the World Fair in 1904

ROGER ARLINER YOUNG (1889-1964) was a Marine Biologist, and Zoology Scientist who became the first African American woman to receive a Doctorate in Zoology and conduct research at the prestigious marine biological laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Her research included the anatomy of Paramecium and the effects of radiation on Sea Urchin eggs.

GARRETT A. MORGAN SR. (1877 - 1963) was an Inventor who invented the traffic light. The U.S. Patent Office granted him a patent on November 20, 1923 for his three-position traffic signal. Before Morgan’s invention, there existed traffic lights, but he created a third, cautionary yellow “wait” signal between the red “stop” signal and green “go” signal. Among his other creations was his “gas hood” invented in 1912 and patented in 1914, which was a forerunner to the gas mask.

SADIE TANNER MOSSELL ALEXANDER (1898 – 1989) was an Economist, and Lawyer who became the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in economics, the second African American woman to earn a Ph.D., and the first African American woman to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania’s law school and, later, to be admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar.

PERCY L. JULIAN (1899 - 1975) was a Chemist who became the first African American chemist elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Chemical Society. He imaginatively devised how to synthesize medicinal compounds from numerous plant sources, making them more affordable to mass produce. His synthesis of Physostigmine (used to treat glaucoma) is recognized as “one of the top 25 greatest achievements in the history of American chemistry.”

ZORA NEALE HURSTON (1891 – 1960) was an Anthropologist, and Author whose exceptional anthropological work was published in journals and books devoted to academics. She earned an associate degree from Howard University in Washington, DC, and a BA in anthropology from Barnard College in New York. Hurston’s literary work continues to influence writers throughout the world, and she ranks among the best writers of the 20th century.

MARIE M. DALY (1921-2003) was a Biochemist who became the first African American to obtain a Ph.D. in chemistry in the United States. She completed her doctorate at Columbia University and discovered the relationship between high cholesterol and heart disease.

KATHERINE JOHNSON (1918 - 2020) was a NASA Mathematician who became known as a “human computer.” Along with Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, she, made the 1969 landing on the moon possible. Her stellar mathematical work led to an astronaut successfully orbiting around the Earth for the first time. Johnson’s calculations of trajectories and launch windows were pivotal to the start of the Space Shuttle Program.

FRANK S. GREENE (1938 – 2009) was an Electronics Technologist who developed high-performance computers for NASA. He helped create the patented memory chip system while working at Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. Greene holds the highly prized patent for the integrated circuit. He is one of the few inducted into the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame.

GUION STEWART BLUFORD JR. (Born 1942) is an Aerospace Engineer who became the first African American to travel into space in 1983. A former Air Force officer and fighter pilot, he made four trips to space. In 1978, he was one of 35 individuals selected from 10,000 applicants in NASA’s first competition to become space shuttle astronauts. On August 30, 1983, he rode into Earth orbit on the Challenger Space Shuttle Mission. By the time he retired from NASA in 1993, he had spent more than 28 days in space over four missions and was later inducted into the United States Astronaut Hal of Fame.

SHIRLEY ANN JACKSON (Born 1946) is a Physicist and became the first woman to receive a doctorate from MIT in any field. She graduated from MIT in 1973 with a Ph.D. degree in theoretical elementary particle physics. In 1976, she began working on the technical staff for Bell Telephone Laboratories in theoretical physics. Her research focused on the electronic properties of ceramic materials in anticipation of their acting as superconductors of electric currents. She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1998 and became the eighteenth president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1999, making her the first woman and the first African American to occupy that position.

ALEXA IRENE CANADY (Born 1950) is a Physician and the first African American woman in the United States to become a neurosurgeon. She was chief of neurosurgery at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan from 1987 until 2001. She was inducted into the Michigan Woman’s Hall of Fame in 1989. Canady received the American Medical Women’s Association President’s Award In 1993. She was honored in 1994 with the Distinguished Service Award from Wayne State University Medical School.

MAE C. JEMISON (Born 1956) is an Astronaut and Doctor who became the first African American woman to travel in space with the Endeavour Space Shuttle Mission on September 12, 1992. She applied for the astronaut program at NASA in 1987 and was one of the 15 people chosen out of over 2,000 applications. She left NASA in 1993 after serving as an astronaut for six years. Jemison is a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine. She has been inducted into the Texas Science Hall of Fame, the National Women’s Hall of Fame, the National Medical Association Hall of Fame, and the International Space Hall of Fame.

MARK E. DEAN (Born 1956) is an Inventor, and Computer Engineer who was the chief engineer on the team that designed the original IBM Personal Computer (PC). As the co-creator of the IBM PC released in 1981, he holds three of nine patents. He assisted with the development of technologies, including the first gigahertz chip and the color PC monitor. He worked, also, with a colleague and devised a means for printers and monitors to be plugged directly into computers. He was named an IBM Fellow in 1996, becoming the first African American ever to receive that honor. In 1997, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and, in 2001, he was designated as a member of the National Academy of Engineers.

LONNIE G. JOHNSON (Born 1949) is an Inventor, Aerospace Engineer, and Entrepreneur who Invented the “Super Soaker,” in 1989, a hugely popular pump-action water toy gun that was added to the National Toy Hall of Fame in 2015. Johnson joined the U.S. Air Force and was assigned to the Strategic Air Command, where he helped develop the stealth bomber program. In 1979, Johnson joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, working as a systems engineer for the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Cassini mission to Saturn, before returning to the Air Force in 1982. After his military career, he became president and founder of Johnson Research and Development Co., Inc., a company that focused its efforts on developing a new generation of rechargeable batteries to provide greater energy in a smaller form. In addition to working on batteries, Johnson and his team are developing the Johnson Thermoelectric Energy Converter (JTEC), an engine that converts heat from solar energy into electricity more effectively than current technology.