Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1895 – October 26, 1952) was an American actress and the first black performer to win an Academy Award. She won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939). McDaniel was also a professional singer-songwriter, comedienne, stage actress,...

Eugene Bullard (9 October 1894 – 12 October 1961) was the first African-American military pilot and the only black pilot in World War I. He was born Eugene Jacques Bullard in Columbus, Georgia, in the United States. His father was known as “Big Chief Ox” and his mother was a Creek Indian;...

Everette “E.” Lynn Harris (June 20, 1955 – July 23, 2009) was an American author.[1] Openly gay, he was best known for his depictions of African American men who were on the down-low and closeted. He authored ten consecutive books to make the The New York Times Best Seller list making him...

“Born in Atlantic City, [Jacob Lawrence] spent part of his childhood in Pennsylvania and then, after his parents split up in 1924, he went with his mother and siblings to New York, settling in Harlem. When years later he told an interviewer that “I am the black community,” he was neither...