Famous Black Americans Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Achieving New Heights Despite the discrimination (hatred based on race) and lynching, many African Americans made significant achievements during this time. Today you will learn about some of them

Duke Ellington Born 1899 in DC. HE was a famous jazz piano player and singer. http://www.8notes.com pictures/ellington/ /

Madam C.J. Walker Her birth name is Sarah Breedlove. She started a company making beauty products for women. She was the first African American Female millionaire http://www.blackinventor.com/pages/madamewalker.html

Marian Anderson Famous opera singer She was the first African American to perform on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial after she was denied to sing in Constitution Hall http://www.library.upenn.edu/collections/rbm/photos/anderson/

Mary Mcleoud Bethune Mary McLeod Bethune was a leading black educator who opened a school in 1904 for six black students. http://www.floridamemory.com/OnlineClassroom/MaryBethune/Principal.cfm

Mary McLeod Bethune Schools for black children were not common and well equipped in the early 1900’s.

Jackie Robinson Jackie Robinson was the first black man to play in major league baseball in 1947. In 1949 Robinson was named Most Valuable Player in the National League. He was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

George Washington Carver Carver was one of American most-accomplished scientists.

George Washington Carver George Washington Carver was born a slave, but was taught to read and write by his owners. Carver attended college and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in agriculture. Carver became a world famous scientist who developed more than 300 products from the peanut.

Langston Hughes Langston Hughes was a famous African American author.                            

Langston Hughes He was a newspaper correspondent in the Spanish Civil War. The Weary Blues was his first collection of poetry. Hughes wrote his autobiography called The Big Sea in 1949.

W.E.B. Du Bois First black to ever get a Ph. D from Harvard He wanted blacks to get an academic He helped found the NAACP in 1909

Booker T. Washington Helped found the Tuskegee Institute (college for blacks) He believed blacks should learn a trade