Timeline of African-American firsts

Last updated September 17, 2025

African Americans are an ethnic group in the United States. The first achievements by African Americans in diverse fields have historically marked footholds, often leading to more widespread cultural change. The shorthand phrase for this is "breaking the color barrier".^[1]^[2]

17th century: 1670s
18th century: 1730s–1770s • 1780s–1790s
19th century: 1800s • 1810s • 1820s • 1830s • 1840s • 1850s • 1860s • 1870s • 1880s • 1890s
20th century: 1900s • 1910s • 1920s • 1930s • 1940s • 1950s • 1960s • 1970s • 1980s • 1990s
21st century: 2000s • 2010s • 2020s
See also • Notes • References • External links

16th century

1500s

1528

Estevanico becomes the first black person to explore what would become the continental United States in the Narváez expedition.

1539

Estevanico becomes the first black person and first non-Native American person to explore New Mexico.

17th century

1600s

1604

First black person to arrive in what is now Maine: explorer and interpreter Mathieu Da Costa ^[4]

1650

First African American to own land in the United States July 24, 1651: Anthony Johnson (colonist)

1670s

1670

First African American to own land in Boston: Zipporah Potter Atkins ^[5]

18th century

1730s–1770s

1738

First free African-American community: Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose (later named Fort Mose) in Spanish Florida ^[6]

1746

First known African American (and slave) to compose a work of literature: Lucy Terry with her poem "Bars Fight", composed in 1746^[7] and first published in 1855 in Josiah Holland's History of Western Massachusetts.^[8]^[7]

1760

First known African-American published author: Jupiter Hammon (poem "An Evening Thought: Salvation by Christ with Penitential Cries", published as a broadside)^[9]

1767

First African-American clockmaker, Peter Hill, was born.^[10]

1768

First known African American to be elected to public office: Wentworth Cheswell, town constable and justice of the peace in Newmarket, New Hampshire.^[11]

1773

First known African-American woman to publish a book: Phillis Wheatley (Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral)^[12]
First separate African-American church: Silver Bluff Baptist Church, Aiken County, South Carolina^[13]^[14]^{[Note 1]}

1775

First African American to join the Freemasons: Prince Hall ^[15]

1778

First African-American U.S. military regiment: the 1st Rhode Island Regiment ^[16]

1780s–1790s

1783

First African American to formally practice medicine: James Derham, who did not hold an M.D. degree.^[17] (See also: 1847)

1785

First African American ordained as a Christian minister in the United States: Rev. Lemuel Haynes. He was ordained in the Congregational Church, which became the United Church of Christ ^[18]

1792

First major African-American Back-to-Africa movement: 3,000 Black Loyalist slaves, who had escaped to British lines during the American Revolutionary War for the promise of freedom, were relocated to Nova Scotia and given land. Later, 1,200 chose to migrate to West Africa and settle in the new British colony of Settler Town, which is present-day Sierra Leone. ^{[ citation needed ]}

1793

First African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church founded: Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church, Philadelphia, was founded by Richard Allen ^{[ citation needed ]}

1794

First African Episcopal Church established: Absalom Jones founded African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania^{[ citation needed ]}

1799

First African American to attend college (Washington and Lee University): John Chavis; later went on to be a preacher and educator for both black and white students.

19th century

1800s

Absalom Boston AbsalonBostom.gif — Absalom Boston

1804

First African American ordained as an Episcopal priest: Absalom Jones in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania^[19]

1807

First African-American Presbyterian Church in America: First African Presbyterian Church founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by John Gloucester a former slave.^[20]

1810s

1816

Richard Allen founded the first fully independent African-American denomination: African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and mid-Atlantic states^{[ citation needed ]}

1817

The First African Baptist Church was the first African-American church west of the Mississippi River.^[21] It had its beginnings in 1817 when John Mason Peck and the formerly enslaved John Berry Meachum began holding church services for African Americans in St. Louis.^[22] Meachum founded the First African Baptist Church in 1827. Although there were ordinances preventing blacks from assembling, the congregation grew from 14 people at its founding to 220 people by 1829. Two hundred of the parishioners were slaves, who could only travel to the church and attend services with the permission of their owners.^[21]

1820s

1821

First African American to hold a patent: Thomas L. Jennings, for a dry-cleaning process^[23]

1822

First African-American captain to sail a whaleship with an all-black crew: Absalom Boston ^[24] There were six black owners of seven whaling trips before Absalom Boston's in 1822.^[25]

1823

First African American to receive a degree from an American college: Alexander Twilight, Middlebury College ^[26] (See also: 1836)

1826

First African American to graduate from Bowdoin College: Future governor of the Republic of Maryland, John Brown Russwurm ^[27]

1827

First African-American-owned-and-operated newspaper: Freedom's Journal , founded in New York City by Rev. Peter Williams Jr.,^[28] Samuel Cornish, John Brown Russwurm and other free blacks ^[27]

1830s

1832

First governor of African descent in what is now the United States: Pío Pico, an Afro-Mexican, was the last governor of Alta California before it was ceded to the U.S. Like all Californios, Pico automatically became a U.S. citizen in 1848.^{[ citation needed ]}

1836

First African American elected to serve in a state legislature: Alexander Twilight, Vermont^[26] (See also: 1823)
First African American to found a town and establish a planned community: Free Frank McWorter (New Philadelphia, Illinois)^[29]^[30]
First African American governor of the Republic of Maryland or any other colony in Africa: John Brown Russwurm ^[31]

1837

First formally trained African-American medical doctor: Dr James McCune Smith of New York City, who was educated at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and returned to practice in New York.^[32] (See also: 1783, 1847)

1840s

1844

First African American approved to practice law: Macon Bolling Allen from the bar association of Portland, Maine ^[33]

1845

First African American to practice law: Macon Bolling Allen from the Boston bar ^[34]

1847

First African American to graduate from a U.S. medical school: Dr. David J. Peck ^[35] (Rush Medical College) (See also: 1783, 1837)
First African-American president of any nation: Joseph Jenkins Roberts, Liberia ^[36]

1849

First African-American college professor at a predominantly white institution: Charles L. Reason, New York Central College ^[37]

1850s

John Stewart Rock John-rock.jpg — John Stewart Rock

Ebenezer Bassett EbenezerBassett.jpg — Ebenezer Bassett

Fanny Jackson Coppin

Augustine Tolton AugustineTolton.jpg — Augustine Tolton

1850

First African-American woman to graduate from a college Lucy Stanton

1851

First African-American member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits): Patrick Francis Healy ^[38] (See also: 1866, 1874)

1853

First novel published by an African American: Clotel; or, The President's Daughter , by William Wells Brown, then living in London.^{[Note 2]}^[39]^[40]
First African American to build and serve as captain of his own ship: Joseph P. Taylor of Portland, Maine^[41]

1854

First African-American Catholic priest: James Augustine Healy ^[42] (see 1875 and 1886)
First institute of higher learning created to educate African-Americans: Ashmun Institute in Pennsylvania, renamed Lincoln University in 1866. (See also firsts in 1863)

1858

First published play by an African American: The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom by William Wells Brown ^[43]
First African-American woman college instructor: Sarah Jane Woodson Early, Wilberforce University ^[44]
First African-American woman to graduate from a medical course of study at an American university: Sarah Mapps Douglass
First African-American Missionary Bishop of Liberia: Francis Burns of Windham, New York; of the Methodist Episcopal Church.^[45]

1860s

1861

First North American military unit with African-American officers: 1st Louisiana Native Guard of the Confederate Army
First African-American US federal government civil servant: William Cooper Nell ^[46]

1862

First African-American woman to earn a B.A.: Mary Jane Patterson, Oberlin College ^[47]
First recognized U.S. Army African-American combat unit: 1st South Carolina Volunteers

1863

First college owned and operated by African Americans: Wilberforce University in Ohio^[48]^{[Note 3]} (See also: 1854)
First African-American president of a college: Bishop Daniel Payne (Wilberforce University)^[49]

1864

First African-American woman in the United States to earn an M.D.: Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler ^[50]

1865

First African-American field officer in the U.S. Army: Martin Delany ^[51]
First African-American attorney admitted to the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court: John Stewart Rock ^[52]
First African American to be commissioned as captain in the Regular U.S. Army: Orindatus Simon Bolivar Wall, known as OSB Wall^[53]

1866

First African American to earn a Ph.D.: Father Patrick Francis Healy from University of Leuven, Belgium^[38] (See also 1851, 1874)
First African-American woman enlistee in the U.S. Army: Cathay Williams ^[54]
First African-American woman to serve as a professor: Sarah Jane Woodson Early; Xenia, Ohio's Wilberforce University hired her to teach Latin and English

1868

First elected African-American Lieutenant Governor: Oscar Dunn (Louisiana).^[55]
First African-American mayor: Pierre Caliste Landry, Donaldsonville, Louisiana ^[56]
First African-American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives: John Willis Menard.^[57] His opponent contested his election, and opposition to his election prevented him from being seated in Congress. (See also: 1870)

1869

First African-American U.S. diplomat: Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett, minister to Haiti ^[58]
First African-American woman school principal: Fanny Jackson Coppin (Institute for Colored Youth)^[59]
First African American to receive a dental degree and become a dentist: Robert Tanner Freeman ^[60]

1870s

1870

First African American to vote in an election under the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting voting rights regardless of race: Thomas Mundy Peterson ^[61]
First African American to graduate from Harvard College: Richard Theodore Greener.^[62]
First African American elected to the U.S. Senate, and first to serve in the U.S. Congress: Hiram Rhodes Revels (R–MS).^[63]^{[Note 4]}
First African American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives: Joseph Rainey (R-SC).^[64]^{[Note 5]}

1871

First African-American page in the United States House of Representatives: Alfred Q. Powell, who was appointed in 1871 by Charles H. Porter (R-VA), with recommendations from William Henry Harrison Stowell (R-VA) and James H. Platt Jr. (R-VA).^[65]^[66]^[67]
First African-American governor (non-elected): Oscar Dunn of Louisiana (See also: Douglas Wilder, 1990)^[68]
First African-American faculty member at Harvard Dental School: George Franklin Grant ^[69]

1872

First African-American midshipman admitted to the United States Naval Academy: John H. Conyers (nominated by Robert B. Elliott of South Carolina).^[70]
First African-American nominee for Vice President of the United States: Frederick Douglass by the Equal Rights Party.^[71]^{[Note 6]}

1873

First African-American speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, and of any state legislature: John R. Lynch

1874

First African-American president of a major college/university: Father Patrick Francis Healy, S.J. of Georgetown College.^[38] (See also: 1851, 1863, 1866)
First African American to preside over the House of Representatives as Speaker pro tempore: Joseph Rainey ^[72]

1875

First African-American Roman Catholic bishop: Bishop James Augustine Healy, of Portland, Maine.^[42] (See also: 1854)

1876

First African American to earn a doctorate degree from an American university: Edward Alexander Bouchet (Yale College Ph.D., physics; also first African American to graduate from Yale, 1874).^[73] (See also: 1866)

1877

First African-American graduate of West Point and first African-American commissioned officer in the U.S. military: Henry Ossian Flipper.^[74]
First African-American elected to Phi Beta Kappa: George Washington Henderson.^[75]

1878

First African-American police officer in Boston, Massachusetts: Sergeant Horatio J. Homer.^[76]
First African-American baseball player in organized professional baseball: John W. "Bud" Fowler.^[77]

1879

First African American to serve as a sheriff or chief of police in Vermont: Stephen Bates, Vergennes, Vermont.^[78]
First African American to graduate from a formal nursing school: Mary Eliza Mahoney, Boston, Massachusetts.^[79]
First African American to play major league baseball: Possibly William Edward White; he played as a substitute in one professional baseball game for the Providence Grays of the National League, on June 21, 1879.^[80] Work by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) suggests that he may have been the first African American to play major league baseball, predating the longer careers of Moses Fleetwood Walker and his brother Weldy Walker by five years; and Jackie Robinson by 68 years.^[81]^[82]^[83]^[84]^[85]

1880s

1880

First African American to command a U.S. ship: Captain Michael Healy.^[86]
First African-American world champion in pedestrianism, a 19th-century forerunner to racewalking and ultramarathons: Frank Hart.^[87]

1881

First African American whose signature appeared on U.S. paper currency: Blanche K. Bruce, Register of the Treasury.^[88]

1882

First fully state-supported four-year institution of higher learning for African Americans: Virginia State University

1883

First known African-American woman to graduate from one of the Seven Sisters colleges: Hortense Parker (Mount Holyoke College)^[89]^{[Note 7]}
First African-American woman to earn a PhD: Nettie Craig-Asberry June 12, 1883, earns her doctoral degree in music from the University of Kansas one month shy of her 18th birthday.
First African American to receive the Medal of Honor twice, both for peace-time actions: Robert Augustus Sweeney

1884

First African American to play professional baseball at the major-league level: Possibly Moses Fleetwood Walker, but see also William Edward White in 1879.^[90] (See also: Jackie Robinson, 1947)
First African-American woman to hold a patent: Judy W. Reed, for an improved dough kneader, Washington, D.C.^[91]^{[Note 8]}
First African American to enlist in the U.S. Signal Corps: William Hallett Greene ^[92]^[93]
First African American to lead a political party's National Convention: John R. Lynch, Republican National Convention.^[94]
First African American to deliver a keynote address at a political party's National Convention: John R. Lynch, Republican National Convention.^[94]

1886

First Roman Catholic priest publicly known at the time to be African American: Augustine Tolton, Quincy and Chicago, Illinois^[95] (See also: 1854)

1890s

1890

First African-American woman to earn a dental degree in the United States: Ida Rollins, University of Michigan.^[96]^[97]
First African American to record a best-selling phonograph record: George Washington Johnson, "The Laughing Song" and "The Whistling Coon."^[98]
First woman and African American to earn a military pension for her own military service: Ann Bradford Stokes.^[99]

1891

First African-American police officer in present-day New York City: Wiley Overton, hired by the Brooklyn Police Department prior to 1898 incorporation of the five boroughs into the City of New York.^[100] (See also: Samuel J. Battle, 1911)

1892

First African American to sing at Carnegie Hall: Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones ^[101]
First African American named to a College Football All-America Team: William H. Lewis, Harvard University ^[102]

1895

First African-American woman to work for the United States Postal Service: Mary Fields ^[103]
First African American to earn a doctorate degree (Ph.D.) from Harvard University: W.E.B. Du Bois ^[104]

1896

First African-American female dentist to graduate from Howard University's dental school: Marie Imogene Williams.^[105]

1897

First African-American to graduate from Vassar College by passing for white: Anita Florence Hemmings.^[106]
First African American to graduate from Yale Medical School: William F. Penn ^[107]
First African American on record to have successfully performed pericardium (the sac surrounding the heart) surgery to repair a wound: Daniel Hale Williams ^[108]

1898

First African American appointed to serve as U.S. Army Paymaster: Richard R. Wright

1899

First African American to achieve world championship in any sport: Major Taylor, for one-mile track cycling ^[109]

20th century

1900s

1901

First African American invited to dine at the White House: Booker T. Washington ^[110]

1902

First African-American professional basketball player: Harry Lew (New England Professional Basketball League)^[111] (See also: 1950)
First African-American professional American football player: Charles Follis
First African-American boxing champion: Joe Gans, a lightweight (See also: 1908)
First African-American artist whose work became a part of the White House collection: Lottie Wilson Jackson ^[112]

1903

First Broadway musical written by African Americans, and the first to star African Americans: In Dahomey
First African-American woman to found and become president of a bank: Maggie L. Walker, St. Luke Penny Savings Bank (since 1930 the Consolidated Bank & Trust Company), Richmond, Virginia^[113]

1904

First Greek-letter fraternal organization founded by African Americans: Sigma Pi Phi
First African American to participate in the Olympic Games, and first to win a medal: George Poage (two bronze medals)^[114]

1906

First intercollegiate Greek-letter organization founded by African Americans: Alpha Phi Alpha (ΑΦΑ), at Cornell University
First academically trained African-American forester: Ralph E. Brock at the Pennsylvania State Forest Academy ^[115]

1907

First African-American Greek Orthodox priest and missionary in America: Very Rev. Fr. Robert Josias Morgan ^[116]

1908

First African-American heavyweight boxing champion: Jack Johnson ^[117] (See also: 1902)
First African-American Olympic gold medal winner: John Taylor (track and field medley relay team).^[118] (See also: DeHart Hubbard, 1924)
First intercollegiate Greek-letter sorority established by African Americans: Alpha Kappa Alpha (ΑΚΑ) at Howard University

1910s

1910

First African-American female millionaire: Madam C. J. Walker ^[119]
First African-American woman to be recorded commercially: Daisy Tapley ^[120]

1911

First intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity founded by African-Americans at a historically black college: Omega Psi Phi (ΩΨΦ), at Howard University
First African-American police officer in New York City: Samuel J. Battle, following the 1898 incorporation of the five boroughs into the City of New York, and the hiring of three African-American officers in the Brooklyn Police Department. Battle was also the NYPD's first African-American sergeant (1926), lieutenant (1935), and parole commissioner (1941).^[100] (See also: Wiley Overton, 1891)
First African-American attorney admitted to the American Bar Association: Butler R. Wilson (June 1911), William Henry Lewis (August 1911), and William R. Morris (October 1911)^[121]^[122]
First African American elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly: Harry W. Bass (1911).^[123]

1914

First African-American military pilot: Eugene Jacques Bullard
First African American to attend the University of Connecticut, earning his bachelor's degree with honors in 1918: Alan Thacker Busby.^[124]

1915

First African-American alderman of Chicago: Oscar Stanton De Priest ^[125]
First African American and first woman to graduate from the University of Hawaiʻi (master’s degree in chemistry): Alice Ball ^[126]
One of the first African Americans to graduate from Suffolk Law School: Thomas Vreeland Jones (father of Lois Mailou Jones)^[127]

1916

First African American to play in a Rose Bowl game: Fritz Pollard, Brown University ^[128]
First African American to become a colonel in the U.S. Army: Charles Young ^[129]^[130]
First African-American woman to become a licensed pharmacist: Ella P. Stewart

1917

First African-American woman to win a major sports title: Lucy Diggs Slowe, American Tennis Association ^[131]

1919

First African-American special agent for the FBI: James Wormley Jones ^[132]^[133]
First African-American women appointed as police officers: Cora I. Parchment at the New York Police Department (NYPD)^[134] and Georgia Ann Robinson, by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD)^[135]
First African American to direct a feature film: Oscar Micheaux ( The Homesteader )
First African American on the surgical staff of Harlem Hospital: Louis T. Wright ^[136]

1920s

1920

First African-American NFL football players: Fritz Pollard (Akron Pros) and Bobby Marshall (Rock Island Independents)^[137]
First African-American bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church: Robert Elijah Jones and Matthew Wesley Clair.^[138]

1921

Bessie Coleman
First African-American woman to become an aviation pilot, and first American to hold an international pilot license: Bessie Coleman ^[139]
First African-American NFL football coach: Fritz Pollard, co-head coach, Akron Pros, while continuing to play running back ^[137]
First African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in the U.S.: Georgiana Rose Simpson, from the University of Chicago in 1921
First African American to found a record label: Harry Pace (Black Swan Records)
First African American to be licensed as a certified public accountant (CPA): John Wesley Cromwell Jr. ^[140]
First African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. and the first one to receive one in economics in the United States: Sadie T. M. Alexander

1923

First African-American woman to earn a degree in library science: Virginia Proctor Powell Florence.^[141]^[142] She earned the degree (Bachelor of Library Science) from what is now part of the University of Pittsburgh.^[143]^[144]^[145]
First African-American woman film producer for the silent crime drama The Flames of Wrath : Maria P. Williams ^[146]

1924

First African American to win individual Olympic gold medal: DeHart Hubbard (long jump, 1924 Summer Olympics).^[147] (See also: John Taylor, 1908)

1925

First African-American Foreign Service Officer: Clifton R. Wharton Sr. ^[148]

1926

First African-American woman to practice law before the United States Supreme Court: Violette Neatley Anderson

1927

First African American to become an officer in the New York Fire Department in New York City: Wesley Augustus Williams.^[149]
First African-American woman to star in a foreign motion picture: Josephine Baker in La Sirène des tropiques .^[150]

1928

First post-Reconstruction African-American elected to U.S. House of Representatives and first African American to be elected to Congress from a Northern state: Oscar Stanton De Priest (Republican; Illinois)^[151]
First African-American woman to serve in a state legislature: Minnie Buckingham Harper, West Virginia ^[152]

1929

First African-American sportscaster: Sherman "Jocko" Maxwell (WNJR, Newark, New Jersey)^[153]
First African-American woman in the United States to earn a PhD in education: Jane Ellen McAllister ^[154]
First African-American police surgeon with the New York Police Department: Louis T. Wright ^[155]

1930s

1930

First African American to win a state high school basketball championship: David "Big Dave" DeJernett, star center on an integrated Washington, Indiana team.

1931

First African-American composer to have their symphony performed by a leading orchestra: William Grant Still, Symphony No. 1, by Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra^[156]
Jane Matilda Bolin
First African-American woman to graduate from Yale Law School: Jane Matilda Bolin

1932

First African American on a presidential ticket in the 20th century: James W. Ford (Communist Party USA, as vice-presidential candidate running with William Z. Foster)^[157]
First African-American Ph.D. in anthropology: William Montague Cobb ^[158]^[159]

1933

First African-American woman to earn a doctorate in psychology: Inez Prosser

1934

First African American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat: Arthur W. Mitchell (Illinois)^[160]
First trade union set up for African-American domestic workers by Dora Lee Jones ^{[ relevant? ]}
First African American elected as a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons (ACS): Louis T. Wright ^[161]^[162]

1936

First African American to conduct a major U.S. orchestra: William Grant Still (Los Angeles Philharmonic)^[163]
First African-American women selected for the Olympic Games: Tidye Pickett and Louise Stokes.^[164] Stokes did not compete; Picket competed in the 80-meter hurdles ^[165]^: 86
First African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in Home Economics, and the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. from Cornell University: Flemmie Pansy Kittrell ^[166]^[167]

1937

First African-American federal magistrate: William H. Hastie (later the first African-American governor of the United States Virgin Islands)^[168]

1938

First African-American woman federal agency head: Mary McLeod Bethune (National Youth Administration)^[169]
First African-American woman elected to a state legislature: Crystal Bird Fauset (Pennsylvania General Assembly)
First African-American woman to earn a pilot's license in the United States: Willa Brown

1939

First African American to star in her own television program: Ethel Waters, The Ethel Waters Show , on NBC ^[170]

1940s

1940

First African-American woman to win an Oscar: Hattie McDaniel (Best Supporting Actress, Gone with the Wind , 1939)^[171]
First African American to be portrayed on a U.S. postage stamp: Booker T. Washington ^[172]
First African-American flag officer: BG Benjamin O. Davis Sr., U.S. Army ^[173]^{[Note 9]}
First African American to earn a doctorate in library science: Eliza Atkins Gleason, from the University of Chicago ^[174]
First African-American woman to earn a PhD in Zoology: Roger Arliner Young ^[175]
First African-American woman in the United States to earn her Ph.D. in history: Marion Thompson Wright ^[176]

1941

First African American to give a White House Command Performance: Josh White ^[177]

1942

First African American to be awarded the Navy Cross: Doris Miller
First African-American member of the U.S. Marine Corps: Alfred Masters ^[178]
First African-American inadvertently commissioned in the U.S. Navy as a Limited duty Flight instructor: Oscar Holmes ^[179]
First African American to captain a U.S. Merchant Marine ship, the SS Booker T. Washington: Hugh Mulzac ^[180]
First African American to become an officer in the Civil Air Patrol: Willa Brown
First African American to earn a doctorate in geology in the United States: Marguerite Williams ^[181]

1943

Martin A. Martin, first African American to become a member of the Trial Bureau of the United States Department of Justice, was sworn in on May 31, 1943.^[182]
First African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics: Euphemia Haynes, from Catholic University of America ^[183]

1944

First African-American commissioned Line officers in the U.S. Navy: The "Golden Thirteen"^[184]
First African-American commissioned as a U.S. Navy officer from the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps: Samuel Gravely ^[185]^{[Note 10]}
First female African-American commissioned Navy officers: Harriet Ida Pickens and Frances Wills ^[186]
First African American to receive a contract with a major U.S. opera company: Camilla Williams ^[187]
First known African-American comic book artist: Matt Baker in Jumbo Comics #69 for Fiction House ^[188]
First African-American reporter to attend a U.S. presidential news conference: Harry McAlpin ^[189]

1945

First African-American member of the New York City Opera: Todd Duncan ^{[ relevant? ]}
First African-American U.S. Marine Corps officer: Frederick C. Branch ^[190]
Olivia Hooker
First African American sworn in as a Navy nurse: Phyllis Mae Dailey ^[191]
First African-American woman to enter the Coast Guard: Olivia Hooker ^[192]

1946

First African American to sign a contract with an NFL team in the modern (post-World War II) era: Kenny Washington

1947

Jackie Robinson
First African-American Major League Baseball player of the modern era: Jackie Robinson (Brooklyn Dodgers).^[193] (See also: William Edward White, 1879; Moses Fleetwood Walker, 1884)
First African-American Major League Baseball player in the American League: Larry Doby (Cleveland Indians).
First African-American consensus college All-American basketball player: Don Barksdale ^[194]
First comic book produced entirely by African Americans: All-Negro Comics ^[195]
First African-American full-time faculty member at a predominantly white law school: William Robert Ming (University of Chicago Law School)^[37]
First African-American female member of the U.S. House and Senate press galleries: Alice Allison Dunnigan (See also: 1948)
First African American faculty member of Springfield College: Harold Amos ^[196]
First African American resident at St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago: James E. Bowman ^[197]
First African-American woman to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry in the United States: Marie Maynard Daly ^[198]

1948

First African-American man to receive an Oscar: James Baskett (Honorary Academy Award for his portrayal of "Uncle Remus" in Disney's Song of the South , 1946)^[199] (See also: Sidney Poitier, 1964)
First African American on an Olympic basketball team and first African-American Olympic gold medal basketball winner: Don Barksdale, in the 1948 Summer Olympics
First African Americans to play in the Cotton Bowl Classic: Wallace Triplett and Dennis Hoggard^[200]
First African American to design and construct a professional golf course: Bill Powell
First African American knowingly trained and commissioned as a U.S. Naval aviator: Jesse L. Brown ^[201]
First African-American composer to have an opera performed by a major U.S. company: William Grant Still (Troubled Island, New York City Opera)^[202]
First African-American woman to win an Olympic gold medal: Alice Coachman ^[203]
First African American since Reconstruction to enroll at a traditionally white university of the South: Silas Hunt (University of Arkansas Law School)^[204]^{[Note 11]}
First known African-American star of a regularly scheduled network television series: Bob Howard, The Bob Howard Show^[170]^[206]^[207]^{[Note 12]} (See also: 1956)

First African-American man to graduate from Oregon State College: William Tebeau ^[208]
First African-American female reporter to travel with a U.S. president (Harry S. Truman's election campaign): Alice Allison Dunnigan ^[189] (See also: 1947)
First African American in the regular United States Army Nurse Corps after it was desegregated: Nancy Leftenant-Colon ^[209]
First clinician to investigate the treatment of humans with Aureomycin: Louis T. Wright ^[210]

1949

First African-American graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy: Wesley Brown ^[211]
First African American to chair a committee of the United States Congress: Representative William Dawson (D-IL).^[212]
First African American to hold the rank of Ambassador of the United States: Edward R. Dudley, ambassador, and previously minister, to Liberia ^[213] (See also: 1869)
First African American to win an MVP award in Major League Baseball: Jackie Robinson (Brooklyn Dodgers, National League)^[214] (See also: Elston Howard, 1963)
First African-American-owned and -operated radio station: WERD, established October 3, 1949, in Atlanta, Georgia by Jesse B. Blayton Sr.^[215]
First African-American woman president of an NAACP chapter nationwide: Florence LeSueur of Boston's NAACP chapter.^[216]
First African-American women to earn a doctor of veterinary medicine degree: Jane Hinton and Alfreda Johnson Webb ^{[ citation needed ]}
First African American to sing at a U.S. presidential inauguration: Dorothy Maynor
First African-American woman entomologist to earn a Ph.D.: Margaret S. Collins ^[217]

1950s

1950

Nat King Cole
First African American to win a Tony Award: Juanita Hall (Best Featured Actress in a Musical, South Pacific )^[218]
First African American to win a Pulitzer Prize: Gwendolyn Brooks (book of poetry, Annie Allen , 1949)^[219]
Ralph Bunche
First African American to win the Nobel Peace Prize: Ralph Bunche ^[220]
First African American to receive a "lifetime" appointment as federal judge: William H. Hastie, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit^[221]
First African-American woman to compete on the world tennis tour: Althea Gibson ^[222]
First African-American solo singer to have a #1 hit on the Billboard charts: Nat King Cole ("Mona Lisa"), topped "Best Sellers in Stores" chart on July 15 (See also: Mills Brothers, 1943; Count Basie, 1947; Tommy Edwards, 1958; The Platters, 1959)^{[ citation needed ]}
Edith S. Sampson
First African-American delegate to the United Nations: Edith S. Sampson ^[223] (See also: 1961)
First African-American NBA basketball players: Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton (New York Knicks), Chuck Cooper (Boston Celtics), and Earl Lloyd (Washington Capitols).^[224] Note: Harold Hunter was the first to sign an NBA contract, signing with the Washington Capitols on April 26, 1950.^[225]^[226] However, he was cut from the team during training camp and did not play professionally.^[227]^{[Note 13]} (See also: 1902)

1951

First African-American named to the College Football Hall of Fame: Duke Slater, University of Iowa (1918–1921)^[228]
First African-American quarterback to become a regular starter for a professional football team: Bernie Custis (Hamilton Tiger-Cats)^[229]

1952

Althea Gibson
First African-American driver in NASCAR: Wendell Scott (See also: 2015)
First African-American woman elected to a U.S. state senate: Cora Brown (Michigan)^[230]
First African-American U.S. Marine Corps aviator: Frank E. Petersen ^[231]
First African-American woman to be nominated for a national political office: Charlotta Bass, Vice President (Progressive Party) (See also: 2000, 2020)^[232]
First African-American baseball player to appear in or win a College World Series: Don Eaddy ^[233]
First African American to earn a doctoral degree from Harvard’s Division of Medical Sciences: Harold Amos ^[234]

1953

First African-American basketball player to play in the NBA All-Star Game: Don Barksdale in the 1953 NBA All-Star Game ^[194]
First African-American quarterback to play in the National Football League during the modern (post-World War II) era: Willie Thrower (Chicago Bears)^[235]

1954

First African-American U.S. Navy Diver: Carl Brashear ^[236]
First individual African-American woman as subject on the cover of Life magazine: Dorothy Dandridge, November 1, 1954^[237]
First African-American page for the U.S. Supreme Court, and first to be enrolled in the Capitol Page School: Charles V. Bush ^[238]

1955

First African-American member of the Metropolitan Opera: Marian Anderson ^[239]
First African-American male dancer in a major ballet company: Arthur Mitchell (New York City Ballet); also first African-American principal dancer of a major ballet company (NYCB), 1956.^[240] (See also: 1969)
First African-American female dancer in a major ballet company (Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo): Raven Wilkinson ^[241]
First African-American pilot of a scheduled U.S. airline: August Martin (cargo airline Seaboard & Western Airlines)^[242]^[243] (See also: 1964)
Marian Anderson
First African American to serve as a presidential executive assistant: E. Frederic Morrow, appointed by President Eisenhower as Administrative Officer for Special Projects.^[244]

1956

First African-American star of a nationwide network TV show: Nat King Cole of The Nat King Cole Show, NBC (See also: 1948)
First African American to break the color barrier in a bowl game in the Deep South: Bobby Grier (Pittsburgh Panthers in the 1956 Sugar Bowl)^[245]
First African-American Wimbledon tennis champion: Althea Gibson (doubles, with Englishwoman Angela Buxton); also first African American to win a Grand Slam event (French Open).^[246]
First African-American U.S. Secret Service agent: Charles Gittens ^[247]^[248]
First African American to win the Cy Young Award as the top pitcher in Major League Baseball, in the award's inaugural year: Don Newcombe (Brooklyn Dodgers)^[249]
First African-American woman to become president of a four-year, fully accredited liberal arts college: Willa Beatrice Player (Bennett College)^[250]

1957

First African-American female Wimbledon Tennis Champion: Althea Gibson
First African-American assistant coach in the NFL: Lowell W. Perry (See also: 1966)^[251]
First African-American player in the National Hockey League (Made his debut with the Bruins on January 18):Janis F. Kearney

Willie Mays
First African American to win Major League Baseball's Gold Glove, in the award's inaugural year: Willie Mays (New York Giants)^[252]^{[Note 14]}
First African American to work as a botanist at the United States National Arboretum: Roland Jefferson ^[253]

1958

First African-American flight attendant: Ruth Carol Taylor (Mohawk Airlines)^[254]
First African American to reach number-one on the Billboard Hot 100: Tommy Edwards ("It's All in the Game")
NASA’s first African-American woman engineer: Mary Jackson ^[255]

1959

First African-American Grammy Award winners, in the award's inaugural year: Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie (two awards each)^[256]
Ella Fitzgerald

Count Basie
First African-American television journalist: Louis Lomax
First African American to win a major national player of the year award in college basketball: Oscar Robertson, USBWA Player of the Year ^{[Note 15]} (in that award's inaugural year)
First African-American woman to become a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA): Norma Merrick Sklarek ^[257]

1960s

1961

First African American to win the Heisman Trophy: Ernie Davis
First African American to serve on a U.S. district court: James Benton Parsons, appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
First African-American delegate to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization: Edith S. Sampson (See also: 1950)
First African American to go over Niagara Falls: Nathan Boya a.k.a. William FitzGerald
First African American to join the PGA Tour: Charlie Sifford ^[258]
First African-American singer to maintain a sustained relationship with the Metropolitan Opera: Leontyne Price ^[259]

1962

James Meredith
First African American to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame: Jackie Robinson (See also: Satchel Paige, 1971)
First African-American coach in Major League Baseball: John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil (Chicago Cubs)
First African-American attorney general of a state: Edward Brooke (Massachusetts) (See also: 1966)
First African-American student admitted to the University of Mississippi: James Meredith ^[260]
First African-American Navy Seal: William Goines ^[261]

1963

First African-American bank examiner for the United States Department of the Treasury: Roland Burris
First African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi: James Meredith ^[262]
First African-American named as Time magazine's Man of the Year: Martin Luther King Jr. ^[263]
First African American to win a NASCAR Grand National event: Wendell Scott
First African-American police officer of the NYPD to be named a precinct commander: Lloyd Sealy, commander of the NYPD's 28th Precinct in Harlem.^[100]
Cicely Tyson
First African American to be named American League MVP: Elston Howard (New York Yankees) (See also: Jackie Robinson, 1949)
First African-American chess master: Walter Harris^[264]^[265]
First African American to appear as a series regular on a primetime dramatic television series: Cicely Tyson, East Side/West Side (CBS).^[266]^[267]
First African American to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award: Diahann Carroll, for Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Lead Role, for the episode "A Horse Has a Big Head, Let Him Worry" of Naked City (See also: 1968)
First African Americans inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame: New York Renaissance, inducted as a team. (See also: Bob Douglas, 1972; Bill Russell, 1975; Clarence Gaines, 1982)
First African American to graduate from the U.S. Air Force Academy: Charles V. Bush
First African-American man to obtain a Ph.D. in geology: Mack Gipson ^[268]

1964

First African American to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association: Althea Gibson
First African-American pilot for a major commercial airline: David E. Harris, American Airlines ^[269]^{[Note 16]} (See also: 1955 and Marlon Green)
First African-American man to win an Oscar: Sidney Poitier (Best Actor, Lillies of the Field , 1963)
First movie with African-American interracial marriage: One Potato, Two Potato ,^[271] actors Bernie Hamilton and Barbara Barrie, written by Orville H. Hampton, Raphael Hayes, directed by Larry Peerce
First African-American baseball player to be named the Major League Baseball World Series MVP: Bob Gibson, St. Louis Cardinals^[272]
Shirley Chisholm
First African American to graduate from the University of San Francisco: Dr. Mary Edna Davidson

1965

First African-American nationally syndicated cartoonist: Morrie Turner ( Wee Pals )
First African-American title character of a comic book series: Lobo (Dell Comics).^[273]^{[Note 17]} (See also: The Falcon, 1969, and Luke Cage, 1972)
First African-American star of a network television drama: Bill Cosby, I Spy (co-star with Robert Culp)
First African-American cast member of a daytime soap opera: Micki Grant who played Peggy Nolan Harris on Another World until 1972.
First African-American Playboy Playmate centerfold: Jennifer Jackson (March issue)
First African-American U.S. Air Force General: Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. (Three-star General)
Patricia Roberts Harris
First African-American woman Ambassador of the United States: Patricia Roberts Harris, ambassador to Luxembourg
First African-American NFL official: Burl Toler, field judge/head linesman
First African American to win a national chess championship: Frank Street Jr. (U.S. Amateur Championship)^[274]
First African-American United States Solicitor General: Thurgood Marshall (See also: 1967)
First African-American woman to receive a Doctor of Juridical Science degree from Yale Law School: Pauli Murray

Pauli Murray UNCPauliMurray.png — Pauli Murray

First African American to broadcast from the United Nations: Bea Moten-Foster ^[275]
First African-American actress to portray a lead role at the American Shakespeare Festival: Ruby Dee ^[276]

1966

First African-American man to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and first African American to win a Primetime Emmy Award: Bill Cosby, I Spy
First team with five African-American starters to win the NCAA basketball tournament: 1965–66 Texas Western Miners basketball team
First African-American coach in the National Basketball Association: Bill Russell (Boston Celtics)
First African-American (mixed-race) model on the cover of a Vogue (British Vogue ) magazine: Donyale Luna
First post-Reconstruction African-American elected to the U.S. Senate (and first African-American elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote): Edward Brooke (Republican; Massachusetts) (See also: 1962)
First African-American Cabinet secretary: Robert C. Weaver (Department of Housing and Urban Development)
First African-American Major League Baseball umpire: Emmett Ashford
First African-American NFL broadcaster: Lowell W. Perry ^{[ citation needed ]} (CBS, on Pittsburgh Steelers games) (See also: 1957)
Bill Russell
First African-American fire commissioner of a major U.S. city: Robert O. Lowery of the New York City Fire Department
First African-American mayor in Ohio: Robert C. Henry of Springfield, Ohio.

1967

First African American to win a PGA Tour event: Charlie Sifford (1967 Greater Hartford Open Invitational)
First African-American elected mayor of a large U.S. city: Carl B. Stokes (Cleveland, Ohio)
First African American appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States: Thurgood Marshall (See also: 1965)
First African American selected for astronaut training: Robert Henry Lawrence Jr.
First African-American woman, and first woman, to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine: Tina Turner
First African American to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Emlen Tunnell
Thurgood Marshall
First African-American interracial kiss on network television: entertainers Nancy Sinatra (Italian-American) and Sammy Davis Jr. (African-American) on Sinatra's variety special Movin' With Nancy , airing December 11 on NBC ^[277] (See also: 1968)
First tenured African-American professor in the University of Chicago's Biological Sciences Division: James E. Bowman ^[278]^[279]

1968

First African-American interracial kiss on a network television drama: Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols (African American) and Captain Kirk, played by William Shatner (Jewish-Canadian): Star Trek : "Plato's Stepchildren" (See also: 1967)
First African-American man to win a Grand Slam tennis event: Arthur Ashe (US Open) (See also: Althea Gibson, 1956; Serena Williams, 2003)
First African-American coach to win an NBA Championship: Bill Russell
First African American to serve as an executive of the United Methodist Publishing House: W. T. Handy Jr.
First African-American woman elected to U.S. House of Representatives: Shirley Chisholm (New York)
First African American appointed as a United States Assistant Secretary of State: Barbara M. Watson
First African American to start at quarterback in the modern era of professional football: Marlin Briscoe (Denver Broncos, AFL)
First African-American commissioned officer awarded the Medal of Honor: Riley L. Pitts
First fine-arts museum devoted to African-American work: Studio Museum in Harlem
First African-American actress to star in her own television series where she did not play a domestic worker: Diahann Carroll in Julia (see also: 1963)
First African-American woman as a presidential candidate: Charlene Mitchell (See also: Shirley Chisholm, 1972)
First African-American woman reporter for The New York Times : Nancy Hicks Maynard
First African-American starring character of a comic strip: Danny Raven in Dateline: Danger! by Al McWilliams and John Saunders.^[280]^[281]
First African-American woman to win an Olympic 800m title: Madeline Manning
First African-American woman to work as an epidemiologist at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA): Theresa Greene Reed
First African-American woman to be promoted to the rank of full colonel in the United States Air Force: Ruth A. Lucas ^[282]
First African American to chair a department at Harvard Medical School (now called the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics): Harold Amos ^[283]

1969

First African-American superhero: The Falcon, Marvel Comics' Captain America #117 (September 1969).^[284]^{[Note 17]} (See also: Lobo, 1965 and Luke Cage, 1972)
First African-American graduate of Harvard Business School: Lillian Lincoln
Gordon Parks
First African-American director of a major Hollywood motion picture: Gordon Parks ( The Learning Tree )
First African-American founder of a classical training school and the company of ballet: Arthur Mitchell, Dance Theatre of Harlem (See also: 1955)
First African-American woman to appear on the Grand Ole Opry: Linda Martell
First African American to own a commercial airliner: Warren Wheeler (Wheeler Airlines)^[285]
First African American to become a member of the San Diego City Council: Leon Williams ^[286]
First African American to earn a PhD in computer science: Clarence Ellis ^[287]

1970s

1970

First African American to head an Episcopal diocese: John Melville Burgess, diocesan bishop of Massachusetts ^[288]
First African-American U.S. Navy Master Diver: Carl Brashear (See also: 1954; 1968)
First African-American member of the New York Stock Exchange: Joseph L. Searles III ^[289]
First African-American NCAA Division I basketball coach: Will Robinson (Illinois State University)^{[Note 18]}
First African-American contestant in the Miss America pageant: Cheryl Browne (Miss Iowa)
First African-American woman (and first woman) to become a physician's assistant: Joyce Nichols
First African-American actress to win a Emmy Award: Gail Fisher for Mannix (see also: 1971)
First African-American basketball player to win the NBA All-Star MVP, the NBA Finals MVP, and the NBA MVP all in the same season: Willis Reed (New York Knicks)
First African American (and first American of any race) to initiate the concept of free agency. He refused to accept a trade following the 1969 season, ultimately appealing his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The trend of free agency expanded across the entire landscape of professional sports for all races and all cultures: Curt Flood (St. Louis Cardinals)^{[Note 19]}
First African American to become director of a major library system in America: Clara Stanton Jones, as director of the Detroit Public Library ^[290]
First African American to perform at a Super Bowl halftime show: Lionel Hampton (Super Bowl IV)

1971

First African-American pitcher to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame: Satchel Paige (See also: Jackie Robinson, 1962)
First African-American president of the New York City Board of Education: Isaiah Edward Robinson Jr.
First African American to win a Golden Globe Award: Gail Fisher for Mannix (see also: 1970)
First African-American female jockey in the United States: Cheryl White ^[291]
First African American to appear by herself on the cover of Playboy : Darine Stern (October issue)
First African American to become president of the Public Library Association: Effie Lee Morris ^[292]*1971 DAV Scholarship First African American to receive scholarship to Art Institute of Chicago Mary J. Weatherspoon[tribute 20 years Disable American Veterans Association]
First African-American president of the American Psychological Association (APA): Kenneth B. Clark ^[293]

1972

First African American to campaign for the U.S. presidency in a major political party: Shirley Chisholm (Democratic Party) (See also: 1968)
First African-American superhero to star in own comic-book series: Luke Cage, Marvel Comics' Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 (June 1972).^[294]^{[Note 17]} (See also: Lobo, 1965, and the Falcon, 1969)
First African-American National Basketball Association general manager: Wayne Embry
First African-American interracial romantic kiss in a mainstream comics magazine: "The Men Who Called Him Monster", by writer Don McGregor (See also: 1975) and artist Luis Garcia, in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror-comics magazine Creepy #43 (Jan. 1972) (See also: 1975)^[295]
First African-American interracial male kiss on network television: Sammy Davis Jr. (mixed-race) and Carroll O'Connor (Caucasian) in All in the Family ^[296]
First African American inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame: Team-owner and coach Bob Douglas, in the category of "contributor" (See also: New York Renaissance, 1963; player Bill Russell, 1975; coach Clarence Gaines, 1982)
First African-American female Broadway director: Vinnette Justine Carroll ( Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope )
First African-American comic-book creator to receive a "created by" cover-credit: Wayne Howard ( Midnight Tales #1)
First black valedictorian of the National Cathedral School Fath Davis Ruffins
First African American to be awarded the Academy Award for Best Original Song for the "Theme from Shaft" and third African American to be awarded an Oscar in any category: Isaac Hayes ^[297]

1973

First African-American artistic director of a professional regional theater: Harold Scott (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park)
First African-American Bond villain in a James Bond movie: Yaphet Kotto, playing Mr. Big/Dr. Kananga, Live and Let Die.
First African-American Bond Girl in a James Bond movie: Gloria Hendry (playing Rosie Carver), Live and Let Die .
First African-American elected mayor of Los Angeles: Tom Bradley
First African-American psychologist in the U.S. Air Force: John D. Robinson
Doris A. Davis
First African-American woman mayor of a U.S. metropolitan city: Doris A. Davis, Compton, California
First African-American woman adult film star, Desiree West.^[298]
First African-American woman to earn a doctorate degree from MIT: Shirley Ann Jackson ^[299]

1974

First African-American model on the cover of U.S. Vogue magazine: Beverly Johnson
First African-American NBA Coach of the Year: Ray Scott (Detroit Pistons)
First African-American woman to serve as a United States Secret Service agent: Zandra Flemister ^[300]

1975

Walter Washington
First African-American elected mayor, and first mayor, of Washington, D.C.: Walter Washington
First African-American game show host: Adam Wade (CBS' Musical Chairs )
First African-American four-star general: Daniel James Jr.
First African-American inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player: Bill Russell (See also: New York Renaissance, 1963; Bob Douglas, 1972; Clarence Gaines, 1982)
First African-American interracial couple in a TV-show cast: The Jeffersons , actors Franklin Cover (Caucasian) and Roxie Roker (African American) as Tom and Helen Willis, respectively; the show's creator: Norman Lear
First African-American interracial romantic kiss in a full-color comic book: Amazing Adventures #31 (July 1975), feature "Killraven: Warrior of the Worlds", characters M'Shulla Scott and Carmilla Frost, by writer Don McGregor and artist P. Craig Russell ^[301] (See also: 1972)
First African-American manager in Major League Baseball: Frank Robinson (Cleveland Indians)
First African-American model on the cover of Elle magazine: Beverly Johnson
First African-American psychologist in the U.S. Navy: John D. Robinson
First African American to play in a men's major golf championship: Lee Elder (The Masters)
First African American to be named Super Bowl MVP in NFL: Franco Harris (Pittsburgh Steelers). Of mixed ancestry, Harris was also the first Italian American to win the award.
Franco Harris

Barbara Jordan
First African-American women named as Time magazine's Person of the Year: Barbara Jordan and Addie L. Wyatt ^[302]
First African-American woman to anchor a major United States network newscast: Carole Simpson ^[303]
First African-American woman to be appointed to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, which is the court of last resort for the District of Columbia, and first to serve on any court of last resort in the United States: Julia Cooper Mack ^[304]

1976

First African-American female elected officer of an international labor union: Addie L. Wyatt
First African American to become president of the American Library Association: Clara Stanton Jones, who served as its acting president from April 11 to July 22 in 1976 and then its president from July 22, 1976, to 1977^[305]
First African American to win a major party nomination for statewide office in the Southern United States since the Reconstruction era: Asa T. Spaulding Jr. ^[306]
First African-American lawyer from the Deep South to be appointed to the federal judiciary – the United States Military Court of Appeals (now the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces) in Washington, D.C.: Matthew J. Perry
First African-American artist to win Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards: Natalie Cole
First African-American woman to deliver the keynote address at a Democratic National Convention: Barbara Jordan
First woman to graduate from the United States Army Command and General Staff College with a degree in military arts and sciences: Clara Adams-Ender ^[307]

1977

First African-American (and first woman), appointed director of the Peace Corps: Carolyn R. Payton
First African American drafted to play professional basketball, first woman to dunk in a professional women's game: Cardte Hicks ^[308]
First African-American woman in the U.S. Cabinet: Patricia Roberts Harris, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
First African-American woman to have her signature appear on U.S. currency: Azie Taylor Morton, the 36th Treasurer of the United States
First African-American publisher of mainstream gay publication: Alan Bell ( Gaysweek )^[309]^[310]
First African-American woman to join the Daughters of the American Revolution: Karen Batchelor ^[311]
First African-American Major League Baseball general manager: Bill Lucas (Atlanta Braves)
First African-American woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest: Pauli Murray.^[312]
First African-American (half-Latin) woman to work as a registrar for a major scientific museum: Margaret Santiago.^[313]

1978

First African-American broadcast network news anchor: Max Robinson
First African-American woman pilot for a major commercial airline: Jill E. Brown, Texas International Airlines ^[314]
First African-American woman to advance to the rank of captain in the Navy: Joan C. Bynum ^[315]
First African American president of the Special Libraries Association (SLA): Vivian Davidson Hewitt ^[316]

1979

First African-American U.S. Marine Corps general officer: Frank E. Petersen
First African American to win a Daytime Emmy Award for lead actor in a soap opera: Al Freeman Jr. (Ed Hall in One Life to Live )
First African-American woman ordained in the Lutheran Church in America (LCA), the largest of three denominations that later combined to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: Earlean Miller ^[317]
Jill E. Brown
First African-American head coach of an NCAA Division I-A football program: Willie Jeffries (Wichita State).^[318]
First African American to play professional basketball behind the "Iron Curtain", Kent Washington played for KS Start Lublin, Poland.

1980s

1980

First African-American woman to graduate from (and to attend) the U.S. Naval Academy: Janie L. Mines, graduated in 1980^[319]^[320]^[321]
First African-American woman to join the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live : Yvonne Hudson
First African-American-oriented cable television network: BET ^[322]
First woman to be elected to the Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA): Norma Merrick Sklarek ^[257]

1981

First African American to play in the NHL: Val James (Buffalo Sabres)^{[Note 20]}
First African-American woman Curator of the National Museum of American History Fath Davis Ruffins
First African-American woman to become board-certified in maternal-fetal medicine (MFM). Yvonne Thornton ^[323]

1982

First African-American inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach: Clarence Gaines (See also: New York Renaissance, 1963; Bob Douglas, 1972; Bill Russell, 1975)
First African-American U.S. Army four-star General: Roscoe Robinson Jr.
First African American elected to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors: Leon Williams^[286]
First African-American woman editor of the Harvard Law Review: Annette Gordon-Reed ^[324]
First African-American Nurse Corps officer in the Army to graduate from the United States Army War College: Clara Adams-Ender ^[325]
First African American and first woman to complete a neurosurgery residency at Case Western University, and the second African-American woman certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery: M. Deborrah Hyde ^[326]^[327]

1983

First African-American astronaut: Guion Bluford (Challenger mission STS-8).^[328]^{[Note 21]}
First African-American mayor of Chicago: Harold Washington
Vanessa L. Williams
First African-American Miss America: Vanessa L. Williams (A few weeks before the end of her reign as Miss America, Williams learned that Penthouse magazine would be publishing unauthorized nude photographs of her in an upcoming issue. Amid growing media controversy and scrutiny, Williams resigned as Miss America in July 1984 (under pressure from the Miss America Organization) and was replaced by first runner-up Miss New Jersey Suzette Charles, who was also African American.)
First African-American owners of a major metropolitan newspaper: Robert C. and Nancy Hicks Maynard ( Oakland Tribune )
First African American admitted on the national level as a member-at-large of the Daughters of the American Revolution: Lena Santos Ferguson
First African-American artist to have a music video shown in heavy rotation on MTV: Michael Jackson ^[329]
First African American to be elected president of the National Association of Women Lawyers: Mahala Ashley Dickerson ^[330]

1984

First African American to win a delegate-awarding U.S. presidential primary/caucus: Jesse Jackson (Louisiana, the District of Columbia, South Carolina, Virginia, and one of two separate Mississippi contests).
First African-American New York City Police Commissioner: Benjamin Ward
First African-American coach to win the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship: John Thompson (Georgetown)
First African-American woman board-certified in neurosurgery: Alexa Canady
First African-American woman elevated to the position of bishop within the United Methodist Church: Leontine T. Kelly

1985

First African American to become a member of the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels precision flying team: Donnie Cochran. Also, first African American to command the team (1994).
First African-American (mixed-race) female general: Sherian Cadoria
First African-American woman to win an MTV Video Music Award: Tina Turner

1986

Willy T. Ribbs
First African-American Formula One racecar driver: Willy T. Ribbs ^{[Note 22]} (See also: Ribbs, 1991)
First African-American musicians inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in the inaugural class: Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, and Little Richard
First African-American woman to be regularly featured in heavy rotation on MTV with multiple videos: Whitney Houston ^[331]^[332]

1987

First African-American woman, and first woman of any race, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Aretha Franklin
First African-American Radio City Music Hall Rockette: Jennifer Jones
First African-American man to sail around the world solo: Teddy Seymour
First African-American CEO of a Fortune 500 company: Clifton R. Wharton Jr.^[333]
First African-American woman, and first woman of any race, to have an album debut at number one on the Billboard 200: Whitney Houston
First African-American woman president of Spelman College: Johnnetta Cole

1988

First African-American woman, and first woman of any race, to set a Guinness World Record for the then-largest paying audience for a concert (180,000 fans): Tina Turner
First African American to win a medal at the Winter Olympics (a bronze in figure skating): Debi Thomas
First African-American woman elected to a U.S. judgeship, and first appointed to a state supreme court: Juanita Kidd Stout
First African-American candidate for President of the United States to obtain ballot access in all 50 states: Lenora Fulani
First African-American NFL referee: Johnny Grier
First African-American quarterback to start (and to win) a Super Bowl: Doug Williams (Super Bowl XXII)
First African-American Olympic gold medalist in wrestling: Kenny Monday

1989

First African-American NFL coach of the modern era: Art Shell, Los Angeles Raiders
First African-American mayor of New York City: David Dinkins
First African-American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Colin Powell
Ron Brown
First African-American woman (and first woman), ordained bishop in the Episcopal Church: Barbara Clementine Harris
First African-American Chairman of the Democratic National Committee: Ron Brown ^[334]
First African-American woman transplant surgeon: Velma Scantlebury
First African-American president of the Society for Adolescent Medicine: Renee Jenkins ^[335]

1990s

1990

First elected African-American governor: Douglas Wilder (Virginia) (See also: Oscar Dunn, 1871)
First African-American elected president of the Harvard Law Review : Barack Obama ^[336] (See also: 2008, 2009)
First African-American Miss USA: Carole Gist
First African-American Playboy Playmate of the Year: Renee Tenison

1991

First African American to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 auto race: Willy T. Ribbs (See also: Ribbs, 1986)
First African-American female mayor of Washington, D.C.: Sharon Pratt Kelly
First African-American woman to perform a back flip on the ice while figure skating: Rory Flack
First African-American woman to dive to the ocean floor in the deep submersible ALVIN: Dawn Wright ^[337]

1992

First African-American female astronaut: Dr. Mae Jemison (Space Shuttle Endeavour)
First African-American woman elected to U.S. Senate: Carol Moseley Braun (Illinois)
First African-American woman to moderate a Presidential debate: Carole Simpson (second debate of 1992 campaign)
First African American to sail solo around the world following the Age of Sail route around the southern tips of South America (Cape Horn) and Africa (Cape of Good Hope), avoiding the Panama and Suez Canals: Bill Pinkney ^[338]
First African-American Major League Baseball manager to reach (and win) the World Series: Cito Gaston (Toronto Blue Jays) 1992 World Series
First African American to direct an animated film: Bruce W. Smith ( Bebe's Kids )

1993

First African-American United States Secretary of Commerce: Ron Brown
Hazel O'Leary
First African-American woman (and first woman), appointed as U.S. Secretary of Energy: Hazel R. O'Leary
First African American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature: Toni Morrison
First African-American woman named Poet Laureate of the United States: Rita Dove; also the youngest person named to that position
First African-American appointed Director of the National Drug Control Policy: Lee P. Brown
First African-American Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: David Satcher ^[339]
First African-American appointed Surgeon General of the United States: Joycelyn Elders
First African American to serve as home plate umpire for World Series game: Charlie Williams for Game 4 of the 1993 World Series
Charley Pride
First African American to be inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry: Charley Pride ^[340]
First African-American woman dean of a United States medical school (College of Osteopathic Medicine of Ohio University): Barbara Ross-Lee ^[341]

1994

First African-American female director of a major-studio movie: Darnell Martin (Columbia Pictures' I Like It Like That )
First African-American (mixed-race) to win the United States Amateur Championship: Tiger Woods ^{[Note 23]}
First African-American woman to win the US Open Professional Figure Skating Championships: Rory Flack ^[342]

1995

First African-American inductee to the National Radio Hall of Fame: Hal Jackson
First African-American Sergeant Major of the Army: Gene C. McKinney
First African-American Miss Universe: Chelsi Smith
First African-American personal diarist to a U.S. president (Bill Clinton): Janis F. Kearney ^[343]
First African American and first woman to serve as chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC): Shirley Ann Jackson ^[344]

1996

J. Paul Reason
First African-American U.S. Navy four-star admiral: J. Paul Reason ^[345]
First African-American MLB general manager to win the World Series: Bob Watson (New York Yankees), 1996 World Series

1997

First African American (mixed-race) to win a men's major golf championship: Tiger Woods (The Masters)^{[Note 23]}
First African-American model to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition : Tyra Banks
First African-American UFC champion: Maurice Smith
First African-American Director of the National Park Service: Robert Stanton ^[346]
First African American to be elected a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM): Clarence Ellis ^[347]

1998

First African American to be appointed U.S. Secretary of Labor: Alexis Herman\

Tiger Woods
First African-American female rear admiral in the U.S. Navy: Lillian Fishburne
Robert Stanton
First African-American Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard: Vincent W. Patton III
First African American (mixed-race) to play in the Presidents Cup: Tiger Woods ^{[Note 23]}
First African American to lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol: Jacob Chestnut ^[348]^[349] (See also: 2005, 2019)
First African-American Space Shuttle Commander Frederick D. Gregory
First African-American to earn a Ph.D. in paper science ^[350]

1999

First African American to be awarded the Grandmaster title in chess: Maurice Ashley ^[351]^{[ better source needed ]}
First African-American Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps: Alford L. McMichael

Shirley Ann Jackson
First African-American woman to lead a top-ranked research university when named the 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: Shirley Ann Jackson ^[352]
First African-American woman appointed to serve as a judge on a district court in the three-state Seventh Circuit: Ann Claire Williams
First African-American woman to head a publicly traded corporation when media company Radio One (Urban One), which she founded, went public: Cathy Hughes ^[353]
First African American and first woman to be promoted to Director of White House Photography: Sharon Farmer ^[354]
First African-American president of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE): Sherita Ceasar ^[355]

21st century

2000s

2000

First African-American nominated for Vice President of the United States by a Federal Election Commission-recognized and federally funded political party: Ezola B. Foster (See also: 1952, 2020; FEC established in 1975)
First African American to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame: Charley Pride ^[356]
First African American to be elected Republican state party chair in the United States: Michael Steele ^[357]
First woman to serve as president of the Association of Black Cardiologists: Elizabeth Ofili ^[358]

2001

First African-American (mixed-race) Secretary of State: Colin Powell
First African-American president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: The Most Reverend Wilton Daniel Gregory (see also: 2020)
First African-American president of the Unitarian Universalist Association: Rev. William G. Sinkford
First African-American president of an Ivy League university: Ruth J. Simmons at Brown University
First African-American woman and first woman National Security Advisor: Condoleezza Rice (See also: 2005)
First African-American billionaire: Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television (See also: 2002)
First African-American woman billionaire: Sheila Johnson
First African-American broadcaster to call a Super Bowl: Greg Gumbel (Super Bowl XXXV)

2002

First African American to become majority owner of a U.S. major sports league team: Robert L. Johnson (Charlotte Bobcats, NBA)^{[Note 24]} (See also: 2001)
First African-American Winter Olympic gold medal winner: Vonetta Flowers (two-woman bobsleigh)
First African-American woman combat pilot in the U.S. Armed Forces: Captain Vernice Armour, USMC (See also: 2008)
First African-American (half-Caucasian) to win an Oscar: Halle Berry (Best Lead Actress, Monster's Ball , 2001)
First African-American to receive the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards): Whoopi Goldberg ^[359]
First African-American woman to be ranked #1 in tennis: Venus Williams
First African American to be named year-end world champion by the International Tennis Federation: Serena Williams
First African-American Arena Football League head coach to win ArenaBowl: Darren Arbet (San Jose SaberCats), ArenaBowl XVI
Condoleezza Rice
First African-American general manager in the National Football League: Ozzie Newsome (Baltimore Ravens)

2003

First African-American female to be elected District Attorney in the United States: Kamala Harris (San Francisco) (See also: 2020, 2021, and 2024)
First African American to win a Career Grand Slam in tennis: Serena Williams (See also: Althea Gibson, 1956; Arthur Ashe, 1968)
First African-American American Bar Association president: Dennis Archer ^[360]

First African American elected to statewide office in Maryland. ( Lt. Governor): Michael Steele ^[357]

2004

First African-American inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame: Charlie Sifford
First African-American NBA general manager to win the NBA Finals: Joe Dumars (Detroit Pistons), 2004 NBA Finals
First African-American Canadian Football League head coach to reach (and win) the Grey Cup: Pinball Clemons (Toronto Argonauts), 92nd Grey Cup
First and only African-American woman to fly the United States Air Force's U-2 spy plane: Merryl Tengesdal ^[361]

2005

First African-American woman Secretary of State: Condoleezza Rice (See also: 2001)
First African-American women to lead a major transportation agency in the U.S. serving on the BART Board of Directors: Carole Ward Allen and Lynette Sweet^[362]
Venus and Serena Williams
First African-American woman U.S. Coast Guard aviator: Jeanine Menze
First African-American woman (and first woman), to lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol: Rosa Parks ^[363]^[349] (See also: 1998, 2019)

2006

First African American to command a United States Marine Corps division: Major General Walter E. Gaskin
First African-American individual Winter Olympic gold medal winner: Shani Davis (men's 1,000-meter speed skating)
First African American to reach the peak of Mount Everest: Sophia Danenberg
First African-American woman to receive Dharma transmission in Zen Buddhism: Merle Kodo Boyd ^[364]
First African-American quarterback inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Warren Moon
First African-American Lady of Turks and Caicos Islands: LisaRaye McCoy
First African-American woman to obtain a web-based software patent: Janet Emerson Bashen ^[365]

2007

First known African-American woman to reach the North Pole: Barbara Hillary ^[366]
First African-American White House Chief Usher: Stephen Rochon ^[367]
First African-American NFL head coaches to reach the Super Bowl: Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy, Super Bowl XLI ^{[Note 25]}
Tony Dungy
First African-American NFL coach to win a Super Bowl: Tony Dungy (Super Bowl XLI)
First African-American president of the American Academy of Pediatrics: Renee Jenkins ^[368]

2008

First African American to be nominated as a major-party U.S. presidential candidate: Barack Obama, Democratic Party ^[369]
First African-American elected President of the United States: Barack Obama ^[370]
First African American First Lady: Michelle Obama
First African American to referee a Super Bowl game: Mike Carey (Super Bowl XLII)
First African-American woman elected Speaker of a state House of Representatives: California Rep. Karen Bass
First African American to be appointed to the United States Senate by a state governor: Roland Burris
First African-American woman combat pilot in the United States Air Force: Major Shawna Rochelle Kimbrell (See also: 2002)
Michelle Obama
First African-American NFL general manager to win the Super Bowl: Jerry Reese (New York Giants), Super Bowl XLII
First African American and the first woman to be appointed dean of Harvard College: Evelynn M. Hammonds ^[371]
Andrea Hayes-Jordan developed the first orthotropic xenograft model of metastatic Ewing's sarcoma while simultaneously completing the first cytoreductive surgery and hyper-thermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy HIPEC for children with sarcomatosis, which improved the survival rate from 15 percent to over 60 percent.^[372]^[373]

2009

First African-American President of the United States: Barack Obama
First African-American First Lady of the United States: Michelle Obama
First African-American chair of the Republican National Committee: Michael Steele
First African-American United States Attorney General: Eric Holder
First African-American woman United States Ambassador to the United Nations: Susan Rice
First African-American United States Trade Representative: Ron Kirk
First African-American woman Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency: Lisa P. Jackson
First African-American White House Social Secretary: Desirée Rogers
First African American to appear by himself on a circulating U.S. coin: Duke Ellington (District of Columbia quarter).^[374]
First African-American Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Charles F. Bolden Jr.
First African-American woman rabbi: Alysa Stanton ^[375]^[376]
First African-American woman CEO of a Fortune 500 company: Ursula Burns, Xerox Corporation.
First African-American doubles team to be named year-end world champion by the International Tennis Federation: Serena and Venus Williams
First African-American recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in History: Annette Gordon-Reed ^[324]

2010s

2010

First African American to win the Stanley Cup: Dustin Byfuglien with the Chicago Blackhawks ^[377]

2011

First African-American Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons: Charles E. Samuels Jr. ^[378]
First African-American admitted to the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College: Sandra Lawson ^[379]^[380]
First African-American woman to serve as acting chair of the Democratic National Committee: Donna Brazile
First African-American woman to reach the South Pole: Barbara Hillary ^[381]

2012

First African American to be re-elected President of the United States: Barack Obama ^[382]
First African-American Combatant Commander of United States Central Command: Lloyd Austin ^[383]
First African-American elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC): Fred Luter ^[384]^[385]
First African-American woman to take command of a navy missile destroyer: Monika Washington Stoker^[386]
First African-American woman to win the Best Director award in the U.S. dramatic competition at the Sundance Film Festival: Ava DuVernay ^[387]
First African-American woman to qualify in submarines (USS Georgia (SSGN 729) Gold): Tabitha Strobel^[388]

2013

First African-American U.S. senator from the former Confederacy since Reconstruction: Tim Scott ^[389]
First African-American president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: Cheryl Boone Isaacs ^[390]
First African-American United States Secretary of Homeland Security: Jeh Johnson ^[391]
First African-American to receive a full-length statue in the United States Capitol: Rosa Parks ^[392]

2014

First African-American woman four-star admiral: Michelle J. Howard ^[393]
First African-American senator to be elected in the South since Reconstruction: Tim Scott, elected in South Carolina^[394]
First African-American player named to the USA Curtis Cup Team: Mariah Stackhouse ^[395]^[396]
First African-American transgender woman to appear on the cover of Time magazine: Laverne Cox ^[397]
First African-American woman to be included in the White House's permanent art collection: Alma Thomas ^[398]
First African-American woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Director for her work on Selma : Ava DuVernay ^[399]
First woman and the first African American to lead Trinity College (Connecticut): Joanne Berger-Sweeney ^[400]
First African American and first woman to lead the Agricultural Research Service (ARS): Chavonda Jacobs-Young ^[401]

2015

First African American to lead a major intelligence agency: Vincent R. Stewart, Defense Intelligence Agency ^[402]
First African-American commissioner of a major North American sports league: Jeffrey Orridge, Canadian Football League ^[403]
First African-American woman Attorney General of the United States: Loretta Lynch ^[404]
Misty Copeland
First African-American female principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre: Misty Copeland ^[405]
First African American to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame: Wendell Scott ^[406] (See also: 1952)
First African-American sole anchor of a network evening newscast: Lester Holt ^[407]
First African-American elected as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church: Bishop Michael Curry ^[408]
First African-American female American Bar Association president: Paulette Brown ^[409]
First African American to be appointed Surgeon General of the United States Army and the first African-American woman to be promoted to Lieutenant General: Nadja West ^[410]
First female medical oncologist to serve as president of the National Medical Association, the nation’s oldest professional society for black physicians: Edith Mitchell ^[411]

2016

First African-American president of a major broadcast TV network: Channing Dungey
First African-American Librarian of Congress: Dr. Carla Hayden ^[412]
First African-American woman to be elected a diocesan bishop in the Episcopal Church: Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows
First African American to serve as president of Wellesley College: Paula Johnson ^[413]

2017

First African-American CEO of a Major League Baseball team: Derek Jeter ^[414]
First African-American to win the University of Mary Washington Historic Preservation Book Prize: Catherine Fleming Bruce ^[415]
First African-American woman to earn the role of First Captain, leader of the West Point Corps of Cadets: Simone Askew
First African-American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for a feature-length documentary at the 89th Oscars: Ava DuVernay ^[416]
First African-American woman to direct a live-action film with a budget of over $100 million: Ava DuVernay ^[417]
First woman goalkeeper and first African-American woman to be elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame: Briana Scurry ^[418]
First African-American woman to win the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series: Lena Waithe ^[419]
First African-American woman president of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE): Bevlee Watford ^[420]

2018

Carla Hayden
First African-American woman to headline Coachella: Beyoncé, giving rise to the nickname Beychella
First African American to play for Team USA Hockey in the Olympic Games: Jordan Greenway
First African-American artist commissioned for U.S. president portrait to be displayed in the Smithsonian: Kehinde Wiley
First African-American artist commissioned for U.S. first lady portrait to be displayed in the Smithsonian: Amy Sherald
First African-American elected to a state office of the Maryland Society Daughters of the American Revolution: Reisha Raney
First African American to be the artistic or creative director of a French fashion house: Virgil Abloh ^[421]
First African-American president of the American Psychiatric Association: Altha Stewart ^[422]
First African-American woman to be major party nominee for state governor: Stacey Abrams ^[423]
First African-American superintendent of the United States Military Academy: Darryl A. Williams ^[424]
First African-American woman U.S. Marine Corps general officer: Lorna Mahlock
Jordan Peele
First African-American winner of the Academy Award for Screenwriting: Jordan Peele ^[425]

2019

First African-American woman to be the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health: Dr. Ngozi Ezike ^[426]
First African-American general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Peter M. Johnson
First African-American (and first historian) secretary of the Smithsonian Institution: Lonnie Bunch ^[427]
First African-American female director of an Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited institution: Denise Verret ^[428]
First African-American elected official to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol: Representative Elijah Cummings ^[429]^[430] (See also: 1998, 2005)
First African-American elected to the National Board of Management of the Daughters of the American Revolution: Wilhelmena Rhodes Kelly
First African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Costume Design: Ruth E. Carter

2020s

2020

First African-American (and Asian-American) to be nominated as a major party U.S. vice-presidential candidate: Kamala Harris, Democratic Party (See also: 2003, 2021, and 2024)^[431]^[432]
First African-American (and Asian-American) and first female elected Vice President of the United States: Kamala Harris ^[433]
First African American to be appointed as a military Chief of Staff and first African American to lead any branch of the United States Armed Forces: Charles Q. Brown Jr.
First African-American woman elected to the Raleigh City Council: Stormie Forte
First African-American president of an NFL team: Jason Wright (Washington Commanders)^[434]^[435]
First African-American Professor of Poetry, first African-American woman Professor and first Distinguished Visiting Poetry Professor of the Iowa Writers' Workshop: Tracie Morris ^[436]
First African-American elected official to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda: John Lewis ^[430] (See also: 1998, 2005)

First African-American Catholic cardinal: Wilton Gregory ^[437] (see also: 2001)
First African-American recording artist to have three albums certified diamond in the United States: Whitney Houston ^[438]

Remoshay Nelson became the first Black female officer to join the United States Air Force Thunderbirds.^[439]

2021

First African-American (and Asian-American) and first female Vice President of the United States: Kamala Harris (See also: 2003, 2020, and 2024)
First African-American (and Asian-American) and first female President of the United States Senate: Kamala Harris
First African-American (and Asian-American) and first female to serve as Acting President of the United States: Kamala Harris
First African-American Democratic U.S. senator to represent a former Confederate state in the United States Senate: Raphael Warnock, elected in Georgia.^[440]^[441]^[442]
First African-American United States Secretary of Defense: Lloyd Austin ^[443]
First full-time female African-American NFL coach: Jennifer King (Washington Commanders).^[444]
First African-American president of the American Civil Liberties Union: Deborah Archer ^[445]
First African-American woman to serve on the Supreme Court of Missouri: Robin Ransom ^[446]

First African-American woman to appear on the Maxim magazine and became "Sexiest Woman Alive": Teyana Taylor
First African American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee: Zaila Avant-garde ^[447]
First African-American U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York: Damian Williams ^[448]
First African-American NCAA ice hockey coach: Kelsey Koelzer ^[449]
First African-American Connecticut State Comptroller: Natalie Braswell ^[450]
First African-American woman to be elected as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia: Winsome Sears
First African-American to be elected as Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina: Mark Robinson
First African-American to serve as Second Lady of North Carolina: Yolanda Hill Robinson
First African-American woman to serve as Brigade Commander at the United States Naval Academy: Sydney Barber
First African American to Chair the Council of Economic Advisers: Cecilia Rouse ^[451]
First African American elected to the United States Congress from the state of Washington ^[452]

2022

First Afro-Caribbean American woman elected Speaker of the New York City Council: Adrienne Adams ^[453]
First African-American woman and first woman to be the police commissioner of the New York Police Department: Keechant Sewell ^[454]
First African-American woman to appear on U.S. currency (a quarter): Maya Angelou ^[455]
First African-American woman nominated, confirmed to, and sworn into the Supreme Court of the United States: Ketanji Brown Jackson ^[456]
First African-American represented in the National Statuary Hall Collection: Mary McLeod Bethune ^[457]^[458]
First African-American Marine Corps four-star general: Michael Langley ^[459]
First African-American elected governor of the U.S. state of Maryland: Wes Moore ^[460]
First African-American elected Attorney General of the U.S. state of Maryland: Anthony Brown ^[461]
First African-American chosen to lead a party caucus in either chamber of Congress: Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY)^[462]^[463]
First African-American female Major general in the United States Marine Corps: Lorna Mahlock ^[464]^[465]
First African-American woman to join the Arkansas Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution: Sharon Fort ^[466]
First African-American transgender woman model for Victoria's Secret: Emira D'Spain ^[467]
First African-American woman elected mayor of Los Angeles: Karen Bass ^[468]
First African-American woman to win 32 Grammy Awards: Beyoncé
First African-American woman and first woman of color to lead any of the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks: Susan M. Collins
First African-American woman appointed CEO and President of the Sinai Chicago hospital system: Ngozi Ezike
First African-American woman and first woman of color to sit on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors: Lisa D. Cook ^[469]
First Black person to dive to Challenger Deep, the deepest point on Earth, and to successfully operate a side scan sonar at full-ocean depth: Dawn Wright ^[470]
First African American and first woman of color to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP): Alondra Nelson ^[471]
First African American, and first woman to serve as executive director and Chief Executive Officer of the American College of Surgeons: Patricia L. Turner ^[472]

2023

First openly LGBT African-American to serve in the United States Senate: Laphonza Butler ^[473]
First African-American woman elected Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives: Joanna McClinton ^[474]
First African-American woman to win two Academy Awards in any category (Best Costume Design): Ruth E. Carter ^[475]
First openly LGBT African American to serve in the United States Senate: Laphonza Butler ^[476]
First African American elected as the president of the American Academy of Dermatology: Susan C. Taylor ^[477]

2024

First African American woman and (Asian-American) to be nominated as a major party U.S. presidential candidate: Kamala Harris, Democratic Party ^[478]
First African-American descendent of Colonel John Hazzard Carson admitted to the Daughters of the American Revolution and first African-American member of the NSDAR Greenlee Chapter: Regina Lynch-Hudson
First African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate in the state of Maryland: Angela Alsobrooks.^[479]

2025

First African American to be elected Pope of the Catholic Church: Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV by the 2025 papal conclave ^[480]^[481]^[482]
First member of Congress known to be born legally blind in both eyes (representing California's 12th congressional district): Lateefah Simon ^[483]

Notes

↑ This claim is contested by the First Baptist Church, Petersburg, Virginia (1774) and the First Colored Baptist Church, renamed First African Baptist Church, Savannah, Georgia (recognized 1788, first congregation 1773).
↑ Because it was published in the UK, the book is not the first African-American novel published in the United States. This credit goes to one of two disputed books: Harriet Wilson's Our Nig (1859), brought to light by Henry Louis Gates Jr. in 1982; or Julia C. Collins' The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride (1865), brought to light by William L. Andrews, an English literature professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Mitch Kachun, a history professor at Western Michigan University, in 2006. Andrews and Kachun document Our Nig as a novelized autobiography, and argue that The Curse of Caste is the first fully fictional novel by an African American to be published in the United States.
↑ Founded earlier; not fully owned and operated by African Americans until 1863.
↑ Revels, the Mississippi State Senate's Adams County representative, was elected by the U.S. Senate in January 1870 to fill an unexpired term.
↑ Rainey, a South Carolina state senator, was elected to fill the seat vacated by B. Franklin Whittemore. Rainey took his seat on December 12, 1870. John Willis Menard was actually the first African American elected to the House (1868), but he was denied his seat.
↑ Douglass did not seek the nomination or campaign after being nominated.
↑ Parker graduated from Mount Holyoke when it was still a seminary.
↑ This was previously thought to be Sarah E. Goode (for the cabinet bed, Chicago, Illinois).^[91]
↑ His son, Benjamin O. Davis Jr., was the first African-American general in the United States Air Force.
↑ Gravely was also the first African American to command a U.S. Navy warship (1962), and the first promoted to the rank of admiral (1971).
↑ L. Clifford Davis applied to the law school in 1946, and after several failed attempts was granted admission in September 1947, but was unable to enroll in classes. Hunt later enrolled on February 2, 1948.^[205]
↑ While considered a network for regulatory reasons, CBS TV was viewable only locally in 1948. By 1956, CBS and other networks were viewable nationwide.
↑ Clifton was the first to sign an NBA contract and subsequently play, Cooper was the first to be drafted by an NBA team, and Lloyd was the first to play in an NBA regular-season game because his team's opening game was one day before the others.
↑ While two black players won Gold Gloves that year, only Mays was African American. The other, Minnie Miñoso, was Afro Cuban.
↑ In 1998, the award would be renamed the Oscar Robertson Trophy after its first recipient.
↑ Harris's milestone came a year after Marlon Green, who had been rejected as a Continental Airlines applicant in 1957, won the United States Supreme Court case "Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission v. Continental Airlines, Inc. 372 U.S. 714 no. 146", which found Green had been unlawfully discriminated against.^[270]
1 2 3 The first black superhero, Marvel's Black Panther, introduced in Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966), is African, not African American. This is also true of the first black character to star in his own mainstream comic-book feature, Waku, Prince of the Bantu, who headlined one of four features in the multiple-character omnibus series Jungle Tales (September 1954 – September 1955), from Marvel's 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics.
↑ At the time, the NCAA had not yet adopted its three-division system. Illinois State was in the NCAA University Division, which became Division I in 1973. The NCAA retroactively considers University Division members to have been Division I members.
↑ Although Flood's legal challenge was unsuccessful, it brought about additional solidarity among players as they fought against baseball's reserve clause and sought free agency.
↑ The NHL had fielded black players for more than 20 years, with the first being Willie O'Ree in 1958, but all past black players were Black Canadians and not African Americans. In 1996, Mike Grier (Edmonton Oilers) became the first to have been both born and exclusively trained in the U.S., per Allen, Kevin (January 14, 2008). "Willie O'Ree still blazing way in NHL 50 years later". USA Today . Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
↑ Cosmonaut Arnaldo Mendez was the first person of African descent in space, in 1980.
↑ Lewis Hamilton became the first black Formula One racer in 2006, but he is a British citizen of Grenadan ancestry, and not an African-American. Ribbs did not compete in a race, but drove a Formula One car professionally in January 1986 as a tester for the Brabham–BMW at Estoril, Portugal.
1 2 3 Woods' mixed ancestry – 1⁄4 Chinese, 1⁄4 Thai, 1⁄4 African-American, 1⁄8 white, and 1⁄8 Native American – also makes him the first Asian-American to achieve this feat. He is also the first of only four golfers of primarily non-European descent to win a men's major, with the others being Vijay Singh (an Indian Fijian), Michael Campbell (a Māori from New Zealand), and Y.E. Yang (South Korean).
↑ Announced as Bobcats owner in December 2002, although the team did not begin to play until 2004.
↑ Smith and Dungy both reached this milestone on the same day, although Smith was technically the first due solely to scheduling. The NFC and AFC Championship Games are always held on the same day. In the playoffs that followed the 2006 NFL season, the NFC game was played first.

References

Footnotes

↑ Juguo, Zhang (2001). W. E. B. Du Bois: The Quest for the Abolition of the Color Line. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-93087-1.
↑ Herbst, Philip H (1997). The Color of Words: An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Ethnic Bias in the United States. Intercultural Press, p. 57. ISBN 978-1-877864-97-1.
↑ Sailes, Gary Alan (1998). "Jackie Robinson: Breaking the Color Barrier in Team Sports". African Americans in Sport: Contemporary Themes, Transaction Publishers, p. 8. ISBN 978-0-7658-0440-2
↑ Greene, Bob (2020). Laskey, Tilly Laskey (ed.). "Black Communities in Maine". State of Mind: Becoming Maine. Portland, Maine: Maine Historical Society. Archived from the original on February 18, 2022. Retrieved February 14, 2024.
↑ "Collections Relevant to African American History at the Massachusetts Historical Society: Slavery, Plantations, and the Slave Trade." Massachusetts Historical Society . www.masshist.org. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
↑ Aboard the Underground Railroad – Fort Mose Site, National Park Service
1 2 "Literature". Encyclopedia.com.
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Smith, Jessie Carney (2002). Black Firsts (2 ed.). Detroit: Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-1-57859-258-6 . Retrieved May 29, 2013.
Potter, Joan (2002). African-American Firsts: famous, little-known and unsung triumphs of Blacks in America (Rev. and expanded ed.). New York: Dafina Books. ISBN 0-7582-0243-1 . Retrieved May 30, 2013.

External links

Mance, Ajuan (November 5, 2009). "Timeline: Black Firsts in Higher Education". Blackoncampus.com.
Muhammad, Khalil Gibran (January 15, 2017). "No Racial Barrier Left to Break (Except All of Them)". The New York Times.
Obama, Barack (July 16, 2009). "Remarks by the President to the NAACP Centennial Convention". NBC News. Archived from the original (Video) on January 31, 2013.
Obama, Barack (July 16, 2009). "Remarks by the President to the NAACP Centennial Convention". whitehouse.gov – via National Archives.
Wan, William (April 29, 2016). "Obama Legacy: Life After the First". The Washington Post . – Interviews with six African-American "firsts", including the first black governor, the first black billionaire, and the first black Ivy League president.
Weiner, David (May 25, 2011) [Originally posted September 3, 2009]. "African-American Firsts in New York". The Huffington Post .

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[15] This claim is contested by the First Baptist Church, Petersburg, Virginia (1774) and the First Colored Baptist Church, renamed First African Baptist Church, Savannah, Georgia (recognized 1788, first congregation 1773).

[40] Because it was published in the UK, the book is not the first African-American novel published in the United States. This credit goes to one of two disputed books: Harriet Wilson's Our Nig (1859), brought to light by Henry Louis Gates Jr. in 1982; or Julia C. Collins' The Curse of Caste; or The Slave Bride (1865), brought to light by William L. Andrews, an English literature professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Mitch Kachun, a history professor at Western Michigan University, in 2006. Andrews and Kachun document Our Nig as a novelized autobiography, and argue that The Curse of Caste is the first fully fictional novel by an African American to be published in the United States.

[51] Founded earlier; not fully owned and operated by African Americans until 1863.

[67] Revels, the Mississippi State Senate's Adams County representative, was elected by the U.S. Senate in January 1870 to fill an unexpired term.

[69] Rainey, a South Carolina state senator, was elected to fill the seat vacated by B. Franklin Whittemore. Rainey took his seat on December 12, 1870. John Willis Menard was actually the first African American elected to the House (1868), but he was denied his seat.

[77] Douglass did not seek the nomination or campaign after being nominated.

[parker-96] Parker graduated from Mount Holyoke when it was still a seminary.

[goode-99] This was previously thought to be Sarah E. Goode (for the cabinet bed, Chicago, Illinois).^[91]

[Davis_Jr.-182] His son, Benjamin O. Davis Jr., was the first African-American general in the United States Air Force.

[gravely-195] Gravely was also the first African American to command a U.S. Navy warship (1962), and the first promoted to the rank of admiral (1971).

[216] L. Clifford Davis applied to the law school in 1946, and after several failed attempts was granted admission in September 1947, but was unable to enroll in classes. Hunt later enrolled on February 2, 1948.^[205]

[219] While considered a network for regulatory reasons, CBS TV was viewable only locally in 1948. By 1956, CBS and other networks were viewable nationwide.

[240] Clifton was the first to sign an NBA contract and subsequently play, Cooper was the first to be drafted by an NBA team, and Lloyd was the first to play in an NBA regular-season game because his team's opening game was one day before the others.

[266] While two black players won Gold Gloves that year, only Mays was African American. The other, Minnie Miñoso, was Afro Cuban.

[271] In 1998, the award would be renamed the Oscar Robertson Trophy after its first recipient.

[airline-286] Harris's milestone came a year after Marlon Green, who had been rejected as a Continental Airlines applicant in 1957, won the United States Supreme Court case "Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission v. Continental Airlines, Inc. 372 U.S. 714 no. 146", which found Green had been unlawfully discriminated against.^[270]

[marvel_group=Note-290] 1 2 3 The first black superhero, Marvel's Black Panther, introduced in Fantastic Four #52 (July 1966), is African, not African American. This is also true of the first black character to star in his own mainstream comic-book feature, Waku, Prince of the Bantu, who headlined one of four features in the multiple-character omnibus series Jungle Tales (September 1954 – September 1955), from Marvel's 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics.

[307] At the time, the NCAA had not yet adopted its three-division system. Illinois State was in the NCAA University Division, which became Division I in 1973. The NCAA retroactively considers University Division members to have been Division I members.

[308] Although Flood's legal challenge was unsuccessful, it brought about additional solidarity among players as they fought against baseball's reserve clause and sought free agency.

[342] The NHL had fielded black players for more than 20 years, with the first being Willie O'Ree in 1958, but all past black players were Black Canadians and not African Americans. In 1996, Mike Grier (Edmonton Oilers) became the first to have been both born and exclusively trained in the U.S., per Allen, Kevin (January 14, 2008). "Willie O'Ree still blazing way in NHL 50 years later". USA Today . Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2014.

[349] Cosmonaut Arnaldo Mendez was the first person of African descent in space, in 1980.

[352] Lewis Hamilton became the first black Formula One racer in 2006, but he is a British citizen of Grenadan ancestry, and not an African-American. Ribbs did not compete in a race, but drove a Formula One car professionally in January 1986 as a tester for the Brabham–BMW at Estoril, Portugal.

[Tiger-364] 1 2 3 Woods' mixed ancestry – 1⁄4 Chinese, 1⁄4 Thai, 1⁄4 African-American, 1⁄8 white, and 1⁄8 Native American – also makes him the first Asian-American to achieve this feat. He is also the first of only four golfers of primarily non-European descent to win a men's major, with the others being Vijay Singh (an Indian Fijian), Michael Campbell (a Māori from New Zealand), and Y.E. Yang (South Korean).

[382] Announced as Bobcats owner in December 2002, although the team did not begin to play until 2004.

[392] Smith and Dungy both reached this milestone on the same day, although Smith was technically the first due solely to scheduling. The NFC and AFC Championship Games are always held on the same day. In the playoffs that followed the 2006 NFL season, the NFC game was played first.

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