Phillis Wheatley

Phillis Wheatley (1753 - 1784), a poet, was the first published poet (Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral in 1773), and was the first woman whose writing helped create the genre of African American literature.

Frances Harper

Frances Harper (1825 – 1911), was an abolitionist and author whose antislavery verse, Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects(1854), sold thousands of copies and The Two Offers(1859) was the first short story published by an African American.

Lucy Prince Terry

Lucy Prince Terry (1730 - 1821), a former slave and poet, was the author of thefirst and oldest known work of literature, Bars Fight, aballad published in 1855.The ballad was about an attack on two white families by Native Americans on August 25, 1746. The ballad was preserved orally until its publication in 1855.

Harriet Wilson

Harriet Wilson (1825 – 1900), a writer, was the first to publish a novel, Our Nig: Sketchesfrom the Life of a Free Black in 1859.

Edmonia Lewis

Edmonia Lewis (1845 - 1872), an artist, was the first to become a professional sculptor in the U.S., during the 1860s.

Louise Beavers

Louise Beavers (1902 -1962), an actress, was the first actress to star in amajor film one of which was Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1927.

Nina Mae McKinney

Nina Mae McKinney (1912 - 1967), an actress, became the first black movie star and popular entertainer in her time. Nina Mae became the first black woman to have a leading role in the first black cast movie,Hallelujah and to be signed to a major studio, MGM in 1929.

Nella Larsen

Nella Larsen (1891 - 1964), a novelist, was the first to win a Guggenheim fellowship for creative writing in 1930.

Hattie McDaniel

Hattie McDaniel (1895 - 1952) an actress, was the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Mammy in the 1939 film, Gone with the Wind.

Ann Petry

Ann Petry (1908 - 1997), an author, was the first to sell over one million copies of her book, The Street, which was published in 1946.

Gwendolyn Brooks

Gwendolyn Brooks (1917 - 2000), a poet, was the first to win the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (Annie Allen) in 1949.

Juanita Hall

Juanita Hall (1901 - 1968), an actor, was the first woman to win a Tony Award in 1950 for her role as Bloody Mary in South Pacific.

Mary Elizabeth Vroman

Mary Elizabeth Vroman (1925 - 1967), a playwright, was the first to join the Screen Writers Guild for writing the screen play, Bright Road in 1953.

Dorothy Dandridge

Dorothy Dandridge (1922 - 1965), an actor, was the first to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress Award for her role in Carmen Jones in 1954.

Alice Childress

Alice Childress (1916 - 1994), a novelist, playwright and actress, was the first to win an Obie in 1955, for the best off-Broadway play, which she produced "Trouble in Mind".

Lorraine Hansberry

Lorraine Hansberry (1930 - 1965), a writer and author, was the first woman to receive the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for A Raisin in the Sun in 1959.

Jackie Moms Mabley

Jackie Moms Mabley (1894 - 1975) a comedian, was the first to establish herself as a single act in standup comedy, during the early 1960s.

Ruby Dee

Ruby Dee (1924 - 2014), an actress, was the first to play major roles at the American Shakespeare Festival. In 1965, she became the first actress to play major classical roles, portraying Kate in the Taming of the Shrew and Cordelia in King Lear

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou (1928 – 2014), ) was the first Poet to read at a Presidential Inauguration (William Jefferson Clinton 1993).

Virginia Hamilton

Virginia Hamilton (1934 - 2002), a writer and author, was the first to win the John Newberry Medal in 1975 for M.C. Higgins, the Great.

Alice Walker

Alice Walker (b. 1944), a writer and author, was the first to win the National book Award and the Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for her novel, The Color Purple.

Julie Dash

Julie Dash (b. 1952), a director, was the first to direct a feature-length film for general theatrical release in the United States Daughters of the Dust in 1992.

Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison (b. 1931) a writer, was the first to win a Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.

Rita Dove

Rita Dove (b. 1952), a poet, was the first and the youngest person to be name the U.S. Poet Laureate in 1952.

Octavia Butler

Octavia Butler (b. 1947), a writer and publisher, and was the first to win the MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” in 1995.

Lucille Clifton

Lucille Clifton (1936 – 2010), a poet, writer and educator, was the first to win the National Book Award for Poetry for her collection, Blessings the Boats: New and Selected Poems in 2000. She is the only poet to have received two Pulitzer nominations in a single year.

Halle Berry

Halle Berry (b. 1966), an actress, was the first to win an Oscar for Best Actress, in the role Monster’s Ball in 2002.

Philicia Rashad

Philicia Rashad (b. 1948), an actress, was the first to win a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in 2004 for her portrayal of Lena Younger, in A Raisin in the Sun.

Shonda Rhimes

Shonda Rhimes (b. 1970), a writer and producer, was the first to create and produce a top TV Series, Grey’s Anatomy in 2004.

Annette Gordon Reed

Annette Gordon Reed (b. 1958), an American historian, was the first to win the National Book Award for a non-fiction, The Hemingses of Monticello: an American Family in 2008.

Cheryl Boone Isaac

Cheryl Boone Isaac (b.1949), a marketing film executive, was the first to be elected President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (The Oscars) in 2013.