March 04, 2023
SoulTic Magazine’s Comprehensive List Of African American / Black Firsts That Helped Break The Color Barrier – pt-2 Internet vol-2
. Editor , Harvard Law Review : Charles Hamilton Houston , 1919
. President of the Harvard Law Review : Barack Obama .
. U . S . Secretary of state : Gen . Colin Powell , 2001 – 2004 . The first black female Secretary of state was Condoleezza Rice , 2005 – 2009 .
. Democratic Party presidential nominee : Sen . Barack Obama , 2008 .
. U . S . President : Sen . Barack Obama . November 4 , 2008 , He was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States on January 20 , 2009.
. U . S . cabinet member : Robert C . Weaver , 1966 – 1968 , Deparment of Housing and Urban Development . The first black female cabinet member was Patricia Harris , Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development , 1977 .
. U . S . Senator : Hiram Revels became Senator from Mississippi from Feb . 25 1870 – March 4 , 1871 , during Reconstruction . Edward Brooke became the first African American Senator after Reconstruction , 1966 – 1979 . Carol Mosely Braun became the first African American / Black woman Senator from 1992 – 1998 . The other two are Blanche K . Bruce 1875 – 1881 . And Barack Obama , 2005 – 2008 .
. U . S . Representative : Joseph Rainey , Congressman 1870 . He served four terms . The first black female was Shirley Chisholm , Congresswoman 1969 -1983 .
. Governor ( elected ) : L . Douglas Wilder , Virginia , 1990 – 1994 .
. Governor ( appointed ) : P . B . S . Pinchback served as governor during impeachment proceedings against the elected governor Dec . 9 , 1872 – Jan 13 , 1873 .
. State elected official : Alexander Lucius Twilight , 1836 .
. Mayor of a major city : Carl Stokes , 1967 – 1971 . The first black woman to serve was Pratt Dixon Kelly , 1991 – 1995 .
. Local elected official : John Mercer Langston , Town clerk 1855 .
. Flight around the world : Barrington Irving , 2007 , ( March 23 – June 27 ) .
. Explorer , South Pole : George Gibbs 1939 – 1941 accompanied Richard Byrd .
. Licensed Pilot : Bessie Coleman , 1921 .
. Olympic medalist ( Winter games ) : Debi Thomas , won a bronze medal in figure skating 1988 .
. Ivy League president : Ruth Simmons , 2001 , Brown University .
. College president : Daniel A . Payne , Wilberforce University , 1856 .
. Rhodes Scholar : Alain L . Locke , 1907 .
. Inventor of the blood bank : Dr . Charles Drew , 1940 .
. Ph . D . : Edward A . Bouchet , 1876 , received a Ph . D . from Yale University . The first black women in the U . S . to earn Ph . D . s : Where Georgiana Simpson , Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander , and Beatrice Dykes .
. College graduate B . A . ) : Alexander Lucius Twilight , 1823 . The first black women to receive a B . A . degree , was Mary Jane Patterson . 1862 .
. First astronaut : Robert H . Lawrence , Jr . He was the first but he never made it into space do to a plane crash in training . Guion Bluford , was the first black male astronaut to travel to space . Mae Jemison , became the first black female astronaut . 1992 . Fraderick D . Gregory , was the first African American shuttle commander . 1998 .
. General : Benjamin O . Davis , Sr . , 1940 – 1948 .
. Combat pilot : Eugene Jacques Bullard , 1917 .
. U . S . diplomat : Ebenezer D . Bassett , Became minister – resident to Haiti : Patricia Harris , Became the first black female ambassador 1965 ; Luxembourg .
. Federal Judge : William Henry Hastie , 1946 ; Constance Baker Motley was the first black women federal judge , 1966 .
. Major league baseball player : Jackie Robinson , 1947 .
. NFL football coach : Fritz Pollard , 1922 – 1937 .
. World cycling champion : Marshall W . ” Major ” Taylor . 1899 .
. NFL quarterback : Willie Thrower , 1953
. NHL hockey player : Willie O ‘ Ree , 1958 .
. Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame : Jackie Robinson , 1962 .
. Novelist : Harriet Wilson , Our Nig 1859 .
. Poet : Lucy Terry , 1746 , ” Bar’s Fight .
. Hollywood director : Gordon Parks directed and wrote The Learning Tree in 1969 .