Born on November 19th, 1923, Alice Coachman set the highest record when she cleared a jump of 5 feet and 6 ⅛ inches at the 1948 Summer Olympics. This jump single handedly made her the first African-American woman from any country to win an Olympic gold medal. She gained a lot of recognition and even became the first African-American...

It’s important that prominent Black figures are honored. Bessie Coleman was born on January 26, 1892, and was the first African-American woman to hold a pilot license. In the early 1900-39 racism and racial prejudice were still occuring unlike our current times, Bessie proved that it was possible to overcome the gender norms...

Claudette Colvin was born on September 5th, 1939, in Montgomery Alabama and was a student at the segregated Booker T. Washington High School. On the way home from school on March 5th, 1955, Claudette was arrested at 15 for not giving up her seat to  a white women in a crowded bus. She was arrested by two police officers and...

Barack Obama was born August 4,1961 in Honolulu Hawaii and was the first president born outside the contiguous 48 United States. Obama was the first African American president of the United States.  Obama signed many landmark bills into law during his first two years in the office. The main reforms included the Affordable...

Malcom X was born on May 19,1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. He was the fourth child out of seven children. Malcolm was an American Muslim Minister and Human Rights activist. He was a prominent figure during the Civil Rights Movement. His father, Earl Little, was the local leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Assosiation (UNIA),...

Della Wells is an African-American self-taught Artist born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1951. Della Wells has created more than 2,000 drawings based on her mother’s childhood back in the 1920s to the 1940s. When Wells was younger, she used her art as a distraction from her mother’s illness and her father’s constant rage....

Harry Belafonte was born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr., on March 1, 1927.  He is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s. His breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was...

Chadwick Boseman was an astonishing and notable actor. He was born on November 29, 1976 and sadly passed on August 28, 2020. He had been diagnosed with cancer in 2016 but continued to resist and still worked on movies. Not only was Chadwick a highly respected actor but he also contributed to charities. He contributed to The...

Nina Simone was born Eunice Waymon in Troy, North Carolina, on February 21, 1933. She was an American singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and civil rights activist. Her music crossed all genres from classical, jazz, blues and folk to R&B, gospel, and pop. Simone later became the leading voice of the Civil Rights...

Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry was born on May 30, 1902.  Better known by the stage name Stepin Fetchit, he was an American vaudevillian, comedian, and film actor of Jamaican and Bahamian descent, and was considered to be the first black actor to have a successful career.   By the age of 20, Perry had become a vaudeville...

Audre Lorde was an American writer, feminist, professor, and civil rights activist. She was a black, lesbian, mother, and poet, who dedicated both her life and her creative talent to confronting and addressing injustices of racism, sexism, classism, and homophobia. Audre was born February 18 1934 in Harlem, New York. While...

Tommie Smith was born June 6, 1944, in Clarksville, Texas. He was raised in Lemmore, California, and went to college at San Jose State University. Smith was very athletic- he was a star on the track and field and a wide receiver for the American Football League. Smith eventually made it to the 1968 Summer Olympics held in...

Camila Peneyda is a senior and the goalkeeper for the Hoover girls varsity soccer team. She has a grade point average of 3.3. Since her season ended, the most difficult thing was that the team had a lot of disagreements but in the end they all pulled through together and made magic happen. She was hoping they would make it...

It’s quite difficult to say what my all-time favorite movie is, I’ve watched so many throughout my life which makes the decision even harder. If I had to choose one though I’d probably pick Turbo, because of how many times I watched it growing up as a kid. The plot revolves around a snail, known as Theo, who aspires...

Tyler Gregory Okonma, famously known as Tyler The Creator, has been an inspiration to me and I love him and his music because he isn't afraid to experiment and express his vision. Tyler’s music is unique and diverse and he really creates ideas he wants to show the world. He inspires many young minds and is a funny and honest...

Daniel Arreola was born May 11, in San Diego California. Daniel is a senior at Hoover High School. He has spent his four years at this school and has been playing for the soccer team each year.  Daniel has had some struggles with staying eligible to play soccer because of grades, But he is excited and prepared for what his...

Dr.  Martin Luther King Jr. was a man who fought for the civil rights for all citizens. Also he taught the people to fight non-violently no matter what others do to them.  He fought hard to end segregation and other forms of racial discrimination, which was an important topic of the time. After his death many people got angry...