Patricia Roberts Harris - First Black woman to be named U.S. Ambassador to a foreign nation.
Leontyne Price - Awarded United States Medal of Freedom by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Shirley Chisholm - At time of her election, she was the only woman on one of only eight black members in the New York State Assembly.
Barbara Jordan - First black person elected to the Texas State senate.
Carol Moseley Braun - First black woman elected to the United States senate.
Kim Whitley - actress and host of talk show Oh Drama.
Cicely Tyson - winner of 1974 Emmy for her role in "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman."
Nikki Giovanni - esteemed poetess and writer.
Judith Jamison - renowned dancer and director of the Alvin Ailey City Dance Theater.
Fannie Lou Hamer - civil rights activist and renowned politician.
Marian Wright Edelman - established and directed the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund Office in Jackson, Mississippi.
Camille Cosby - married to actor/educator Bill Cosby, she is a philanthropist that has been involved in public service and education through funding black colleges.
Ruby Dee - famous Broadway and movie actress and wife of actor Ossie Davis.
Aretha Franklin - acclaimed as the "Queen of Soul".
Mary McLeod Bethune - founder of National Council of Negro Women in 1935.
Ida B. Wells - civil rights and anti-lynching activist.