List of African-American firsts

18th century

1730s–1770s

1738

• First free African-American community: Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose in Florida

  1760

• First known African-American published author: Jupiter Hammon

  '''1767'''

• First African American clockmaker, Peter Hill, was born.

  1768

• First known African American to be elected to public office: Wentworth Cheswell, town constable in Newmarket, New Hampshire.

  1773

• First known African-American woman to publish a book: Phillis Wheatley
• First separate African-American church: Silver Bluff Baptist Church, Aiken County, South Carolina

  1775

• First African American to join the Freemasons: Prince Hall

  1778

• First African-American U.S. military regiment: the 1st Rhode Island Regiment

  1780s–1790s

1783

• First African American to formally practice medicine: James Derham, who did not hold an M.D. degree.

  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

  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.

  1793

• First African Methodist Episcopal Church founded: Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was founded by Richard Allen

  1794

• First African Episcopal Church established: Absalom Jones founded African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  19th century

1800s

1804

• First African American ordained as an Episcopal priest: Absalom Jones in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  1807

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

  1810s

1816

• First fully independent African-American denomination: African Methodist Episcopal Church, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and mid-Atlantic states

  1820s

1821

• First African American to hold a patent: Thomas L. Jennings, for a dry-cleaning process

  1822

• First African-American captain to sail a whaleship with an all-black crew: Absalom Boston

  1823

• First African American to receive a degree from an American college: Alexander Twilight, Middlebury College

  1827

• First African-American owned-and-operated newspaper: Freedom's Journal, founded in New York City by Rev. Peter Williams Jr. and other free blacks.

  1830s

1832

• First governor of African descent in what is now the US: Pío Pico, an Afro-Mexican, was the last governor of Alta California before it was ceded to the US. Like all Californios, Pico automatically became a US citizen in 1848.

  1836

• First African American elected to serve in a state legislature: Alexander Twilight, Vermont

  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.

  1840s

1845

• First African American licensed to practice law: Macon Allen from the Boston bar

  1847

• First African American to graduate from a US medical school: Dr. David J. Peck
• First African-American president of any nation: Joseph Jenkins Roberts, Liberia

  1849

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

  1850s

1851

• First African-American member of the Society of Jesus : Patrick Francis Healy

  1853

• First novel published by an African American: Clotel; or, The President's Daughter, by William Wells Brown, then living in London.

  1854

• First African-American Roman Catholic priest: James Augustine Healy
• First institute of higher learning created to educate African Americans: Ashmun Institute in Pennsylvania, renamed Lincoln University in 1866.

  1858

• First published play by an African American: The Escape; or, A Leap for Freedom by William Wells Brown
• First African-American woman college instructor: Sarah Jane Woodson Early, Wilberforce College

  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

  1862

• First African-American woman to earn a B.A.: Mary Jane Patterson, Oberlin College
• 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
• First African-American president of a college: Bishop Daniel Payne

  1864

• First African-American woman in the United States to earn an M.D.: Dr. Rebecca Davis Lee Crumpler

  1865

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

  1866

• First African American to earn a Ph.D.: Father Patrick Francis Healy from University of Leuven, Belgium
• First African-American woman enlistee in the U.S. Army: Cathay Williams
• 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.
• First African-American mayor: Pierre Caliste Landry, Donaldsonville, Louisiana
• First African American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives: John Willis Menard. His opponent contested his election, and opposition to his election prevented him from being seated in Congress.

  1869

• First African-American U.S. diplomat: Ebenezer Don Carlos Bassett, minister to Haiti
• First African-American woman school principal: Fanny Jackson Coppin

  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
• First African American to graduate from Harvard College: Richard Theodore Greener.
• First African American elected to the U.S. Senate, and first to serve in the U.S. Congress: Hiram Rhodes Revels.
• First African American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives: Joseph Rainey.

  1872

• First African-American midshipman admitted to the United States Naval Academy: John H. Conyers.
• First African-American governor : P. B. S. Pinchback of Louisiana
• First African-American nominee for Vice President of the United States: Frederick Douglass by the Equal Rights Party.

  1874

• First African-American president of a major college/university: Father Patrick Francis Healy, S.J. of Georgetown College.
• First African American to preside over the House of Representatives as Speaker pro tempore: Joseph Rainey

  1875

• First African-American Roman Catholic bishop: Bishop James Augustine Healy, of Portland, Maine.

  1876

• First African American to earn a doctorate degree from an American university: Edward Alexander Bouchet

  1877

• First African-American graduate of West Point and first African-American commissioned officer in the U.S. military: Henry Ossian Flipper.

  1878

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

  1879

• First African American to graduate from a formal nursing school: Mary Eliza Mahoney, Boston, Massachusetts.

  1880s

1880

• First African American to command a U.S. ship: Captain Michael Healy.

  1881

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

  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

  1884

• First African American to play professional baseball at the major-league level: Moses Fleetwood Walker.
• First African-American woman to hold a patent: Judy W. Reed, for an improved dough kneader, Washington, D.C.
• First African American to enlist in the U.S. Signal Corps: William Hallett Greene
• First African American to chair a political party's National Convention: John R. Lynch, Republican National Convention.
• First African American to deliver a keynote address at a political party's National Convention: John R. Lynch, Republican National Convention.

  1886

• First Roman Catholic priest publicly known at the time to be African-American: Augustine Tolton, Quincy and Chicago, Illinois

  1890s

1890

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

  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.

  1892

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

  1895

• First African-American woman to work for the United States Postal Service: Mary Fields
• First African American to earn a doctorate degree from Harvard University: W.E.B. Du Bois

  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 1-mile track cycling

  20th century

1900s

1901

• First African American invited to dine at the White House: Booker T. Washington

  1902

• First African-American professional basketball player: Harry Lew
• First African-American boxing champion, Joe Gans a lightweight

  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, Richmond, Virginia

  1904

• First Greek-letter fraternal organization established by African Americans: Sigma Pi Phi
• First African American to participate in the Olympic Games, and first to win a medal: George Poage

  1906

• First intercollegiate Greek-letter organization established by African Americans: Alpha Phi Alpha, at Cornell University

  1907

• First African-American Greek Orthodox priest and missionary in America: Very Rev. Fr. Robert Josias Morgan

  1908

• First African-American heavyweight boxing champion: Jack Johnson
• First African-American Olympic gold medal winner: John Taylor.
• First intercollegiate Greek-letter sorority established by African Americans: Alpha Kappa Alpha at Howard University

  1910s

1910

• First African-American woman millionaire: Madam C. J. Walker

  1911

• First intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established by African Americans at a historically black college: Omega Psi Phi, 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, lieutenant, and parole commissioner.
• First African-American attorney admitted to the American Bar Association: Butler R. Wilson, William Henry Lewis, and William R. Morris

  1914

• First African-American military pilot: Eugene Jacques Bullard

  1915

• First African-American alderman of Chicago: Oscar Stanton De Priest

  1916

• First African American to play in a Rose Bowl game: Fritz Pollard, Brown University
• First African American to become a colonel in the U.S. Army: Charles Young

  1917

• First African-American woman to win a major sports title: Lucy Diggs Slowe, American Tennis Association
• First African American to enter the University of Oregon: Mabel Byrd

  1919

• First African-American special agent for the FBI: James Wormley Jones
• First African-American women appointed as police officers: Cora I. Parchment at the New York Police Department and Georgia Ann Robinson, by the Los Angeles Police Department

  1920s

1920

• First African-American NFL football players: Fritz Pollard and Bobby Marshall
• First African-American bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church: Robert Elijah Jones and Matthew Wesley Clair.

  1921

• First African-American woman to become an aviation pilot, first American to hold an international pilot license: Bessie Coleman
• First African-American NFL football coach: Fritz Pollard, co-head coach, Akron Pros, while continuing to play running back
• First African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in the U.S.: Sadie Tanner Mossell, Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania

  1924

• First African American to win individual Olympic gold medal: DeHart Hubbard.

  1925

• First African-American Foreign Service Officer: Clifton R. Wharton Sr.

  1927

• First African American to become an officer in the New York Fire Department in New York City: Wesley Augustus Williams.
• First African American to star in an international motion picture: Josephine Baker in La Sirène des tropiques.

  1928

• First post-Reconstruction African American elected to U.S. House of Representatives: Oscar Stanton De Priest
• First African-American woman to serve in a state legislature: Minnie Buckingham Harper, West Virginia

  1929

• First African-American sportscaster: Sherman "Jocko" Maxwell

  1930s

1931

• First African-American composer to have their symphony performed by a leading orchestra: William Grant Still, Symphony No. 1, by Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
• 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

  1934

• First African American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat: Arthur W. Mitchell
• First trade union set up for African-American domestic workers by Dora Lee Jones

  1935

• First known interracial jazz group: Benny Goodman Trio

  1936

• First African American to conduct a major U.S. orchestra: William Grant Still
• First African-American women selected for the Olympic Games: Tidye Pickett and Louise Stokes. Stokes did not compete; Picket competed in the 80-meter hurdles)

  1937

• First African-American federal magistrate: William H. Hastie

  1938

• First African-American woman federal agency head: Mary McLeod Bethune
• First African-American woman elected to a state legislature: Crystal Bird Fauset

  1939

• First African American to star in her own television program: Ethel Waters, The Ethel Waters Show, on NBC

  1940s

1940

• First African American to win an Oscar: Hattie McDaniel
• First African American to be portrayed on a U.S. postage stamp: Booker T. Washington
• First African-American flag officer: BG Benjamin O. Davis Sr., U.S. Army

  1941

• First African-American to give a White House Command Performance: Josh White

  1942

• First African-American to be awarded the Navy Cross: Doris Miller
• First African-American member of the U.S. Marine Corps: Alfred Masters

  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.
• First African-American artists to have a #1 hit on the Billboard charts: Mills Brothers, topped "Best Sellers in Stores" chart on November 6

  1944

• First African-American commissioned officers in the U.S. Navy: The "Golden Thirteen"
• First African-American commissioned as a U.S. Navy officer from the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps: Samuel Gravely.
• First African-American to co-pastor with a white minister at the first interracial church: Dr. Howard Thurman with Dr. Alfred Fisk, Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples, San Francisco
• First African-American to receive a contract with a major American opera company: Camilla Williams
• First known African-American comic book artist: Matt Baker in Jumbo Comics #69 for Fiction House
• First African-American reporter to attend a U.S. presidential news conference: Harry McAlpin

  1945

• First African-American member of the New York City Opera: Todd Duncan
• First African-American U.S. Marine Corps officer: Frederick C. Branch

  1947

• First African-American Major League Baseball player of the modern era: Jackie Robinson.
• First African-American consensus college All-American basketball player: Don Barksdale
• First African-American artist to receive sole credit for a #1 hit on the Billboard charts: Count Basie, topped "Best Sellers in Stores" chart on February 22
• First comic book produced entirely by African-Americans: All-Negro Comics
• First African-American full-time faculty member at a predominantly white law school: William Robert Ming
• First African-American female member of the U.S. House and Senate press galleries: Alice Allison Dunnigan

  1948

• First African-American man to receive an Oscar: James Baskett
• First African-American U.S. Navy aviator: Jesse L. Brown
• First African-American composer to have an opera performed by a major U.S. company: William Grant Still
• First African-American woman to win an Olympic gold medal: Alice Coachman
• First African-American since Reconstruction to enroll at a traditionally white university of the South: Silas Hunt
• First known African-American star of a regularly scheduled network television series: Bob Howard, The Bob Howard Show
• First African-American to star in network television sitcom: Amanda Randolph, The Laytons
• First African-American male to graduate from Oregon State College: William Tebeau
• First African-American female reporter to travel with a U.S. president : Alice Allison Dunnigan

  1949

• First African-American graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy: Wesley Brown
• First African-American to hold rank of Ambassador of the United States: Edward R. Dudley, ambassador, and previously minister, to Liberia
• First African-American to win an MVP award in Major League Baseball: Jackie Robinson
• First African-American-owned and -operated radio station: WERD, established October 3, 1949 in Atlanta, Georgia by Jesse B. Blayton Sr.
• First African-American woman president of an NAACP chapter nationwide: Florence LeSueur of Boston's NAACP chapter.

  1950s

1950

• First African-American to win a Tony Award: Juanita Hall
• First African-American to win Pulitzer Prize: Gwendolyn Brooks
• First African-American to win Nobel Peace Prize: Ralph Bunche
• First African-American to receive a "lifetime" appointment as federal judge: William H. Hastie, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
• First African-American woman to compete on the world tennis tour: Althea Gibson
• First African-American solo singer to have a #1 hit on the Billboard charts: Nat King Cole, topped "Best Sellers in Stores" chart on July 15
• First African-American delegate to the United Nations: Edith S. Sampson
• First African-American NBA basketball players: Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton, Chuck Cooper, and Earl Lloyd. Note: Harold Hunter was the first to sign an NBA contract, signing with the Washington Capitols on April 26, 1950. However, he was cut from the team during training camp and did not play professionally.

  1951

• First African-American named to the College Football Hall of Fame: Duke Slater, University of Iowa
• First African-American quarterback to become a regular starter for a professional football team: Bernie Custis

  1952

• First African-American driver in NASCAR: Wendell Scott
• First African-American woman elected to a U.S. state senate: Cora Brown,
• First African-American U.S. Marine Corps aviator: Frank E. Petersen
• First African-American woman to be nominated for a national political office: Charlotta Bass, Vice President
• First African-American graduate from University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences: Edith Irby Jones

  1953

• First African-American basketball player to play in the NBA All-Star Game: Don Barksdale in the 1953 NBA All-Star Game
• First African-American quarterback to play in the National Football League during the modern era: Willie Thrower

  1954

• First African-American U.S. Navy Diver: Carl Brashear
• First African-American woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress: Dorothy Dandridge.
• First individual African-American woman as subject on the cover of Life magazine: Dorothy Dandridge, November 1, 1954
• First African-American page for the U.S. Supreme Court, and first to be enrolled in the Capitol Page School: Charles V. Bush

  1955

• First African-American member of the Metropolitan Opera: Marian Anderson
• First African-American male dancer in a major ballet company: Arthur Mitchell ; also first African-American principal dancer of a major ballet company, 1956.
• First African-American singer to appear in a telecast opera: Leontyne Price in NBC's production of Tosca
• First African-American pilot of a scheduled US airline: August Martin
• First African-American to serve as a presidential executive assistant: E. Frederic Morrow, appointed by President Eisenhower as Administrative Officer for Special Projects.

  1956

• First African-American star of a nationwide network TV show: Nat King Cole of The Nat King Cole Show, NBC
• First African-American U.S. Secret Service agent: Charles Gittens
• 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

  1957

• First African-American woman Wimbledon Tennis Champion: Althea Gibson
• First African-American assistant coach in the NFL: Lowell W. Perry
• First African-American to win the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival: John Kitzmiller
• First African-American to win Major League Baseball's Gold Glove, in the award's inaugural year: Willie Mays

  1958

• First African-American to reach number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Tommy Edwards, September 29
• First African-American flight attendant: Ruth Carol Taylor

  1959

• First African-American Grammy Award winners, in the award's inaugural year: Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie
• First African-American television journalist: Louis Lomax
• First African-American group to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: The Platters, January 19
• First African-American to win a major national player of the year award in college basketball: Oscar Robertson, USBWA Player of the Year

  1960s

1960

• First African-American U.S. presidential candidate: Rev. Clennon King, on the Independent Afro-American party
• First African-American child to attend an all-white elementary school in the South: Ruby Bridges

  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 tenor to sing leading roles for the Metropolitan Opera: George Shirley
• First African-American delegate to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization: Edith S. Sampson
• 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

  1962

• First African-American to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame: Jackie Robinson
• First African-American coach in Major League Baseball: John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil
• First African-American attorney general of a state: Edward Brooke

  1963

• First African-American bank examiner for the United States Department of the Treasury: Roland Burris
• First African-American named as Time magazine's Man of the Year: Martin Luther King Jr.
• 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.
• First African-American to be named American League MVP: Elston Howard
• First African-American chess master: Walter Harris
• First African-American to appear as a series regular on a primetime dramatic television series: Cicely Tyson, "East Side/West Side".
• 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 episode "A Horse Has a Big Head, Let Him Worry" of Naked City
• First African-Americans inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame: New York Renaissance, inducted as a team.
• First African-American to graduate from the U.S. Air Force Academy: Charles V. Bush.

  1964

• First African-American pilot for a major commercial airline: David Harris, American Airlines
• First movie with African-American interracial marriage: One Potato, Two Potato, 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

  1965

• First African-American nationally syndicated cartoonist: Morrie Turner
• First African-American title character of a comic book series: Lobo.
• First African-American star of a network television drama: Bill Cosby, I Spy
• 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
• First African-American U.S. Air Force General: Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr.
• 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.
• First African-American United States Solicitor General: Thurgood Marshall

  1966

• First African-American male to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and first African-American to win a Primetime Emmy Award: Bill Cosby, I Spy
• First African-American coach in the National Basketball Association: Bill Russell
• First African-American mayor of a U.S. city: Robert C. Henry,
• First African-American model on the cover of a Vogue magazine: Donyale Luna
• First post-Reconstruction African-American elected to the U.S. Senate : Edward Brooke
• First African-American Cabinet secretary: Robert C. Weaver
• First African-American Major League Baseball umpire: Emmett Ashford
• First African-American NFL broadcaster: Lowell W. Perry
• First African-American fire commissioner of a major U.S. City: Robert O. Lowery of the New York City Fire Department

  1967

• First African-American elected mayor of a large US city: Carl B. Stokes
• First African-American appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States: Thurgood Marshall
• First African-American selected for astronaut training: Robert Henry Lawrence Jr.
• First African-American to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Emlen Tunnell
• First African-American interracial kiss on network television: entertainers Nancy Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. on Sinatra's variety special Movin' With Nancy, airing December 11 on NBC

  1968

• Best total drama interracial kiss on a network television drama: Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols, and Captain Kirk, played by William Shatner : ': "Plato's Stepchildren"
• First African-American woman elected to U.S. House of Representatives: Shirley Chisholm
• 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
• 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
• First African-American woman as Presidential candidate: Charlene Mitchell
• 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 ' by Al McWilliams and John Saunders.
• First African-American actor to star in the lead role on a TV western series: Otis Young in The Outcasts

  1969

• First African-American superhero: The Falcon, Marvel Comics' Captain America #117.
• First African-American graduate of Harvard Business School: Lillian Lincoln
• First African-American director of a major Hollywood motion picture: Gordon Parks
• First African-American founder of a classical training school and company of ballet: Arthur Mitchell, Dance Theatre of Harlem
• First African-American woman to appear on the Grand Ole Opry: Linda Martell
• First African-American to own a commercial airliner: Warren Wheeler

  1970s

1970

• First African-American woman to win a Primetime Emmy Award: Gail Fisher, for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, for Mannix
• First African-American to head an Episcopal diocese: John Melville Burgess, diocesan bishop of Massachusetts
• First African-American U.S. Navy Master Diver: Carl Brashear
• First African-American member of the New York Stock Exchange: Joseph L. Searles III
• First African-American NCAA Division I basketball coach: Will Robinson
• First African-American contestant in the Miss America pageant: Cheryl Browne

  1971

• First African-American pitcher to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame: Satchel Paige
• 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
• First African-American female jockey in the United States: Cheryl White
• First African-American to appear by herself on the cover of Playboy: Darine Stern

  1972

• First African-American to campaign for the United States presidency in a major political party and to win a U.S. presidential primary/caucus: Shirley Chisholm
• First African-American superhero to star in own comic-book series: Luke Cage, Marvel Comics' Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1.
• 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 and artist Luis Garcia, in Warren Publishing's black-and-white horror-comics magazine Creepy #43
• First African-American interracial male kiss on network television: Sammy Davis Jr. and Carroll O'Connor in All in the Family
• First African-American inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame: Team-owner and coach Bob Douglas, in the category of "contributor"
• First African-American woman Broadway director: Vinnette Justine Carroll
• First African-American comic-book creator to receive a "created by" cover-credit: Wayne Howard

  1973

• First African-American artistic director of a professional regional theater: Harold Scott
• 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, 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
• First African-American woman mayor of a U.S. metropolitan city: Doris A. Davis, Compton, California

  1974

• First African-American model on the cover of American Vogue magazine: Beverly Johnson

  1975

• First African-American elected mayor, and first mayor, of Washington, D.C.: Walter Washington
• First African-American game show host: Adam Wade
• First African-American four-star general: Daniel James Jr.
• First African-American inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player: Bill Russell
• First African-American interracial couple in a TV-series cast: The Jeffersons, actors Franklin Cover and Roxie Roker as Tom and Helen Willis, respectively; series creator: Norman Lear
• First African-American interracial romantic kiss in a color comic book: Amazing Adventures #31, feature "Killraven: Warrior of the Worlds", characters M'Shulla Scott and Carmilla Frost, by writer Don McGregor and artist P. Craig Russell
• First African-American manager in Major League Baseball: Frank Robinson
• 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
• First African-American to be named Super Bowl MVP in NFL: Franco Harris. Of mixed heritage, Harris was also the first Italian-American to win the award.
• First African-American women named as Time magazine's Person of the Year: Barbara Jordan and Addie L. Wyatt

  1976

• First African-American woman elected officer of an international labor union: Addie L. Wyatt

  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
• First African-American woman in the U.S. Cabinet: Patricia Roberts Harris, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
• First African-American woman whose signature appeared on U.S. currency: Azie Taylor Morton, the 36th Treasurer of the United States
• First African-American publisher of mainstream gay publication: Alan Bell
• First African-American woman to join the Daughters of the American Revolution: Karen Batchelor
• First African-American Major League Baseball general manager: Bill Lucas
• First African-American woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest: Pauli Murray.
• First African-American to work as a registrar for a major scientific museum: Margaret Santiago.

  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

  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.
• First African-American woman ordained in the Lutheran Church in America, the largest of three denominations that later combined to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: Earlean Miller
• First African-American head coach of a NCAA Division I-A football program: Willie Jeffries.

  1980s

1980

• First African-American-oriented cable channel: BET

  1981

• First African-American to play in the NHL: Val James

  1982

• First African-American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Charles Fuller for A Soldier's Play
• First African-American inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach: Clarence Gaines
• First African-American U.S. Army four-star General: Roscoe Robinson Jr.
• First African-American woman to become a principal dancer of a major American ballet company: Debra Austin at Pennsylvania Ballet

  1983

• First African-American astronaut: Guion Bluford.
• First African-American mayor of Chicago: Harold Washington
• First African-American Miss America: Vanessa L. Williams
• First African-American owners of a major metropolitan newspaper: Robert C. and Nancy Hicks Maynard,
• First African-American artist to have a video shown on MTV: Michael Jackson

  1984

• First African-American to win a delegate-awarding U.S. presidential primary/caucus: Jesse Jackson.
• First African-American New York City Police Commissioner: Benjamin Ward

  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.
• First African-American woman general: Sherian Cadoria

  1986

• First African-American Formula One racecar driver: Willy T. Ribbs
• 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

  1987

• First African-American woman, and first woman, 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: Teddy Seymour

  1988

• 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 NFL starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl: Doug Williams

  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
• 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

  1990s

1990

• First elected African-American governor: Douglas Wilder
• First African-American elected president of the Harvard Law Review: Barack Obama
• First African-American Miss USA: Carole Gist
• First African-American Playboy Playmate of the Year: Renee Tenison
• First African-American woman to become a principal dancer at Houston Ballet: Lauren Anderson

  1991

• First African-American nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director: John Singleton for Boyz n the Hood
• First African-American to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 auto race: Willy T. Ribbs
• First African-American woman mayor of Washington, D.C.: Sharon Pratt Kelly
• First African-American NBA Coach of the Year: Don Chaney

  1992

• First African-American woman astronaut: Dr. Mae Jemison
• First African-American woman elected to U.S. Senate: Carol Moseley Braun
• First African-American woman to moderate a Presidential debate: Carole Simpson
• First African-American Major League Baseball manager to reach the World Series: Cito Gaston 1992 World Series

  1993

• First African-American woman appointed 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 Surgeon General of the United States: Joycelyn Elders
• First African-American appointed Director of the National Drug Control Policy: Lee P. Brown
• First African-American United States Secretary of Commerce: Ron Brown
• First African-American to serve as home plate umpire for World Series game: Charlie Williams for Game 4 of the 1993 World Series
• First African-American to be inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry: Charley Pride

  1994

• First African-American woman director of a major-studio movie: Darnell Martin
• First African-American to win the United States Amateur Championship: Tiger Woods

  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, and first person, to have a song to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart: Michael Jackson

  1996

• First African-American U.S. Navy four-star admiral: J. Paul Reason

  1997

• First African-American to win a men's major golf championship: Tiger Woods
• 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 actor to star in the lead role in a comic-book adaptation movie : Michael Jai White
• First African-American Director of the National Park Service: Robert Stanton

  1998

• First African-American appointed U.S. Secretary of Labor: Alexis Herman
• First African-American woman rear admiral in the U.S. Navy: Lillian Fishburne
• First African-American Master Chief Petty Officer of the Coast Guard: Vincent W. Patton III
• First African-American to play in the Presidents Cup: Tiger Woods
• First African-American to lie in honor at the U.S. Capitol: Jacob Chestnut

  1999

• First African-American to be awarded the International Grandmaster title in chess: Maurice Ashley
• First African-American Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps: Alford L. McMichael
• First African-American CEO of a Fortune 500 company: Franklin Raines of Fannie Mae
• First African-American woman university president: Shirley Ann Jackson at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

  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
• First African-American to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame: Charley Pride

  2001

• First African-American Secretary of State: Colin Powell
• First African-American president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: The Most Reverend Wilton Daniel Gregory
• 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 to win the ASCAP Pop Music Songwriter of the Year award: Beyoncé Knowles
• First African-American woman National Security Advisor: Condoleezza Rice
• First African-American billionaire: Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television
• First African-American woman billionaire: Sheila Johnson

  2002

• First African-American to become majority owner of a U.S. major sports league team: Robert L. Johnson
• First African-American woman combat pilot in the U.S. Armed Services: Captain Vernice Armour, USMC
• First African-American 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, ArenaBowl XVI
• First African-American general manager in the National Football League: Ozzie Newsome
• First African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress: Halle Berry

  2003

• First African-American to win a Career Grand Slam in tennis: Serena Williams
• First African-American American Bar Association president: Dennis Archer

  2004

• First African-American to win Broadway theater's Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play: Phylicia Rashad
• First African-American inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame: Charlie Sifford

  2005

• First African-American woman Secretary of State: Condoleezza Rice
• 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.

  2006

• First African-American to command a United States Marine Corps division: Major General Walter E. Gaskin
• 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
• First African-American Quarterback inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Warren Moon

  2007

• First known African-American woman to reach the North Pole: Barbara Hillary
• First African-American White House Chief Usher: Stephen Rochon
• First African-American NFL coach to win a Super Bowl: Tony Dungy

  2008

• First African-American to be nominated as a major-party U.S. presidential candidate: Barack Obama, Democratic Party
• First African-American elected President of the United States: Barack Obama
• First African-American to referee a Super Bowl game: Mike Carey
• First African-American woman elected Speaker of a :Category:Speakers of state lower houses in the United States|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

  2009

• 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.
• First African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize for History: Annette Gordon-Reed,
• First African-American Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Charles F. Bolden Jr.
• First African-American woman rabbi: Alysa Stanton
• 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

  2010s

2010

• First African-American to win Stanley Cup: Dustin Byfuglien with Chicago Blackhawks.

  2011

• First African-American Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons: Charles E. Samuels Jr.
• First African-American admitted to the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College: Sandra Lawson

  2012

• First African-American to be re-elected President of the United States: Barack Obama
• First African-American Combatant Commander of United States Central Command: Lloyd Austin
• First African-American elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention : Fred Luter
• First African-American to direct an animated film with a budget in excess of $100 million: Peter Ramsey

  2013

• First African-American U.S. Senator from the former Confederacy since Reconstruction: Tim Scott
• First African-American president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: Cheryl Boone Isaacs
• First African-American United States Secretary of Homeland Security: Jeh Johnson

  2014

• First African-American woman four-star admiral: Michelle J. Howard
• First African-American senator to be elected in the South since Reconstruction: Tim Scott, elected in South Carolina
• First African-American woman to be nominated for Best Director by the Golden Globe Awards: Ava DuVernay for Selma

  2015

• First African-American woman Attorney General of the United States: Loretta Lynch
• First African-American to lead a major intelligence agency: Vincent R. Stewart, Defense Intelligence Agency
• First African-American to be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame: Wendell Scott
• First African-American commissioner of a major North American sports league: Jeffrey Orridge, Canadian Football League
• First African-American elected as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church: Bishop Michael Curry
• First African-American woman American Bar Association president: Paulette Brown

  2016

• First African-American president of a major broadcast TV network: Channing Dungey
• First African-American Librarian of Congress: Dr. Carla Hayden

  2017

• First African-American CEO of a Major League Baseball team: Derek Jeter

  2018

• First African-American artist commissioned for US president portrait to be displayed in the Smithsonian: Kehinde Wiley
• First African-American artist commissioned for US first-lady portrait to be displayed in the Smithsonian: Amy Sherald
• First African-American president of the American Psychiatric Association: Altha Stewart
• First African-American woman to be major party nominee for state governor: Stacey Abrams
• First African-American superintendent of the United States Military Academy: Darryl A. Williams
• First African-American woman U.S. Marine Corps general officer: Lorna Mahlock

  2019

• First member of the British royal family of African-American descent by birth: Archie Mountbatten-Windsor
• First African-American secretary of the Smithsonian Institution: Lonnie Bunch
• First African-American female director of an Association of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited institution: Denise Verret
• First African-American elected official to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol: Representative Elijah Cummings.

  Footnotes