can anyone name a few African Americans who has contributed to society that isnt or wasnt always talked about?

Question

We often hear about people like Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X, during black history month. Name a few other African American people who contributed to society in a major way, whether underground or not. Name individuals who contributed to society that you dont often hear about as much in black history.

Answer 1

George Washington Carver. Although he is always remembered as the "guy who invented peanut butter" he was a great agriculturalist who pushed for the cultivation of peanuts by proving there were over 300 products that could be made from them. He did a lot more for southern agriculture than just peanuts though.

Answer 2

Fannie Lou Hamer was key in organizing Freedom Summer in Mississppi. Anne Moody wrote the influential memoir "Coming of Age in Mississippi." If you want to go back a little further than the Civil Rights movement, check out Booker T Washington and W.E.B Dubois, both were hugely influential in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Ida B. Wells is another good person to check into from that time period. If you are interested in sports figures, look Jack Johnson (the boxer, not the musician). Also check out Wallace Fard Muhammed, the founder of the Nation of Islam. Marcus Garvey is another very interesting person to look into.

I could probably go on listing names for the next several hours, so I'll stop at this. You should be able to find basic biographical info at wikipedia on any of the above listed names and their are numerous books written about all of them. You could also find the books that many of them wrote in many libraries. Good luck!

Answer 3

Eugene Jacques Bullard, was denied entry into the American Army Air Corps during World War 1, 1917, served with the French as a pilot, he received the Legion of Honor from France, he was one of France's most decorated war heros

Dr. Charles Drew invented the blood bank (he developed a means of preserving blood plasma for transfusion) and was the first director of the Red Cross , 1941

Answer 4

To name just a few . . . Sojourner Truth - abolitionist, women's rights activist Harriet Tubman - abolitionist, humanitarian, Union spy, women's suffragist Sarah Boone - inventor, ironing board Sarah E. Goode - inventor, cabinet bed (precursor to the Murphy, folding, and hideaway beds) Virgie M. Ammons - inventor, fireplace damper Marie Van Britten Brown - inventor, closed circuit security system Bessie Blount Griffin - physical therapist, forensic scientist, and inventor, emesis basin and electronic amputee feeding device Annie Easley - computer scientist, most noted for being a leading member of the team which developed software for the Centaur rocket stage Valerie Thomas - mathmatical data analyst (NASA), inventor, Illusion Transmitter Patricia Bath - opthalmologist, inventor, LASERPHACO Probe (for laser removal of cataracts) Rosa Parks - civil rights activist Gwendolyn Brooks - Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Poet Laureate Consultant to the Library of Congress Rita Dove - Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Poet Laureate Consultant to the Library of Congress Toni Morrison - Nobel Prize in Literature, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction This is a very small number of African American women who have contributed to society but at least it's a start! Oh yeah, Oprah, too, belongs on the list due to her contributions and influence in popular culture.

Answer 5

Yep! My dad contributed education, but I never see his name in my books!