Jacob Lawrence was an American painter and educator who honored stories of Black resistance, resilience and reinvention in his work. He was one of the most widely acclaimed Black visual artists of the 20th century.

Nona Hendryx is a veteran artist who cannot be easily classified. Her career spans eras, genres, industries, and media. She has been called a revolutionary, a shapeshifter, a renaissance woman, a space-age spirit, and a groove mistress. With more than six decades in the music business, Hendryx has established a career that is uniquely her own.

It's not uncommon to be introduced to a groundbreaking individual during Black History Month who was a pioneer in their industry or specialty yet whose name was lost to time. As is the case with Jackie Ormes, the first Black female published cartoonist in the U.S.

Ellen Armstrong (1904–1994) was a magician who performed for nearly her entire life. She was the only Black woman of the early to mid-twentieth century to run an independent touring magic show.

If you're from Texas or frequent rodeos, the name Bill Pickett likely needs no introduction. Credited for being the father of the rodeo event bulldogging, this cowboy and renowned rodeo showman is a testament to the courage and skill of the Black cowboy.

In the mid-twentieth century, Hazel Scott was the “glamorous face of jazz,” a wildly successful and multi-talented pianist, singer, and film star. Scott played sold-out concerts that mixed classical music with jazz and boogie-woogie. The first Black woman to host a television show, Scott was a Hollywood star who featured in four films in a single year. Her success seemed unstoppable until her career was derailed by state repression and anti-communist hysteria.

Pura Belpré was an Afro-Puerto Rican folklorist and author who served as the first Latina librarian in the New York Public Library system in 1921. Her book, Perez y Martina was the first Spanish-language children’s book released by a mainstream U.S. publisher.

Marion Stokes was a civil rights activist, feminist and independent archivist. Fascinated by “how media reflects society to itself,” she videotaped 33 years of the 24-hour news cycle on 70,000 VHS tapes. Some of her recordings are the only known saved documentation. Her collection is now being digitized by the Internet Archive for future use.

Gladys Bentley was an openly gay singer, pianist and entertainer in New York City during the Prohibition Era. Her talent and professional success brought visibility to Black lesbians in the 1920s and 1930s.