Harriet Tubman was an American slavery abolitionist and political activist who rescued approximately 70 enslaved people as a "conductor" on the underground railroad.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a journalist, educator, and political activist dedicated to advancing social equality for women and African Americans. She was a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Sarah Breedlove/Madam C.J. Walker was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and activist. The first documented female self-made millionaire in the United States, she built her fortune primarily by developing hair care products designed for African Americans.

Katherine Johnson was an American mathematician whose complex calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights.

Mildred Loving was party to an important civil rights Supreme Court case (Loving vs. Virginia) in which the court ruled that laws against interracial marriage were unconstitutional.

Shirley Chisholm was a politician who became the first African American woman elected to the US Congress in 1968; in 1972, she became the first African American candidate for a major-party nomination for President of the United States, and the first woman to run for the nomination of the Democratic Party.