17 Unforgettable Black History Facts They Should’ve Taught In School.

1. A black woman invented the sanitary belt.

Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner was quite the inventor at an early age, but her most innovative creation was the sanitary belt. Because of Mary’s skin color, an interested manufacturing company failed to market her product, and the great invention wasn’t used until 1956, 30 years after its creation.

2. In 1951, Henrietta Lacks&’s cancer cells led to major discoveries in medical research.

“There was a novel — and later a movie starring Oprah Winfrey as Henrietta’s daughter — called The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which explained how Henrietta’s HeLa cells have contributed to medical research.”

3. Dorothy Dandridge was the first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

“The singer and actress was acknowledged for her performance in the 1954 film Carmen Jones.”

4. The first successful open-heart surgery was performed in 1893 by a black surgeon/named Dr. Daniel Hale Williams.

“He also founded the first hospital that employed black healthcare workers.”

5. John Rock was the first African American Supreme Court lawyer.

“He also founded the first hospital that employed black healthcare workers.”

6. Thelonious Monk was one of the greatest jazz composers and a strong leader in the jazz revolution.

Find ‘Big Band and Quartet in Concert’ online.

7. Betty Boop was based on a black woman.

Betty Boop was inspired by the black jazz singer Esther Jones, commonly known as Baby Esther in Harlem’s Cotton Club. Her signature singing style was stolen by Helen Kane and adapted by the cartoonist Max Fleischer.”

8. Musa I of Mali is considered the richest man in history.

“Students should learn more about the king of the Mali Empire. It’s been said that there’s really no way to put an accurate number on his wealth.”

9. Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan were the women behind the NASA space race.

See movie Hidden Figures. Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan, and all the ladies who worked as the “computers” served as the brains behind launching John Glenn, the first successful American astronaut to orbit Earth.

10. A black transgender woman named Marsha P. Johnson helped lead the Stonewall uprising.

“Also known as the “mayor of Christopher Street” Marsha was a visible figure in the gay civil rights movement, yet was completely left out of the 2015 movie Stonewall. She remained on the frontline of the protest, advocating for universal gay rights”

11. Bayard Rustin was an openly gay civil rights activist.

“Bayard Rustin was a social rights activist who helped install various organizations like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr. and the 1947 Freedom Ride. He was the head of the 1963 March on Washington and helped fight for civil, social, and gay rights.”

12. Henry Box Brown escaped to freedom at the age of 33.

He shipped himself from Virginia to Philadelphia so that he could be free!

13. Ida B. Wells led a movement against lynchings in the 1890s through her informative essays and brave activism.

“This was a huge deal not only for an African American but for a woman as well.”

14. The Harlem Hellfighters spent 191 days in the trenches during World War I, more than any other American unit.

15. In 1921, “Black Wall Street” was a thriving community of black businesses.

16. The youth of Birmingham, Alabama, led a nonviolent Children’s Crusade in 1963.

17. And finally, Martin Luther King Jr. was not the first African American to win the Nobel Piece Prize.

“That honor goes to Ralph Bunche, the political scientist and US diplomat from Detroit. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 for his efforts with resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict.”

 

Taken from https://www.buzzfeed.com/kristenmartin/black-history-facts-you-wont-find-in-a-textbook