The Archive · Chronologically

Timeline.

Four centuries of Black history, sorted by birth year.

From an eighteenth-century Maroon queen to a twenty-first-century astrophysicist — travel forward through time and watch the archive assemble itself.

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All 87

Era

17th Century

1 figure

Civil Rights · c.1686–c.1755

“The land is ours, and the freedom to walk upon it is ours.”

Era

18th Century

7 figures

Astronomy · 1731–1806

Benjamin Banneker

“The color of the skin is in no way connected with strength of the mind or intellectual powers.”

Civil Rights · c.1755–1795

Bastian Karpata

“We are no longer property. We are men.”

Civil Rights · c.1760–1795

“Better to die free than to live enslaved.”

Civil Rights · c.1760–1795

“We demand nothing but our freedom.”

Civil Rights · c.1772–1802

La Mulâtresse Solitude

“Vivre libre ou mourir. — To live free or die.”

Politics · 1774–1817

Manuel Carlos Piar

“The revolution is not complete while any man remains unequal.”

Civil Rights · c.1797–1883

Sojourner Truth

“Truth is powerful and it prevails.”

Era

19th Century

27 figures

Civil Rights · c.1810–?

Aunt Polly Jackson

“I will not let them take another soul back in chains.”

Civil Rights · 1818–1895

Frederick Douglass

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”

Civil Rights · c.1822–1913

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer.”

Politics · 1827–1901

Hiram Rhodes Revels

“The Negro is a subject of American statesmanship as well as of American Christianity.”

Medicine · 1831–1895

Rebecca Lee Crumpler

“I early conceived a liking for, and sought every opportunity to, relieve the sufferings of others.”

Inventors · 1844–1929

“Do not despise humble beginnings.”

Inventors · 1848–1928

“We create our future by well improving present opportunities, however few and small they may be.”

Academia · 1856–1915

Booker T. Washington

“Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life, as by the obstacles overcome.”

Medicine · 1856–1931

Daniel Hale Williams

“Necessity often mothers invention.”

Inventors · 1856–1910

Granville Woods

“There is no chance for the colored man in this country, and I am going to Canada.”

Historians · 1862–1931

“The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.”

Academia · c.1864–1943

George Washington Carver

“Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.”

Inventors · 1867–1919

Madam C. J. Walker

“I got my start by giving myself a start.”

Architecture · 1868–1942

Robert Robinson Taylor

“Give people some way to earn their bread and they will lift themselves.”

Academia · 1868–1963

“Education must not simply teach work, it must teach life.”

Historians · 1875–1950

Carter G. Woodson

“If a race has no history, it has no worthwhile tradition.”

Academia · 1875–1955

Mary McLeod Bethune

“Without faith, nothing is possible. With it, nothing is impossible.”

Inventors · 1877–1963

“If a man puts something to block your way, the first time you go around it, the second time you go over it, and the third time you go through it.”

Architecture · 1881–1950

“The lines are all Mr. Trumbauer's, but the shadows are all mine.”

Philosophy · 1885–1954

Alain LeRoy Locke

“The Negro today wishes to be known for what he is, even in his faults and shortcomings.”

Civil Rights · 1887–1940

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”

Artists · 1891–1960

Zora Neale Hurston

“Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me.”

Artists · 1898–1981

“I love my clothes and I'm particular about who wears them.”

Academia · 1898–1987

Septima Poinsette Clark

“I have great belief in the fact that whenever there is chaos, it creates wonderful thinking.”

Artists · 1899–1974

“A problem is a chance for you to do your best.”

Civil Rights · 1899–1968

Pedro Pablo Medardo de Marchena

“Ignorance is not the absence of learning — it is the presence of a lie.”

Science · 1899–1975

Percy Lavon Julian

“You can hardly go anywhere in America now where a Negro is not making some real contribution.”

Era

20th Century

51 figures

Artists · 1900-1980

“Test quote.”

Artists · 1901–1967

Langston Hughes

“Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.”

Artists · 1901–1971

Louis Armstrong

“If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know.”

Civil Rights · 1903–1986

“Give light and people will find the way.”

Medicine · 1904–1950

Charles R. Drew

“Excellence of performance will transcend artificial barriers created by man.”

Artists · 1906–1975

Josephine Baker

“I shall dance all my life. I would like to die, breathless, spent, at the end of a dance.”

Civil Rights · 1908–1993

Thurgood Marshall

“None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.”

Artists · 1911–1972

Mahalia Jackson

“Faith and prayer are the vitamins of the soul.”

Civil Rights · 1912–2010

“Greatness is not measured by what a man or woman accomplishes, but by the opposition they have overcome.”

Artists · 1913–1994

“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”

Civil Rights · 1913–2005

“You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.”

Civil Rights · 1914–1999

“No man or woman who tries to pursue an ideal in his or her own way is without enemies.”

Civil Rights · 1915–1964

“A people's art is the genesis of their freedom.”

Civil Rights · 1917–1977

Fannie Lou Hamer

“I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.”

Science · 1918–2020

Katherine Johnson

“I like to learn. That's an art and a science.”

Politics · 1918–2013

“It always seems impossible until it's done.”

Medicine · 1919–2013

Jane Cooke Wright

“There's lots of fun in exploring the unknown. There's no greater thrill than to make a positive contribution.”

Civil Rights · 1920–1990

Georgia Gilmore

“If I can't fight on the front line, I'll fight from the kitchen.”

Artists · 1920–1981

“Any woman who has a great deal to offer the world is in trouble.”

Inventors · 1920–1982

“I always felt that my inventions were as much for humanity as for myself.”

Politics · 1921–2005

Constance Baker Motley

“Lack of belief in one's own capabilities is the greatest single limitation.”

Civil Rights · 1922–2021

Gloria Richardson

“A first-class citizen does not beg for freedom.”

Artists · 1924–1987

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

Civil Rights · 1924–2005

Shirley Chisholm

“If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”

Philosophy · 1925–1961

“Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted.”

Civil Rights · 1925–1965

“Education is the passport to the future.”

Architecture · 1926–2012

Norma Merrick Sklarek

“In architecture, I had absolutely no role model. I'm happy today to be a role model for others.”

Sports · 1927–2003

“No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you.”

Civil Rights · 1927–2006

Coretta Scott King

“Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation.”

Artists · 1928–2014

“I've learned that people will forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”

Civil Rights · 1929–1968

Martin Luther King Jr.

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

Artists · 1931–2019

“If you can't imagine it, you can't have it.”

Artists · 1935–2000

“I never thought of myself as a Black actress — I thought of myself as an actress, period.”

Politics · 1937–2021

“There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.”

Civil Rights · 1938–

“Freedom, by definition, is people realizing that they are their own leaders.”

Politics · 1940–2020

“Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.”

Civil Rights · 1940–2002

“I have a dream — that one day the sons and daughters of former slaves will sit down at the table of brotherhood.”

Historians · 1942–

Charlayne Hunter-Gault

“You have to keep telling the story, or the story will die.”

Astronomy · 1942–

“It is important that role models be made available to show that success is possible.”

Civil Rights · 1942–2016

“Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth.”

Medicine · 1942–2019

“The ability to restore sight is the ultimate reward.”

Sports · 1942–2019

Ricardo Chibanga

“I carried Mafalala into every bullring. That is what they came to see.”

Philosophy · 1944–

“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”

Sports · 1945–

“The time was right, and I was ready — but no one talked about me because I was a woman.”

Science · 1950–1986

“Whether or not you reach your goals in life depends entirely on how well you prepare for them.”

Philosophy · 1953–

“Justice is what love looks like in public.”

Politics · 1954–

Condoleezza Rice

“The essence of America is that our origins as a nation don't define our nature.”

Science · 1956–

“Never be limited by other people's limited imaginations.”

Astronomy · 1958–

Neil deGrasse Tyson

“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.”

Presidents · 1961–

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.”

Presidents · 1964–

“You may be the first, but make sure you are not the last.”

Era

21st Century

1 figure

Artists · 2000-

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“Test quote.”