New Jersey Black History

Girls in Aviation Day is celebrated at Newark International Airport annually. Who was the first American female pilot?

Amiri Baraka, the famous writer and poet of the 60's, is from New Jersey. His son, Ras Baraka, is the mayor of...

North Star Academy, a school in Newark, shares its name with an anti-slavery newspaper published by this abolitionist.

This Newark athlete spent his days at the Boys & Girls Club and continues to give to the organization...

The Great Migration was famously and artistically captured as a series of paintings by Atlantic City's own...

However, New Jersey, sadly, was the last state in the North to abolish this...

Corey Booker, the first African American senator from New Jersey, used to be the mayor of East Orange.

From 1849-1852, this person also used Cape May to carry out work for the Underground Railroad

Alexander Miles created the automatic elevator door so NJ elevators like Pride's could be safe. He did this because...

NJ has 12,000 traffic lights. The person who invented the three-way traffic light was the inventor shown here.

What is Queen Latifah's real name?

Born in Passaic, she starred in Star Trek and Avatar. You may know her best as Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy.

The Newark high school formerly named South Side High was renamed in honor of this activist and leader...

Paul Robeson, the acclaimed singer, actor, and political activist from the early 1900's, played football in college for

In 1860, Princeton, Newark, & Jersey City were all important...

This track and field superstar is the most decorated New Jersey Olympian ever.

Music greats Ice-T and Whitney Houston both grew up in...

Without a piece invented by Lewis Latimer (shown here), this NJ inventor could not have invented the light bulb.

NJ outlawed the racial segregation of schools nearly 10 years before the nation did.

The week before he was killed, this famous Civil Rights leader spoke in Newark, Orange, Paterson, and Jersey City

NJPAC often showcases the talents of this celebrated Black American modern dance company shown here.

Michael B. Jordan, Tisha Campbell, Sarah Vaughn, & Savion Glover are all graduates of...

Before she released "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill," the South Orange resident was part of this musical group

This award-winning actress has 2 schools named for her in East Orange. She is..

NJ residents Count Basie (Red Bank, NJ), Dizzy Gillespie (Englewood, NJ), and Sarah Vaughn (Newark, NJ) are all famous

Whitney Houston's famous cousin grew up in East Orange. She is...

What New Jersey town did Queen Latifah grow up in?

Schools across the country from New Orleans to East Orange have been named after this Harlem Renaissance writer and poet

This NBA player from Trenton was nicknamed The Worm and played alongside Michael Jordan on the Bulls.

This writer of The Bluest Eye, Beloved, and Song of Solomon, was a celebrated literature professor at Princeton.