Mary Eliza Mahoney was the first black professional nurse in America, and an active organizer among African American nurses. She was born in Boston, on May 7, 1845, the oldest of three children.

When four-star Army Gen. Laura Richardson became the first woman to lead the U.S. Southern Command three years ago, she inherited all of the concerns of her most recent predecessors about the region’s ...

Bessie Coleman was the first African-American woman, and also the first woman of Native-American descent, to hold a pilot’s license. Coleman grew up in a cruel world of poverty and discrimination.

Warren Moon is widely known as the first African American quarterback enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Willie Thrower of the Chicago Bears, in 1953, holds the distinction as the first ...