Some Firsts by African Americans in the U.S....

Politics
1st Black President of the United States: Barack Obama, sworn in 2009, elected 2008
Governor(elected): Douglas Wilder 1990-94 of Virginia
Governor (appointed): P.B.S Pinchback served Louisiana from Dec. 9, 1872–Jan. 13, 1873, during impeachment proceedings against the elected governor
Mayor of major city: Carl Stokes served Cleveland, Ohio, 1967–1971. The first black woman to serve as a mayor of a major U.S. city was Sharon Pratt Dixon Kelly, Washington, DC, 1991–1995.
U.S. Representative: Joseph Rainey became a Congressman from South Carolina in 1870 and was reelected four more times. The first black female U.S. Representative was Shirley Chisholm Congresswoman from New York, 1969–1983.
U.S. Senator: Hiram Revels became Senator from Mississippi from Feb. 25, 1870, to March 4, 1871, during Reconstruction. Edward Brooke became the first African-American Senator since Reconstruction, 1966–1979. Carol Mosely Braun became the first black woman Senator serving from 1992–1998 for the state of Illinois.
U.S. cabinet member: Robert Weaver,1966–1968, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development under Lyndon Johnson; the first black female cabinet minister was Patricia Harris,1977, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development under Jimmy Carter.
U.S. Secretary of State: Gen. Colin Powell,2001–2004. The first black female Secretary of State was Condoleeza Rice, 2005–2008.

Law
Editor, Harvard Law Review: Charles Hamilton Houston,1919. Barack Obama became the first President of the Harvard Law Review.
Federal Judge:William Henry Hastie, 1946; Constance Baker Motley became the first black woman federal judge, 1966.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice: Thurgood Marshall, 1967–1991. Clarence Thomas became the second in 1991.

Nobel Peace Prize
Ralph J. Bunche received the prize in 1950 for mediating the Arab-Israeli truce. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., became the second African-American Peace Prize winner in 1964.

Military
Combat pilot: Georgia-bornEugene Jacques Bullard,1917, denied entry into the U.S. Army Air Corps because of his race, served throughout World War I in the French Flying Corps. He received the Legion of Honor, France's highest honor, among many other decorations.
First Congressional Medal of Honor winner: Sgt. William H. Carney for bravery during the Civil War. He received the medal in 1900.
General: Benjamin O. Davis, Sr., 1940–1948.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Colin Powell, 1989–1993.

Science & Medicine
First patent holder: Thomas L. Jennings, 1821, for a dry-cleaning process. Sarah E. Goode, 1885, became the first African-American woman to receive a patent, for a bed that folded up into a cabinet.
M.D. degree: James McCune Smith, 1837, University of Glasgow; Rebecca Lee Crumpler became the first black woman to receive an M.D. degree. She graduated from the New England Female Medical College in 1864.
Inventor of the blood bank: Dr. Charles Drew, 1940.
Heart surgery pioneer: Daniel Hale Williams, 1893.
First astronaut: Robert H. Lawrence, Jr., 1967, was the first black astronaut, but he died in a plane crash during a training flight and never made it into space. Guion Bluford, 1983, became the first black astronaut to travel in space; Mae Jemison, 1992, became the first black female astronaut. Frederick D. Gregory, 1998, was the first African-American shuttle commander.

Education
College graduate (B.A.): Alexander Lucius Twilight, 1823, Middlebury College; first black woman to receive a B.A. degree: Mary Jane Patterson, 1862, Oberlin College.
Ph.D.: Edward A. Bouchet, 1876, received a Ph.D. from Yale University. In 1921, three individuals became the first U.S. black women to earn Ph.D.s: Georgiana Simpson, University of Chicago; Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, University of Pennsylvania; and Eva Beatrice Dykes, Radcliffe College.
Rhodes Scholar: Alain L. Locke, 1907.
College president: Daniel A. Payne, 1856, Wilberforce University, Ohio.
Ivy League president:Ruth Simmons, 2001, Brown University.

Literature
Novelist: Harriet Wilson, Our Nig (1859).
Poet: Lucy Terry, 1746, "Bar's Fight." It is her only surviving poem.
Poet (published): Phyllis Wheatley, 1773, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. Considered the founder of African-American literature.
Pulitzer Prize winner: Gwendolyn Brooks, 1950, won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry.
Nobel Prize for Literature winner: Toni Morrison,1993.

Music & Dance
Member of the Metropolitan Opera Company: Marian Anderson,1955.
Male Grammy Award winner: Count Basie,1958.
Female Grammy Award winner: Ella Fitzgerald,1958.
Principal dancer in a major dance company: Arthur Mitchell,1959, New York City Ballet.

Film & Television
First Oscar: Hattie McDaniel, 1940, supporting actress, Gone with the Wind.
Oscar, Best Actor/Actress: Sidney Poitier,1963, Lilies of the Field; Halle Berry, 2001, Monster's Ball.
Oscar, Best Actress Nominee: Dorothy Dandridge, 1954, Carmen Jones.
Film director: Oscar Micheaux, 1919, wrote, directed, and produced The Homesteader,a feature film.
Hollywood director:Gordon Parks directed and wrote The Learning Tree for Warner Brothers in 1969.
Network television show host: Nat King Cole,1956, "The Nat King Cole Show"; Oprah Winfrey became the first black woman television host in 1986, "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
Star of a network television show: Bill Cosby, 1965, "I Spy".

Sports
Major league baseball player: Jackie Robinson,1947, Brooklyn Dodgers.
Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame: Jackie Robinson,1962.
NFL quarterback: Willie Thrower, 1953.
NFL football coach: Fritz Pollard, 1922–1937.
Golf champion:Tiger Woods, 1997, won the Masters golf tournament.
NHL hockey player: Willie O'Ree, 1958, Boston Bruins.
World cycling champion: Marshall W. "Major" Taylor, 1899.
Tennis champion: Althea Gibsonbecame the first black person to play in and win Wimbledon and the United States national tennis championship. She won both tournaments twice, in 1957 and 1958. In all, Gibson won 56 tournaments, including five Grand Slam singles events. The first black male champion was Arthur Ashe who won the 1968 U.S. Open, the 1970 Australian Open, and the 1975 Wimbledon championship.
Heavyweight boxing champion: Jack Johnson,1908.
Olympic medalist (Summer games): George Poage, 1904, won two bronze medals in the 200 m hurdles and 400 m hurdles.
Olympic gold medalist (Winter games): Vonetta Flowers, 2002, bobsled.
Olympic gold medalist (Winter games; individual): Shani Davis, 2006, 1,000 m speedskating.

Other Firsts
1st Black Millionaire: Madame C.J. Walker
1st Black Billionaire: Bob Johnson, 2001 1st female: Oprah Winfrey, 2003
1st Black Licensed Pilot: Bessie Coleman, 1921
Explorer, North Pole: Matthew A. Henson, 1909, accompanied Robert E. Peary on the first successful U.S. expedition to the North Pole.
Explorer, South Pole: George Gibbs, 1939–1941 accompanied Richard Byrd.
Miss America:Vanessa Williams, 1984, representing New York. When controversial photos surfaced and Williams resigned, Suzette Charles, the runner-up and also an African American, assumed the title. She represented New Jersey. Three additional African Americans have been Miss Americas: Debbye Turner (1990), Marjorie Vincent (1991), and Kimberly Aiken (1994).