Across
- 3. This athlete attended Brown University and studied chemistry and played halfback. He was the school's first black player, and led Brown to the 1916 Rose Bowl. In 1921 he became the first African American head coach of the Akron Pros of the American Professional Football Association (later becoming the NFL).
- 4. In 1959 he was hired to read the news at a station in Portsmouth, VA however his face was hidden behind a graphic that read "NEWS". One day he instructed the camera man to remove the slide so the audience could see him, he was fired the next day. He later moved to Washington where he worked as a TV reporter, and then co-anchored the evening news becoming the first black anchor in a major US city.
- 5. MLK's "I have a dream" speech will live on for eternity. This openly gay black man was responsible for organizing the March on Washington which brought in over 200,000 peaceful protestors of many different races and religions.
- 7. This woman made history on multiple levels. She was the first black woman to graduate from Yale Law School, the first black woman to join the NYC Bar Association, and the nation's first black female judge.
- 8. Considered the Jackie Robison of tennis, who was the first African American to compete in the US National Championships in 1950 and the first Black player to win a Grand Slam tournament in 1956.
Down
- 1. Though he was reluctant to embrace the title, this musician has been called the "godfather or rap" by others. His work has been sampled, referenced, or reinterpreted by Common, Drake, Kayne West, Kendrick Lamar and many more.
- 2. This versatile black artist had many achievements including composing musical scores, writing 15 books, and co-founding Essence magazine. In 1969 he adapted his novel The Learning Tree into a film, becoming the first African American to direct a movie for a major studio. He would later go on to direct Shaft.
- 6. This remarkable woman fought against both sexism and racism. After being accepted to NY's Barnard College in 1929, she was told there wasn't a spot for her as they already filled their quota of 2 black students. She enrolled at NYU and earned a Master's in educational phycology. She later became on of Dr. MLK Jr's key advisers, and was the only woman activist on the platform during his "I Have a Dream" speech.