- Benjamin Banneker – Benjamin Banneker helped survey the land that became our nation’s capital, Washington, DC. Little-known fact: He also documented the Brood X cicadas that emerged from the ground in scores in 1749—the ancestors of the cicadas we still see every 17 years today!
- Louise B. Miller – Miller sued the local Board of Education in 1952 to compel DC to allow deaf, Black students to attend the District’s only school for deaf students (now Gallaudet University), rather than having to bus to a school for deaf Black students in Baltimore. Miller succeeded, but unfortunately DC’s school for deaf students did not fully integrate until after Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. I’m proud to be working on renaming a DC street in Louise Miller’s honor.
- Mary McLeod Bethune – Educator and activist, McLeod Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935 and started a private school for Black students which became Bethune-Cookman University. She also served in President Franklin Roosevelt’s cabinet and was the sole African American woman officially part of the U.S. delegation at the creation of the United Nations charter. Lincoln Park on Capitol Hill is home to a larger-than life statue honoring McLeod Bethune’s visionary leadership.
- Chuck Brown – Known as the “Godfather of Go-Go,” Chuck Brown is recognized as the creator of DC’s unique musical genre, Go-Go, in the early 1970s. Listen to his hits, and visit Chuck Brown Memorial Park in Langdon Park.
- Rev. Dr. Sandra Butler-Truesdale – An inspiring and vibrant 4th-generation Washingtonian, Rev. Dr. Butler-Truesdale founded DC Legendary Musicians and she also spent two years on the road touring with Ray Charles.