For Black History Month 2024, MKP compiled a list of Black American icons whose incredible contributions have shaped history. Throughout the month, we shared their inspiring stories, celebrating their enduring legacies. Without further ado, here's the full list:

• Hank Aaron - Best known for breaking Babe Ruth’s long-standing home run record when he hit his 715th home run in 1974, Aaron was also an outspoken civil rights advocate.
• Marian Anderson - Legendary contralto who sang on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1939 to over 75,000 audience members. She was the first Black singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
• Maya Angelou - American poet, memoirist and civil rights activist whose works are considered a celebration of Black culture.
• Beyonce - Dubbed "Queen Bey," she is a prominent cultural figure of the 21st century; Rolling Stone named her one of the greatest vocalists of all time.
• Simone Biles - The most decorated American gymnast in history, she is widely considered one of the greatest gymnasts of all time.
• George Washington Carver - An American agricultural scientist and inventor who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He was one of the most prominent black scientists of the early 20th century.
• Shirley Chisholm - The first African American woman to serve in the United States Congress. She fought for equal rights for women, minorities, immigrants and the poor.
• Jasmine Crockett - An American lawyer and politician serving as a Congresswoman in Texas’s 30th Congressional district.
• Aretha Franklin - American singer, songwriter and pianist, referred to as the “Queen of soul.”
• Amanda Gorman - Award-winning writer and the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history.
• Jimi Hendrix - Altered the course of popular music and became one of the most successful and influential musicians of all time.
• Billie Holiday - Musical legend known for her deeply moving vocal style. She popularized of one of the first protest songs of the Civil Rights Movement, the haunting “Strange Fruit.”
• Langston Hughes – An author and poet, he was one of the leading figures of the Harlem Renaissance.
• Michael Jordan - Regarded by many as the greatest basketball player of all-time, Michael Jordan won six titles with the Chicago Bulls. He helped popularize basketball and the NBA around the globe.
• Ann Lowe – The granddaughter of a former slave, she became one of the first famous African American fashion designers, creating elegant formal wear for women in the 1950s-1960s.
• Wynton Marsalis – A world-renowned trumpeter, bandleader, composer and music educator, he was the first jazz musician to ever receive the Pulitzer Prize for Music.
• Thurgood Marshall - A distinguished attorney, he litigated the landmark Supreme Court case, Brown vs. Board of Education, which successfully challenged school segregation. His pivotal role advocating civil rights led to his historic appointment as the first African American justice on the Supreme Court.
• Jean Michel-Basquiat - A neo-expressionist artist from the 1980s, his art encompasses themes of racism, classism, colonialism and other power structures, and their effects on U.S. society.
• The Notorious B.I.G. - American rapper rooted in East Coast hip hop, widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time.
• Toni Morrison - The first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• Barack Obama - The 44th President of the United States and first African American to hold the position.
• Michelle Obama - The first African American First Lady of the United States. She became a role model for women, focused on supporting military families and worked towards ending childhood obesity.
• Rosa Parks - Called “the mother of the civil rights movement,” Rosa Parks is best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in 1955.
• Jackie Robinson – The first Black Major League Baseball player, responsible for breaking “the color barrier” in 1947.
• Henry Taylor - L.A.-based painter known for captivating portraits weaving together poignant themes in a uniquely socially conscious, empathic body of work.
• Harriet Tubman - Abolitionist and the most famous “conductor” along the Underground Railroad.
• Alice Walker - The first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which she was awarded for her novel, The Color Purple.
• Serena Williams - Considered the greatest women’s tennis player of all time with 23 Grand Slam titles.
• Oprah Winfrey - An American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, media proprietor, entrepreneur and philanthropist, focused on education. She is North America's first Black multi-billionaire.

MKP communications inc. is a New-York based marketing communications agency specializing in merger/change communications for the financial services industry