I Typed “First Black” In Google And This is Who Was On The List

There’s so much going on in Black culture

Image by ekavesh from Pixabay

It’s Black History month so I decided to write a piece on recent Black success stories. A lot of the time when we consider Black achievements, we mention civil rights icons, political firsts, or entertainment giants.

I wanted to write something different so I began my research by typing in ‘first black’ into google.ca to see what popped up.

Here they are in order of appearance.

1. First Black President: Barack Obama
2. First Black NHL player: Willie O’Ree
3. First Black Baseball player: Jackie Robinson
4. First Black Senator: Hiram Rhodes Revels
5. First Black vice-president: Kamala Harris
6. First Black woman in space: Mae C. Jemison
7. First Black woman to win an Oscar: Hattie McDaniel
8. First Black NBA player: Earl Lloyd

As you can see it’s an America-centric list. Except for number 2, which is Canadian, the list highlights firsts by Black Americans. No real surprise there, as that is the country most likely to celebrate those events given its history.