Fifteen trading cards, three in each of five colors. Each one gives a hero’s big moment, three quick facts, and a question to talk about.
- In class: hand one card to each group and have them teach it to the room
- At home: pick a card a day in February
- Print: use Print the deck for cut-out cards
Robert Smalls
- Born
- Beaufort, South Carolina
- Big day
- May 13, 1862
- Later
- Elected to Congress, 1874
Before dawn, Smalls and the enslaved crew sailed the steamship Planter out of Charleston Harbor to the Union fleet, with his wife and children aboard.
Think about itWhat planning would it take to sail past guarded forts?
Claudette Colvin
- Born
- Birmingham, Alabama
- Big day
- March 2, 1955
- Later
- Plaintiff in Browder v. Gayle
Nine months before Rosa Parks, she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus. Her court case helped end bus segregation.
Think about itWhy might a teenager’s choice inspire grown-ups?
The Harlem Hellfighters
- From
- New York
- Front lines
- 191 days
- Honor
- France’s Croix de Guerre
They spent more time in continuous combat than any other American unit of their size, and France honored the whole regiment.
Think about itWhy do you think France gave the award to the whole team?
Zora Neale Hurston
- Born
- Notasulga, Alabama
- Studied
- Anthropology, Barnard College
- Wrote
- Their Eyes Were Watching God
She wrote four novels, two books of folklore, and an autobiography, plus short stories, essays, and plays.
Think about itWhy is it important to collect the stories people tell?
Augusta Savage
- Famous work
- The Harp, 1939
- Inspired by
- “Lift Every Voice and Sing”
- Led
- Harlem Community Art Center
She made The Harp for the 1939 New York World’s Fair, founded an art school in Harlem in 1932, and became the first director of the Harlem Community Art Center.
Think about itHow can a song become a sculpture?
Gordon Parks
- Born
- Fort Scott, Kansas
- First
- To write and direct a major studio film
- Film
- The Learning Tree, 1969
With a camera he documented Black life in America, then became the first African American to write and direct a major Hollywood studio feature.
Think about itWhat story would you tell with a camera?
Lewis Latimer
- Born
- Chelsea, Massachusetts
- Drew
- Bell’s telephone patent, 1876
- Patent
- Carbon filaments, 1882
His better way to make carbon filaments helped make electric light practical and affordable for homes.
Think about itWhat would your evening look like without electric light?
Garrett Morgan
- Safety hood
- Patented 1914
- Rescue
- Lake Erie tunnel, 1916
- Signal
- Patented 1923
His traffic signal added a warning step between stop and go, the job the yellow light does today.
Think about itWhy is a warning light safer than a sudden stop?
Marie Van Brittan Brown
- From
- Queens, New York
- Job
- Nurse
- Patent
- Granted 1969
With her husband, Albert, she designed a system with a door camera, TV monitor, two-way microphone, and an alarm button.
Think about itWhat problem in your home would you invent a fix for?
George Washington Carver
- Born
- Missouri
- Worked
- Tuskegee Institute, Alabama
- Taught
- Crop rotation
For nearly five decades at Tuskegee he taught farmers to rotate crops and care for their soil.
Think about itWhy would planting the same crop every year tire out the soil?
Percy Julian
- Born
- Montgomery, Alabama
- First
- U.S. total synthesis of a natural product
- Honor
- National Academy of Sciences
He made medicines and useful products from plants, including soybeans, and earned more than 100 patents.
Think about itWhat everyday things do you think come from plants?
Charles R. Drew
- Born
- Washington, D.C.
- Led
- Blood for Britain
- Donations
- More than 14,000
He found ways to separate, protect, and ship blood plasma so it could save lives far away.
Think about itWhy does a hospital need to store blood ahead of time?
Bessie Coleman
- Trained
- In France
- License
- June 15, 1921
- Flew
- Air shows across the U.S.
When no flight school here would teach her, she went to France and earned her pilot’s license.
Think about itWhat would you do if someone told you no?
Katherine Johnson
- Born
- White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
- Math for
- John Glenn’s orbit, 1962
- Honor
- Presidential Medal of Freedom
Before John Glenn orbited Earth, he asked her to check the computer’s numbers by hand.
Think about itWhy might people trust a person’s math over a machine’s?
Mae Jemison
- Born
- Decatur, Alabama
- Launched
- September 12, 1992
- Ship
- Space Shuttle Endeavour
An engineer and a doctor, she flew to space on Endeavour’s Spacelab-J science mission.
Think about itWhat experiment would you want to try in space?
Make it a lesson
Every Inventors, Science, and Flight card links to a full classroom activity on our Black History STEM Lessons page. For Freedom & Courage, start with Claudette Colvin, and see our guide to teaching Black history well.
Teachers: sign up on the STEM lessons page to get the free printable lesson pack, with a make-your-own-card template.
Sources
- Readex. "Robert Smalls." Accessed October 19, 2026.
- Encyclopedia of Alabama. "Claudette Colvin." Accessed October 19, 2026.
- American Battle Monuments Commission. "The Harlem Hellfighters." Accessed October 19, 2026.
- Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame. "Zora Neale Hurston." Accessed October 19, 2026.
- Kennedy Center. "Augusta Savage." Accessed October 19, 2026.
- Gordon Parks Foundation. "Gordon Parks." Accessed October 19, 2026.
- Lemelson-MIT. "Lewis Latimer." Accessed October 19, 2026.
- Scientific American. "Garrett Morgan." Accessed October 19, 2026.
- Lemelson-MIT. "Marie Van Brittan Brown." Accessed October 19, 2026.
- National Park Service. "George Washington Carver." Accessed October 19, 2026.
- Encyclopedia of Alabama. "Percy Julian." Accessed October 19, 2026.
- Science History Institute. "Charles R. Drew." Accessed October 19, 2026.
- Smithsonian. "Bessie Coleman." Accessed October 19, 2026.
- NASA. "Katherine Johnson." Accessed October 19, 2026.
- National Women’s History Museum. "Mae Jemison." Accessed October 19, 2026.