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Maurice Ashley
In 1999, Maurice Ashley became the first African American to earn the International Grandmaster title in chess, the highest rank in that sport. Eager to share his love for the game, he founded the Harlem Chess Center in New York City. Ashley has also coached two national championship teams and toured the country to teach young people the art of the game.
Mike Carey
Last year’s Super Bowl featured two African American coaches. This year's event marks another first—Mike Carey becomes the first African American referee in football’s big game. A well–respected official, Carey joined the NFL in 1990. When he’s not refereeing football, Carey runs a ski-accessories company; he has eight patents for ski equipment!
James Clyburn
A member of the U.S. Congress from South Carolina, James Clyburn is the Majority Whip in the House of Representatives. That means he is the third-most powerful Democrat in the House. He’s only the second African American, and the first from South Carolina, to hold this position. Clyburn grew up in the age of segregation and was the first African American from South Carolina to serve in Congress in 96 years.
Ornette Coleman
In 2007, saxophonist Ornette Coleman won the Pulitzer Prize in Music (that was only the second time the prize has gone to a jazz composer) and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammy Awards. His real legacy, though, is his creation of a style of music called free jazz. Coleman taught himself to read music as a teenager and is one of the most celebrated jazz saxophonists.
Rita Dove
The first African American named Poet Laureate of the United States, Rita Dove is also the youngest person to receive this honor. She was the second African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Dove teaches English at the University of Virginia and helps run the Academy of American Poets.
Bob Johnson
By creating and later selling the Black Entertainment Television (BET) cable channel, Bob Johnson became the first African American billionaire. He then started a company that owns more than 130 hotels, as well as the Charlotte Bobcats basketball team. That also makes Johnson the first African American to own a major sports team.
Shonda Rhimes
Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes is the first African-American woman to write and produce a hit TV show. The program has won multiple Golden Globes and Emmy awards. Last year Rhimes was named one of Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year and Time Magazine’s 100 People Who Shape Our World.
Ruth Simmons
The descendent of slaves, Ruth Simmons was the 12th child of a sharecropper and a maid. She’s come far from that humble beginning, earning two graduate degrees at Harvard University. She became the first African American president of an Ivy League college when she joined Brown University in 2001. Simmons has twice been named one of Glamour magazine's Women of the Year.
Cynthia Tucker
The third time is a charm for Cynthia Tucker, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s editorial page editor. She won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary after two previous nominations. Tucker grew up in Alabama during the segregation era and went on to become one of the first African American editorial–section editors, as well as a syndicated columnist. In 2006, she was named Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Growing up among the tall buildings and neon lights of New York City, Neil deGrasse Tyson couldn’t see many stars in the sky. Then he went to the city’s Hayden Planetarium and saw what he’d been missing. Now Tyson is the youngest director of that same planetarium, as well as the first African American scientist to host a TV show (NOVA ScienceNOW on PBS). He is on Time magazine’s 2007 list of the world’s 100 most influential people, and even has an asteroid named after him: 13123 Tyson.
This Word Search introduces you to some of today's most celebrated African-Americans.
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