From Baseball to Biology: The First African-Americans in Every Field

Pioneers are people who, through courage and determination, blaze trails en route to becoming the very first to accomplish a feat. This could be joining an organization or establishing a new way of thinking. Due to ignorance and fear, African-Americans were held back for decades, but not even the efforts of the small-minded could prevent them from earning places in history. This is a look at African-Americans who were first in their fields and whose accomplishments need to be recognized year-round, not just during the shortest month of the year. African-American history is American history, and the efforts of black innovators deserve to be recalled regularly, not just archived. African-Americans are responsible for a number of landmark developments. These are the first African-Americans in fields ranging from the sports to the sciences.

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Jackie Robinson (1919-1972)

The legendary Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Ga. He attended Pasadena Junior College, where he played football, basketball, and ran track in addition to playing baseball. He graduated from PJC in 1939 and enrolled at UCLA, becoming the school’s first athlete to letter in four sports. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942 and assigned to a segregated unit in Fort Riley, Kansas. After being discharged in 1944, Robinson played for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues before signing a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945. After a stint in the minor leagues, Jackson broke the color barrier on Apr. 15, 1947, becoming the first African American to play Major League Baseball in the modern era. He retired from baseball in 1957, having played in six World Series in 10 seasons, winning in 1955 with the Dodgers. He was named to six straight All-Star Games and was named NL MVP in 1949, becoming the first African American to win the award. He was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 and in 1997—40 years after his retirement—he became the first player in any sport to have his number universally retired. On Apr. 15, 2004, the MLB created “Jackie Robinson Day,” where every player on every team wears Jackson’s No. 42 in his honor.

Frederick C. Branch (1922-2005)

Born in Hamlet, N.C., Frederick C. Branch joined the Marines Corps in 1943, two years after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt allowed African-Americans to join the Marines through Executive Order 8802. He was trained at Camp Lejeune’s Montford Point as one of the “Montford Point Marines,” the first group of African Americans to serve in the Marines. Though his applications for Officer Candidate School was denied at first, he underwent ROTC at Purdue University’s Navy V-12 and made the dean’s list as the lone African-American in a class of 250. He was finally appointed as second lieutenant in 1945 and entered the Marine Corps Reserves after World War II concluded. A year after his death, the Marine Corps Recruiting Command created the Frederick C. Branch Leadership Scholarship in his honor. It’s designated for students who have received letters of acceptance or currently attend one of the 17 historically black colleges or universities that have ROTC programs.

Macon Bolling Allen (1816-1894)

Macon Allen was born in Indiana during the early portion of the 19th century and grew up free. He studied law in Maine during the 1840s, eventually scoring a law clerk position for abolitionist and attorney General Samuel Fessenden. Though he passed the bar in Maine and was licensed to practice law in the state in 1844, he struggled to find work because whites declined to hire a black attorney. He relocated to Boston the following year and passed the bar, but racism kept him from making a steady living. He passed the qualifying exam for Justice of the Peace for Middlesex County, Mass., and became the first African-American to hold a judicial position in the U.S.

Pierre Caliste Landry (1841-1921)

Born a slave in Ascension Parish, La., Landry was sold at an auction at age 13. He was educated on a plantation and relocated to Donaldsonville, La. with his family at the end of the Civil War. At that time, Donaldsonville had the state’s third-largest African-American community. In 1868, he was elected mayor of Donaldsonville, becoming the first African-American mayor. Landry was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives in 1872 and was elected to the Louisiana State Senate in 1874, where he served until 1880.

James Wormley Jones (1884-1958)

Born in Fort Monroe, Va., Jones’ family relocated to Cambridge, Mass. when he was a child. He returned to Virginia as an adult, eventually graduating from Virginia Union University. In 1905, he began working with the Washington Metropolitan Police Department before joining the U.S. Army in 1917. He returned to the police force when the war ended in 1918 and was named the first African-American special agent with the FBI the following year, working under J. Edgar Hoover. One of his assignments was to monitor the actions of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and Marcus Garvey.

Alfred Masters (1916-1975)

During his swearing-in ceremony in June 1942, Texas native Alfred Masters became the first African-American to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. During his time as a Marine, Masters ascended to the rank of Technical Sergeant.

Val James (1957- )

Though Canadian Willie O’Ree became the first black man to play in the NHL in 1958, Val James became the first African-American to play in the league in 1977 when he was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings. Born in Ocala, Fla. and raised in Long Island, N.Y., James made his NHL debut with the Buffalo Sabres during the 1981-82 season. He followed that up by playing four games with the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 1986-87 season before retiring in 1988.

Dr. Guion Stewart “Guy” Bluford (1942- )

Philadelphia native Guion Bluford graduated from Penn State University with a degree in aerospace engineering in 1964 before earning his M.S. in aerospace engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1974 and a Ph. D in aerospace engineering from the AFIT in 1978. In 1979, he became an astronaut for NASA; his first mission was on STS-8, which launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida in 1983. He would serve as a mission specialist for STS-61-A, STS-39, and STS-53, and earned his MBA from the University of Houston Clear Lake in 1987. He was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1997, as well as the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2010.

Colin Powell (1937- )

A retired four-star general of the United States Army, Colin Powell was born in Harlem and raised in the South Bronx. He earned a B.S. from City College of New York in 1958 and an MBA from George Washington University in 1971 following his second tour in Vietnam. Upon graduation, Powell participated in the White House fellowship program under President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1973. From 1987 to 1989, he served as National Security Advisor to President Ronald Reagan. He became the 12th Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1989, holding the position until 1993. After George W. Bush won the 2000 presidential election, he made Powell the first African-American Secretary of State, a position he held until retiring in 2005.

Lieutenant General Frank E. Petersen Jr. (1932- )

The Topeka, Kan. native first enlisted in the Navy in 1950. The following year, he enrolled in the Naval Aviation Cadet Program and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the USMC in 1952. Peterson served in the Korean and Vietnam wars and held positions of command in the Marines and became the first African-American General in the Marines in 1979. Before retiring from the Marines in 1988, Peterson had ascended to the rank of Commanding General of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command.

Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993)

Thurgood Marshall was born the grandson of a slave in Baltimore, Md. He attended Lincoln University and Howard University’s School of Law, graduating at the top of his class in 1933. After establishing a private practice in Baltimore in 1936, he began working for the NAACP and won his first major civil rights case—Murray v. Pearson—the same year. In 1940, he won his first U.S. Supreme Court case, Chambers v. Florida, while also being named Chief Counsel of the NAACP. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy placed Marshall on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, remaining there until 1965 when President Lyndon B. Johnson made him the first African-American United States Solicitor General. Two years later, Johnson nominated Marshall to the Supreme Court, making him the first African-American Associate Justice. He served for 24 years before retiring in 1991. Following his death in 1993, Marshall was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton.

Sergeant Major Gilbert “Hashmark” Johnson (1905-1972)

The Alabama native joined the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Regiment in 1923 and served three tours before being discharged in 1929. In 1933, he joined the Navy, becoming part of the Stewards Branch—the only position available to African-Americans at the time. He officially joined the Navy in 1941, the same year the President Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued an executive order that allowed African-Americans to join the Marines. Johnson subsequently became one of the first African-American to join the Marines that year—and the first Marine Corps Drill Instructor. He went on to earn the nickname “Hashmark” for earning so many service stripes. Two years after his death in 1972, Camp Lejeune’s Montford Point was renamed Camp Gilbert H. Johnson, making him the first African American to have a military installation named in their honor.

Edward Alexander Bouchet (1852-1918)

The New Haven, Conn. native became the first African-American to graduate from Yale University in 1874. In 1876, he earned his Ph.D. in physics from Yale, becoming the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. from an American university. Unable to find work, he relocated to Philadelphia and taught chemistry and physics at the Institute for Colored Youth for 26 years. From 1905 until 1908, he served as the director of academics at St. Paul’s Normal and Industrial School (now St. Paul’s College) in Lawrenceville, Va. He moved on to become principal and teacher at Lincoln High School in Gallipolis, Ohio from 1908 until 1913. In 1913, he joined Bishop College’s faculty, remaining in Marshall, Texas until his health forced him to retire in 1916. In 2005, both Yale and Howard universities established the Edward A. Bouchet Graduate Honor Society as a tribute to Bouchet’s life and work.

Sen. Hiram Rhodes Revels (1827-1901)

Hiram Rhodes Revels was born a free man in Fayetteville, N.C. He attended the Union Quaker Seminary in Indiana and became an ordained minister within the African Methodist Church, serving around the Midwest. After receiving additional teaching at Knox College in Illinois, he became a minister at Baltimore’s Methodist Episcopal Church. After being assigned to churches in Leavenworth, Kan. and New Orleans, La., Revels was elected as an alderman in Natchez, Miss. in 1868. The following year, he was elected as the representative for Adams County as part of the Mississippi State Senate. In 1870, he became the first African-American to hold a seat on the United States Senate, a position he held for one year. He left his position two months early to become the first president of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College, which is now known as Alcorn State University. Despite being dismissed by the university for campaigning against the re-election of Gov. Adelbert Ames, his position was returned to him in 1876 and he remained at the school until his retirement in 1882.

Earl Lloyd (1928- )

Born in Alexandria, Va., Earl Lloyd became the first African-American to play in the NBA. Lloyd played college basketball at West Virginia State University and was selected by the Washington Capitols in the 1950 NBA Draft. He made his NBA debut on Oct. 31, 1950, but the team folded in Jan. 1951. He joined the U.S. Army in Forst Still, Okla. prior to the Syracuse Nationals claiming him off waivers. He played in Syracuse for six seasons and two with the Detroit Pistons before retiring in 1960. In 1955, Syracuse won the NBA championship, making Lloyd and Jim Tucker the first African-Americans to win an NBA title. Lloyd was named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003.

Fritz Pollard (1894-1986) and Bobby Marshall (1880-1958)

In 1920, Fritz Pollard and Bobby Marshall became the first African-Americans to play in the NFL. Marshall attended the University of Minnesota where he played both baseball and football. After graduating, he worked as an attorney before playing semi-professional baseball for the pre-Negro National Leagues. He joined the NFL in 1920, playing with the Minneapolis Marines, Kelley Duluths and Rock Island Independents until 1924. Marshall was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1971.

Pollard attended Brown University where he played in the 1916 Rose Bowl and became the first African-American named to the Walter Camp All-America team. Prior to playing in the NFL, he coached Lincoln University’s football team and served as the school’s athletic director. After joining the NFL, he played for the Akron Pros, Hammond Pros, Milwaukee Badgers, Providence Steam Roller, and Union Club of Phoenixville. During his time with the Akron Pros, he became their co-head coach, and he also coached the Hammond Pros, making him the first African-American head coach in the NFL. Pollard was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

Sherman “Jocko” Maxwell (1907-2008)

Maxwell was born in Newark, N.J. and later served in the United States Army and World War II. His broadcasting career began in 1929 with a five-minute weekly sports report for Newark-based WNJR, making him what many believe to be the first African-American sportscaster. By the early 1930s, Maxwell was broadcasting on stations throughout northern New Jersey. He later became a public address announcer at Ruppert Stadium for the Newark Eagles of the Negro Leagues and later contributed to both Baseball Digest and the Ledger, which predated the Star-Ledger.

Louis Lomax (1922-1970)

Lomax was born in Valdosta, Ga. and attended Paine College in Augusta. During his years at Paine, Lomax was appointed editor of the student newspaper prior to his graduation in 1942. He earned his M.A. at American University in 1944 and a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1947. After beginning his journalism career with the Afro-American and Chicago Defender, he joined WNA-TV in New York, becoming the first African-American television journalist. After telling fellow journalist Mike Wallace about the Nation Islam in 1959, the two of them produced “The Hate That Hate Produced,” introducing the Nation to the mainstream. As a freelance writer, Lomax wrote for The Nation, Harper’s, and The New Leader, and hosted a semi-weekly program on Los Angeles’ KTTV from 1964 to 1968. Sadly, Lomax was killed in a car accident in 1970.

Dr. Daniel Hale Williams (1856-1931)

Williams was born in Hollidaysburg, Pa. as the son of a free man. After relocating to Janesville, Wis., Williams began working as an apprentice to Dr. Henry W. Palmer and entered Chicago Medical College, which is currently known as Northwestern University Medical School. Following his graduation in 1883, he opened his own office. Because black doctors were not allowed to work in Chicago, he began the Provent Hospital and training school for Chicago nurses. This is considered the first African-American owned-and-operated hospital in the U.S. In 1893, Williams saved a stabbing victim’s life by repairing the lining of the heart, the first surgery of its kind at the time. The same year, he was appointed surgeon-in-chief at Freedmen’s Hospital in D.C. in 1898. Williams became a clinical surgery teacher at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., as well as an attending surgeon at Cook County Hospital in Chicago. He co-founded the National Medical Association for African-Americans Doctors and became a charter member and the only African-American member of the American College of Surgeons.