This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Emmitt Smith, an American gridiron football player, who in 2002 became the all-time leading rusher in National Football League (NFL) history. He retired after the 2004 season with 18,355...

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Eric Dickerson, an American professional gridiron football player who was one of the leading running backs in National Football League (NFL) history.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Erroll Garner, a U.S. pianist and composer, one of the most virtuosic and popular pianists in jazz. Garner was influenced by Fats Waller and was entirely self-taught. He substituted for...

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Etta James, a popular American rhythm-and-blues entertainer who in time became a successful ballad singer.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Eunice Walker Johnson, an American entrepreneur born April 4, 1916, Selma, Ala.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Faith Ringgold, an American artist and author who became famous for innovative, quilted narrations that communicate her political beliefs.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Fannie Barrier Williams, an American social reformer, lecturer, club woman, and cofounder of the National League of Colored Women.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Father Divine, a prominent African-American religious leader of the 1930s. The Depression-era movement he founded, the Peace Mission, was originally dismissed as a cult, but it still...

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Fats Waller, an American pianist and composer who was one of the few outstanding jazz musicians to win wide commercial fame, though this was achieved at a cost of obscuring his purely...

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Fergie Jenkins, a Canadian-born professional baseball player, one of the premier pitchers in the game in the late 1960s and early '70s. A hard-throwing right-hander, he won at least 20...

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Flip Wilson, an American comedian whose comedy variety show, The Flip Wilson Show, was one of the first television shows hosted by an African American to be a ratings success. The show ran...

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Floyd Dixon, an American rhythm and blues (R&B) musician who was one of the principal exponents of the up-tempo blues style known as West Coast jump blues.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Frankie Manning, an American dancer and choreographer born May 26, 1914, Jacksonville, Fla.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Fred Shuttlesworth, an American minister and civil rights activist who established, with Martin Luther King, Jr., and others, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and who...

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Fritz Pollard, a pioneering African-American player and coach in American collegiate and professional gridiron football. He was the first African-American selected to a backfield position...

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Gail Devers, an American track athlete who overcame physical adversity to win Olympic gold medals in 1992 and 1996.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Gale Sayers, an American gridiron football player who in 1977 became the youngest player ever voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Though knee injuries shortened his career, Sayers...

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Gary Wayne Coleman, an American actor born Feb. 8, 1968, Zion, Ill.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Gene Lipscomb, an American gridiron football player and larger-than-life "character" whose exploits helped make professional football the most popular sport in the United States during the...

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features George Washington Williams, an American historian, clergyman, politician, lawyer, lecturer, and soldier who was the first person to write an objective and scientifically researched history...

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Gordon Parks, an American author, photographer, and film director, who documented African American life.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Gregory Hines, an American tap dancer, actor, and choreographer who was a major figure in the revitalization of tap dancing in the late 20th century.

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Hank Jones, an American jazz musician born July/Aug. 31, 1918, Vicksburg, Miss. .

This entry from Encyclopedia Britannica features Hattie McDaniel, an American actress and singer who became the first African-American to be honored with an Academy Award.