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Louis Armstrong: Broke Down Barriers for African American Artists | Biography

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Mae Jemison: First African American Woman in Space | Biography

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Harriet Tubman: Rescued Over 300 Slaves through Underground Railroad | Biography

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Kobe Bryant: NBA Champion, Olympic Medalist | Biography

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Martin Luther King Jr. | A Crusader For Liberation | Biography

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Michelle Obama - First African American First Lady | Mini Bio| Biography

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Trumpet player and singer Louis Armstrong was one of the world’s greatest jazz musicians. He helped raise jazz to the level of a fine art, and he influenced nearly all jazz…

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Mae Jemison was the first African American woman to become an astronaut. She was a part of the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour, which orbited Earth for more than a week in 1992.

Jemison was born on October 17, 1956, in Decatur, Alabama. She was the youngest of three children. When she was 3, the family moved to Chicago, Illinois. Even as a young girl Jemison was deeply interested in science.

Jemison graduated from high school at age 16. She then received a scholarship to attend Stanford University in California. She graduated from there in 1977 with a degree in chemical engineering.

After Stanford, Jemison attended medical school at Cornell University in New York. She received her medical degree in 1981. She worked as a doctor first in Los Angeles, California, and then with the Peace Corps in West Africa.

Then Jemison applied to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to become an astronaut. She was one of only 15 out of 2,000 applicants accepted by NASA. Jemison entered NASA's astronaut program in 1987. In 1992 Jemison flew aboard the shuttle Endeavour as the science mission specialist. At the time she was the only female African American astronaut.

After retiring from NASA in 1993, Jemison founded her own company, the Jemison Group. The company created new technologies, especially to help developing countries. Jemison also created an international science camp for teenagers.

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Mae Jemison was the first African American woman to become an astronaut. She was a part of the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour, which orbited Earth for more than a week...

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Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in the southern United States. She then helped lead many other enslaved people to freedom. She also served the Union during the American Civil War.

Harriet Tubman was born in about 1820 in Dorchester county, Maryland. She was one of nine children of a family of enslaved people. Her name at first was Araminta Ross. She later changed her first name to Harriet, which was her mother's name.

In about 1844 Harriet married a free African American named John Tubman. In 1849, after hearing that she was to be sold, she escaped to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, without her husband.

In Pennsylvania Tubman became a "conductor" for the Underground Railroad. The railroad was a secret network that helped enslaved people find their way to freedom. By 1857 she had freed dozens of enslaved people, including her own parents. She said that she "never lost a passenger," even though slaveholders offered large rewards for her capture.

During the American Civil War, Tubman went to South Carolina with the Union Army. She served as a nurse and a scout. She even led raids against the Confederates.

After the Civil War Tubman settled in Auburn, New York, with her parents. There she worked for racial justice and also for women's rights. She believed that the two struggles were closely linked. In 1908 she opened a home for aged and poor African Americans. Harriet Tubman died in Auburn on March 10, 1913.

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Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in the southern United States. She then helped lead many other enslaved people to freedom. She also served the Union during the American...

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Kobe Bryant was a professional basketball player. He helped lead the Los Angeles Lakers to five National Basketball Association (NBA) championships (2000-02 and 2009-10)....

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Meet the civil rights leader in our Martin Luther King facts and discover how he changed history for millions of African-American people during the Civil Rights Movement...
Martin Luther King facts

Full name: Michael King Jr.
Born: 15 January 1929.
Hometown: Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Occupation: Minister and activist.
Died: 4 April 1968.
Best known for: Campaigning for the rights of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

1) Martin Luther King Jr was born in the United States of America to African American parents. At birth he was named Michael King, but his father later changed his name to Martin Luther King Jr.

2) When Martin Luther King was growing up, life was hard for African Americans. The Southern United States operated under the 'Jim Crow laws' that kept black and white people separated in what was called 'segregation'. Black people had different schools, toilets and even sections of the bus to white people. They were also denied the right to vote in elections.

3) Martin Luther King had his first experience of segregation at just six years old, when he was told he wasn't allowed to play with his white friend anymore - his friend's father wouldn't allow it!

4) His first major role in the Civil Rights Movement came in 1955, after an African American lady - Rosa Parks - was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a bus. This sparked outrage in the African American community and Martin helped to organise a boycott of the city's buses. After 381 days of protest, a court finally ruled that such segregation laws should no longer be recognised.

Did you know that we have a FREE downloadable Martin Luther King primary resource? Great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike!

5) Martin was a great believer in peaceful protest, inspired by the Indian activist Mahatma Gandhi. His protests used no-violent tactics, even when the protesters themselves were met with violence from the police.

6) In 1963, Martin gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, at a famous rally named 'March on Washington.' Over 250,000 people gathered in the country's capital to hear Martin and other activists speak about the importance of civil rights. It has become one of the most famous speeches in history and focuses on Martin's dream of a society where black people and white people live together in harmony.

7) In 1964 - 99 years after the abolition of slavery - the Civil Rights Act was passed, outlawing racial segregation and discrimination in the USA.

8) In October 1964, Martin won the Nobel Peace Prize! He was told over the phone whilst he was in bed suffering from exhaustion - it had been a long, hard fight for civil rights!

9) Tragically, Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in 1968 in Tennessee, where he had given a speech the day before. He was standing on the balcony his hotel when he was shot. James Earl Ray was convicted of his murder and spent the rest of his life in prison, despite claiming to be innocent. James died in 1998.

10) Martin Luther King Jr is remembered for his tireless work during the Civil Rights Movement and his dream that one day everyone would be treated as equals. A statue built in his memory now stands in Washington D.C. and each year, the third Monday in January is celebrated as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, an American federal holiday.

Want to know more? Check out Nat Geo Kids' and Nelson Mandela articles to learn about the vital work of these incredible activists.

What do you think of our Martin Luther King facts? Let us know by leaving a comment, below!

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Martin Luther King facts | National Geographic Kids

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Learn about the world-famous civil rights campaigner in our Martin Luther King facts. Born in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States of America, Martin Luther King is famous for campaigning for the rights of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s and his assassination in 1968...

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Before he left school, Basquiat and his classmate Al Diaz began a graffiti campaign. Basquiat had created a character named SAMO©, and the two friends painted messages on walls and on subway trains in New York City. In the late 1970s the art world began to take notice of the graffiti done by Basquiat and other artists. To try to make some money, Basquiat sold hand-painted t-shirts and postcards. In 1978 he sold a postcard to the famous artist Andy Warhol. They would later become friends and sometimes worked together.

Basquiat's first public exhibition was in the "Times Square Show" in 1980. After the show his career took off. Much of his work addressed his personal anxiety in self-portraits. He also brought in themes and ideas from African, Caribbean, Aztec, and Hispanic cultures. He often mixed "high art" references with images from popular culture, especially cartoons.

Basquiat became a celebrity and a successful artist until his death on August 12, 1988, in New York City. A film of his life, Basquiat, was released in 1996. In 2010 a documentary, Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, was released. The documentary contains footage of Basquiat in 1985 as well as interviews with the people closest to him.

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Before he left school, Basquiat and his classmate Al Diaz began a graffiti campaign. Basquiat had created a character named SAMO©, and the two friends painted messages on walls and on subway trains in New York City. In the late 1970s the art world began to take notice of the graffiti done by Basquiat and other artists.

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(born 1995). At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England, American gymnast Gabby Douglas won the most coveted prize in her sport-the individual all-around gold medal. In addition, she and her teammates Jordyn Wieber, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, and Kyla Ross captured the women's team gold medal. Douglas was the first African American to win the Olympic all-around title and the first American gymnast to claim gold in both the team and individual all-around events.

Gabrielle Christina Victoria Douglas was born on December 31, 1995, in Newport News, Virginia. She grew up in nearby Virginia Beach, where she practiced gymnastics from the age of six. In 2010-at age 14-she moved to West Des Moines, Iowa, to train with prominent coach Liang Chow. Soon thereafter Douglas, who lived with a host family in West Des Moines while training under Chow, began to attract attention at national competitions. She finished fourth in the all-around event at the 2010 Nastia Liukin Supergirl Cup. Douglas tied for third on the uneven bars and placed seventh all-around at the 2011 Visa Championships. Named to the senior national team, she helped the United States earn the team gold at the 2011 world championships, where she also placed fifth on the uneven bars. Douglas's skill on the uneven bars-specifically, her ability to gain extraordinary height in the air when releasing from the apparatus-led U.S. team coordinator Martha Karolyi to dub her "the Flying Squirrel," a nickname which Douglas embraced.

At the 2012 Visa Championships, Douglas narrowly lost the all-around gold to Wieber, the reigning world and national all-around champion. In addition to taking the all-around silver medal, Douglas claimed gold on the uneven bars as well as bronze in the floor exercise. Weeks later, at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Douglas turned the tables on Wieber, edging her for the all-around title by one-tenth of a point. With the victory, Douglas secured an automatic berth on the Olympic team.

Jason Kempin-Getty Images Entertainment/Thinkstock

Douglas shone again at the 2012 Olympics in London, England, advancing to the all-around finals with Raisman after Wieber shockingly missed the cut during the qualifying round. Douglas won the vault at the outset of the finals to take the overall lead, and she never relinquished her hold on it. She posted strong scores during each rotation and finished with the top overall score of 62.232, just ahead of Russia's Victoriya Komova (61.973). Similarly, in the team competition, Douglas helped the United States to an impressive start on the vault, establishing what proved to be an insurmountable lead. The gold for the U.S. women's team was its first since 1996. Douglas also competed individually in London on the balance beam and the uneven bars but did not medal in either event, finishing in seventh and eighth place, respectively. Her memoir Grace, Gold & Glory: My Leap of Faith (cowritten with Michelle Burford) was released in 2012.

Douglas took two years off from competitive gymnastics before returning to the U.S. national team in November 2014. At the 2015 artistic gymnastics world championships, she won a gold medal in the team event and a silver in the all-around. Although Douglas did not win an individual medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she captured another team gold, with teammates Raisman, Simone Biles, Laurie Hernandez, and Madison Kocian.

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(born 1995). At the 2012 Olympic Games in London, England, American gymnast Gabby Douglas won the most coveted prize in her sport-the individual all-around gold medal. In addition, she and her teammates Jordyn Wieber, Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, and Kyla Ross captured the women's team gold medal.

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Michelle Obama was the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She became first lady when her husband, Barack Obama, took office as president. She was the first...

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"If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know."

"What we play is life."

"There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell them."

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"Never be limited by other people's imagination; never limit others because of your own limited imagination."

"You can hear other people’s wisdom, but you’ve got to re-evaluate the world for yourself."

"The thing that I have done throughout my life is to do the best job that I can and to be me."

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“Every great dream begins with a dreamer.”

“I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t say — I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.”

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"If you're afraid to fail, then you're probably going to fail."

"The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do."

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"I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness."

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. "

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“I start a picture and I finish it. I don’t think about art while I work. I try to think about life.”

“The more I paint the more I like everything.”

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"The hard work definitely paid off, and hard work always does."

"Hard days are the best because that's when champions are made."

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"Just try new things. Don't be afraid. Step out of your comfort zones and soar, all right?"

"You don't have to be somebody different to be important. You're important in your own right."