1. In 1984, Dr. Benjamin Carson Sr. was the first surgeon to successfully separate twins conjoined at the head during a 22-hour operation.
2. Debi Thomas became the first black to win the Senior U.S. Singles Figure Skating Championship in 1986.
3. Harry S. McAlpin, National Negro Press Association White House correspondent and journalist with the Atlanta Daily World was the first black allowed to attend a White House press conference in 1944.
4. Gransville T. Woods invented the “telegraphony,” an invention that Alexander Graham Bell’s company purchased, which lead to the invention of the telephone.
5. In 2005, only 2.4 percent of America’s 3 million elementary and secondary school teachers were black men.
SOURCES:
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blwoods.htm
http://www.bellevilleview.com/stories/012204/opi_20040122014.shtml
http://www.louisianaweekly.com/weekly/news/articlegate.pl?20070108f