• First African-American artist commissioned for US president portrait to be displayed in the Smithsonian: Kehinde Wiley
• First African-American artist commissioned for US first-lady portrait to be displayed in the Smithsonian: Amy Sherald
• First African-American president of the American Psychiatric Association: Altha Stewart
• First African-American woman to be major party nominee for state governor: Stacey Abrams
• First African-American superintendent of the United States Military Academy: Darryl A. Williams

African Americans in Medicine

Dr. Patrice Harris becomes the first black woman President-Elect of the country’s largest physician organization, the American Medical Association (AMA). 

Beverly Murphy, a Distinguished Member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals and a Medical Library Association (MLA) Fellow, begins her term as the first African-American President of the Medical Library Association, established in 1898 as a global, nonprofit educational organization in the health information field.