Thread by @CNN

It’s Black History Month, and we are focusing on 28 seminal Black figures — one for each day of February — who don’t often make the history books.

You may not know their names. But these courageous Black Americans made a huge impact. cnn.it/2L9fnrD

First up is Garrett Morgan, an inventor with a rare gift for designing machines that saved people’s lives — including an early version of the traffic light as well as what became the precursor of the gas masks used by soldiers in WWI.

Read more about him: cnn.it/3apq7ul

This is Dorothy Height. She fought battles against both sexism and racism to become, as President Obama called her, the “godmother” of the civil rights movement.

Read more about her and other courageous Black Americans who changed history: cnn.it/2YFSnDA

Today we’re highlighting cyclist Major Taylor, who was one of the fastest men ever to race on two wheels. He competed in races across the US, Europe and Australia, becoming the second Black athlete to win a world championship in any sport.

Read more: cnn.it/2NU26UG

James Armistead Lafayette is next in CNN's series on Black pioneers in US history. He provided crucial intelligence that helped defeat the British and end the Revolutionary War.

Read more about him and other courageous Black Americans who changed history: cnn.it/3atFSk8

This is Amelia Boynton Robinson. The famous photo of her beaten by a White officer during the “Bloody Sunday” march in Selma, Alabama, in 1965 helped galvanize the civil rights movement and led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act.

Read more about her: cnn.it/3ay39RY

Today we’re celebrating Gerald Wilson, one of the most important bandleaders in the history of jazz. Wilson is best known for his recordings on the Pacific Jazz label, which redefined big band music.

Read more about his wide influence: cnn.it/3aLJUVk

Josh Gibson is next in CNN's series on Black pioneers in US history. Although racism and fate kept him from the major leagues, Gibson was one of the most dominant sluggers in baseball history.

Read more about his legendary feats here: cnn.it/3cHVfIu

This is Eunice Hunton Carter. She was a social worker and prosecutor whose investigative work in New York City in the 1930s led to what was then the largest prosecution of organized crime in US history.

Read more about her here: cnn.it/2N5fvcb

Today we're highlighting Charles Richard Drew, whose immense contributions to the medical field made him one of the most important scientists of the 20th century. He helped develop America’s first large-scale blood banking program in the 1940s.

Read more: cnn.it/3aJeSgE

Constance Baker Motley is next in CNN's series on Black pioneers in US history. As the lead trial attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, she was the first Black woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court.

Read more about her trailblazing path: cnn.it/3a50eRN

Paul Robeson was a true Renaissance man — an athlete, actor, author, lawyer, singer and activist whose talent was undeniable and whose outspokenness almost killed his career.

Read more about one of Broadway's most acclaimed Othellos: cnn.it/3rImHKn

Fannie Lou Hamer spoke at the 1964 Democratic Convention about the brutal conditions Blacks faced while trying to vote in Mississippi. Her speech was so riveting President Johnson called a last-minute news conference, forcing the TV networks to break away. cnn.it/3d8Xg0C

When flight schools in the US wouldn’t let Bessie Coleman in because of her race and gender, she moved to Paris and enrolled in a prestigious aviation school. In 1921 she became the first Black woman to earn a pilot’s license.

Read more about her: cnn.it/37urTdl

This is Max Robinson, a trailblazer in broadcasting and journalism. He became the first Black person to anchor the nightly network news in 1978.

Read more about him and other courageous Black Americans who changed history: cnn.it/3rJOjyO

Today we’re highlighting Frederick McKinley Jones, who pioneered the modern refrigeration system. Jones earned over 60 patents, including one for a portable X-ray machine.

Read more about him and other Black Americans who changed history: cnn.it/2ZlvBBf

The late Marsha P. Johnson is celebrated today as a veteran of the Stonewall Inn protests, a pioneering transgender activist and a pivotal figure in the gay liberation movement.

Read more about her here: cnn.it/2ZpZhgF

Jane Bolin made history over and over. She was the first Black woman to graduate from Yale Law School, the first Black woman to join the New York City Bar Association and the nation’s first Black female judge.

Read more about her: cnn.it/3qrjjmJ

Gil Scott-Heron was a New York City poet, activist, musician, social critic and spoken-word performer whose songs in the ‘70s helped lay the foundation for rap music.

Read more about him and other Black Americans who changed history: cnn.it/3qwWBde

This is Fritz Pollard. He was Brown University's first Black football player and led the team to the 1916 Rose Bowl. He later became the first African American head coach in the NFL.

Read more about him and other Black Americans who changed history: cnn.it/3pC9cu8

Today we’re highlighting Daisy Gatson Bates, who helped the Little Rock Nine integrate Central High School in 1957. She and her husband also founded their own newspaper in Arkansas that covered the civil rights movement.

Read more about her: cnn.it/3qDejvt

For much of the mid-1900s, it seemed like the world learned about Black America through the eyes of Gordon Parks. He reached his artistic peak as a photographer, and his intimate photos of African American life are his most enduring legacy.

Read more: cnn.it/3bsberH

This is Ella Baker. She played a major role in three of the biggest groups of the civil rights movement. She also risked her life rallying support in rural Southern towns and fought back against the sexism that sometimes tainted the movement.⁠

Read more: cnn.it/3pLU2CW

Pastor and professor Howard Thurman wrote the groundbreaking book “Jesus and the Disinherited,” which had a profound influence on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s faith and activism.

Read more about him and other Black Americans who changed history: cnn.it/2ZItJ5T

“Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” That’s how Audre Lorde famously introduced herself.

Her work humanized Black women in a way that was rare for her time as she called out racism and homophobia and chronicled her own battle with breast cancer. cnn.it/3pLyeax

Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander was the first Black person in the nation to earn a Ph.D. in economics in 1921. Three years later, she earned a law degree and went on to become the first Black woman to pass the Pennsylvania bar and practice law in the state. cnn.it/3aQ4dlA

This is Bayard Rustin. His crowning achievement was organizing the March on Washington, which brought more than 200,000 peaceful protesters of different races and religions to the nation’s capital in August 1963.

Read more about him: cnn.it/2ZWbmup

Today we’re highlighting tennis player Althea Gibson, who was originally barred from national tennis events because of her race. By the time Gibson retired, she had won 11 Grand Slam titles and was the world’s top-ranked female player.

Read more: cnn.it/2NKw65R

Albert Murray was one of the most important Black thinkers of the 20th century. The essayist and social critic changed the way people talked about race by challenging Black separatism and insisting that the Black experience was central to American culture. cnn.it/3qYRsL4