15 African-American icons who helped to make America today

Black people have been in what today is the United States since 1619. They have had to overcome slavery and discrimination. Their lives and experiences are deeply ingrained in US history and culture.

Many of them, in their struggle for freedom and justice, have left their mark on US history. Here are just a few important African American icons.

Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American person to win an Oscar in 1939 for her role in 'Gone With the Wind'. Because of racial segregation at the time, she was unable to attend the movie premiere in Atlanta and sat at a segregated table at the Oscars.

Ali's boxing record is hard to match. He was a three-time World Heavyweight Champion with a professional record of 56 wins and five losses. Now you know why they called him The Greatest.

Nina Simone is one of the most beautiful and memorable singing voices of the 20th Century. Her music made no distinction of genres, drawing elements from classical, jazz, blues, folk, and gospel.

Michael Jordan is probably one of the best and most iconic basketball players of all time. Playing for the Chicago Bulls, Jordan earned 6 championship titles, 6 MVPs, and 10 scoring titles.

With 37 Grand Slam titles and 4 Olympic Gold Medals, Serena Williams has earned her spot in the history of sports. The tennis player, at the time of writing, is also the best-paid female athlete of all time.

Born into slavery, Douglass escaped to the north and became one of the most important abolitionists and social reformers of 19th-century America. Black History Month is celebrated in February to coincide with his birthday on February 14th.

Known as the 'Moses of her people', Tubman led many enslaved African Americans to their freedom in the famous Underground Railroad. During the Civil War, she served as a spy, scout, and nurse for the Union Army.

George Washington Carver became the first African-American to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in 1894. He established a research lab, where he discovered 300 new uses for the peanut and hundreds of uses for soybeans, pecans, and sweet potatoes.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to vacate her seat for a white man and go to the back of the bus, sparking the Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama, one of the early pivotal struggles against racial segregation in the United States.

In 1947, baseball player Jackie Robinson became the first African-American to play in the MLB for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking the color line that had dominated the sports since the 1880s.

Louis Armstrong changed music forever with his trumpet and grave voice, redefining not only jazz but American music in general.

Writer, poet, actor, dancer, and civil rights activist, Angelou's 'I Know Why The Caged Birds Sing' is a seminal work of 20th-century American literature.

An important figure during the George W. Bush administration, not many people know that Colin Powell served as the first African-American Secretary of State.

Dr. King is one of those figures in history that need no introduction. His leadership during the Civil Rights Era proved vital in a time of confusion and division, but also led to his assassination on April 4, 1968.

On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States, something that just a few decades prior would have been impossible to achieve and demonstrating the evolution of American society in a very short time.