- Thurgood Marshall, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
- Alex Haley, author
- Booker T. Washington, educator/founder Tuskegee Institute
- Charles B. Rangel, U.S. Congressman New York
- Louis Stokes, U.S. Congressman Ohio
- William "Count" Basie, orchestra leader/composer
- Nathaniel "Nat King" Cole, American pianist and singer
- W.E.B. DuBois, educator/author/historian
- Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, orchestra leader/composer
- Medger Wiley Evers, civil rights leader
- James Herbert "Eubie" Blake, composer/pianist
- Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta
- Thomas Bradley, mayor of Los Angeles, California
- Sugar Ray Robinson, mid/light heavy boxing champion
- John H. Johnson, publisher EBONY and Jet magazines
- Carl B. Stokes, first Black elected mayor, Cleveland, OH
- Robert Sengstacke Abbott, founder/publisher CHICAGO DEFENDER
- Richard Allen, founder/first bishop AME Church
- Matthew Henson, explorer
- Daniel "Chappie" James, general U.S. Air Force
- James Forten, abolitionist/manufacturer
- Timothy Thomas Fortune, journalist
- Richard D. Gidron, president, Dick Gidron Cadillac
- William C. Handy, composer
- Augustus F. Hawkins. U.S. Congressman California
- Lionel Hampton, orchestra leader/composer
- Benjamin L. Hooks, Former Executive Director NAACP
- Benjamin Mays, educator/former president Atlanta University
- Ralph H. Metcalfe, Olympic champion
- A. Phillip Randolph, founder/ first president, International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
- Egbert Austin "Bert" Williams, actor/ comedian
- Harry A. Williamson, author/Masonic historian
- Scottie Pippen, #33, Chicago Bulls / Forward