16 Young Black Americans Making History Right Now

Date Published: February 25, 2020

Without a doubt, this past year has been one for the history books. Amid the chaos of the coronavirus pandemic and urgency of the country’s racial reckoning, these young Black Americans continued to challenge systems, overcome obstacles, and make themselves heard in this country. From artistic legacies to political protests to life-saving inventions, these are the ways Black youth are making history right now.

(Representation matters. Seeing yourself represented promotes better learning and self-esteem and helps build cross-cultural empathy. We also know that books with Black protagonists or authors are in short supply, so join DoSomething’s Diversity Book Club campaign to fight erasure and amplify underrepresented voices.)

ARTS

1) Marley Dias, 16, is tackling underrepresentation in youth literature. She started the #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign when she was 10 years old to collect books featuring Black girls as protagonists. Years later, she continues to fight for inclusive literature with her Netflix series Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices. (And check out DoSomething’s recent interview with Marley in IG Live!)

2) Quil Lemons, 23, is the youngest photographer to shoot a Vanity Fair cover. He made waves in 2017 for his Glitterboy photo series “unpacking Black masculinity,” and went on to shoot celebs like Spike Lee, Young M.A., and Chloe x Halle before photographing Billie Eilish for Vanity Fair’s March issue.

3) Amanda Gorman, 22, is the National Youth Poet Laureate we need right now. She stole the show when she recited her poem “The Hill We Climb” at the Biden-Harris inauguration, as the youngest poet to ever do so. She’s also been making headlines for her historic Super Bowl performance and all-around talent.

4) Grace Moore, 12, is one of the youngest composers for the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. She composed an original piece inspired by the global Black Lives Matter protests happening within the coronavirus pandemic (aptly named Summer), and it was performed by one of the top orchestras in the world.

SPORTS

5) Nicholas Jackson, 13, made history as the 2020 Junior World Bull Riding Champion. As a Maryland native and 5th generation cowboy, he defies expectations as the first bull rider from the Northeast to win the competition.

6) Quinton Byfield, 18, became the highest drafted Black hockey player in NHL history. He was picked No. 2 overall by the Los Angeles Kings, and in addition to the bright future that experts predict for him on the ice, he also wants to get involved in NHL’s diversity initiatives to recruit more players like him.

7) Trude Lamb, 16, and her classmates successfully campaigned to change the name of their high school. She was the fastest runner on (formerly) Robert E. Lee High School’s cross country team, but she refused to wear a uniform with the Confederate leader’s name on it. Her letter to administrators made her the face of the movement to change the school’s name, and eventually the school board complied, renaming it Tyler Legacy High School (the school is located in Tyler, Texas).

8) Najah Aqeel, 14, fought for a national rule change to allow student athletes to compete wearing hijabs. After being disqualified from a junior varsity volleyball game for wearing a hijab, she worked with the ACLU of Tennessee to urge the state’s volleyball association to change its rules to allow religious head coverings. The state association agreed, and the National Federation of State High School Associations followed suit, clearing the way for hijabi athletes nationwide.

POLITICS & PROTEST

9) Aalayah Eastmond, 19, is leading a movement for gun reform that centers Black lives. As a survivor of the Parkland school shooting, she’s founded a non-profit and held events dedicated to gun violence prevention. Her hope is to open the conversation beyond mass shootings to also address the ways that gun violence, police brutality, and poverty impact the safety of Black communities.

10) Chanté Davis, 17, is urging lawmakers to take climate action. She’s a lead climate organizer for the Sunrise Movement, and she recently led a rally at the Texas capitol to confront state leaders about the role of climate change in this month’s deadly winter storms.

11) Young Black activists were on the frontlines of the global Black Lives Matter protests. Aly Conyers, Chi Ossé, Nupol Kiazolu, Tiana Day, and so, so many more young people courageously took to the streets to protest anti-Black racism and police brutality during a summer of unprecedented global events.

12) Young Black voters in Georgia were decisive in state and national races. Black voters in Georgia between the ages of 18-29 defied a legacy of voter suppression to show up in historic numbers in the 2020 election. They were instrumental in the election of President Joe Biden, as well as Sen. Jon Ossoff and Sen. Raphael Warnock (who is Georgia’s first Black senator).

SCIENCE & TECH

13) Jay’Aine Patton, 14, developed an app to help kids keep in touch with their incarcerated parents. She and her father Antoine struggled to maintain communication with each other while he was incarcerated, so together they’ve developed a website and app to help keep families connected. It lets kids write letters and upload photos to their parents for free, cutting out costly prison phone and mail fees.

14) Dasia Taylor, 17, was honored for creating color-changing sutures that detect infection. She conducted research for a year to develop this potentially life-saving invention, and entered her final project into the Regeneron Science Talent Search. She’s one of 40 finalists, earning her $25,000 and a chance to win the final competition.

15) Alexis Williams, 19, single-handedly coded a website to help people support the Black Lives Matter movement. She designed the website for folks looking to help but who didn’t know where to start. It has educational resources to learn about topics like cultural appropriation or colorism, as well as direct links for taking action and donating

16) David Price, 18, created a “safety pouch” invention to make traffic stops safer for people of color. When he first got his driver's license, his parents gave him “the talk” about the dangers Black individuals often face when interacting with police. He set out to design a solution that would make these kinds of interactions smoother and safer, and he came up with the Safety Pouch: a bright orange pouch for holding ID and other documents that can be quickly snapped onto a car window.