This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SCAD ATL chapter.

One of the best ways to confront the problem of improper judgment of a group of people by the way they look is to do the opposite, celebrate them. So, in this, the final article of our Black Lives Matter week, I have found 100 reasons we can celebrate the sheer existence of this amazing group of people. There are about a million more that come when we get to know people on an individual level, but for now, here are reasons we celebrate the whole.

Africans were among the first kings and queens of the world. And, they will teach us how to be royal when they realize who they are. Illustration by Candice McDonald
Furthermore, they supplied some of the first lady rulers. Ethiopian Royalty, Illustration by Candice McDonald
They make up 54% of Atlanta, 31% of Georgia, and 12% of the United States.
They are important scientist and INVENTORS, producing even more than peanut butter. Inventing such things as the modern-day fireproof safe (Henry Brown)
The modern-day home video game console (Jerry Lawson)
Carbon filament for the light bulb & the electric lamp (Lewis Latimer)
They also are responsible for the first home security system (black woman patented)
Iron (Sarah Boone)
Dustpan (Lloyd P. Ray)
Super soaker (Lonnie G. Johnson)
Improved mop (Thomas W. Stewart)
Refrigerator [improved] (John Standard)
Automatic elevator doors (Alexander Miles)
Traffic lights & gas mask (Garret Morgan)
Heated combs [improved] (Walter Sammons)
Potato chips (George Crum)
Sprinkler (Joseph H. Smith)
Gas-heating furnaces (Alice Parker)
Modern lawn mower with rotary blade (John Burr)
Home security system (Marie Van Brittan Brown)
Clothing dryer (George T. Sampson)
Automatic car gear shift (Richard Spikes)
Pacemaker (Otis Boykin)
Ice cream scoop (Alfred L. Cralle)
Cataract Laserphaco Probe (Patricia Bath)
3D Graphics Technology used in films (Marc Hannah)
Imaging X-Ray Spectrometer (George E. Alcorn)
The Electroacoustic Transducer Electret Microphone (James E. West)
Cardiopad (Arthur Zang)
Dry Bath (Ludwick Marishane)
A Railroad Lubrication Machine (Elijah McCoy)
Open-Heart surgery, 1893 (Dr. Daniel Hale Williams)
American’s first clock (Benjamin Banneker)
The first blimp to have an electric motor + directional controls (John Pickering)
Blood bank – method of separating and storing plasma (Dr. Charles Drew, also the first black person awarded a doctorate at Columbia University)
The folding chair (John Purdy)
Golf tee (Dr. George Grant)
ARTISTS, like Kara Walker, the first to, in silhouette, display the horrifying life of slaves. She also studied at the Atlanta College of Art, which later merged with SCAD.
Jacob Lawrence, whose art portrays the movement of many African Americans from the south to the north in The Migration Series.
Great Military Leaders who fought oppression, like Hannibal Barca, King Shaka Zulu, Ras Mengesha Yohannes, Taharqa
There are many in our armed forces, highly decorated and many have been irreparably disabled. If you go to the Atlanta VA, you will find thousands who have new arms & legs +, who have fought in our wars. The 555th Parachute Infantry were the first African American parachuters during WWII.
Colin Powell was the first African American appointed to the office of Secretary of State (2001-2005) after being a 4 star general in the U.S. Army.
George Washington Carver, an African American, scientist, born into slavery, and inventor, invented peanut butter (hands down in my top 2 of favorite foods, only after pizza), among 100 other products using peanuts, the major crop of the day.
They create brilliant literary works, such as French writer Alexandre Dumas, writer of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.
Also, Zora Neale Hurston, author and civil rights activist,
W.E.B. Du Bois, writer, activist, and the founder of the NAACP.
Writers and educators, Chinua Achebe.
Poets, like, Langston Hughes. That Justice is a blind goddess Is a thing to which we black are wise: He bandage hides two festering sores That once were eyes. “Justice”
and Maya Angelou, who among other achievements, was the first Black Female San Francisco Street Car Conductor. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? ‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room? Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise. -portion of “Still I Rise”
and Alice Walker, poet and author of The Color Purple.
Some of the greatest stock of women are African American Happy with My Beauty, Illustration by Candice McDonald
Martin Luther King, Jr. The most memorialized black American of all time. His dream will never be forgotten and will eventually be the standard for this country.
Um, our president, Barack Obama, the leader of our country. Regardless of what you think, he has done much and is a brilliant man, who studied law at Harvard.
Slave or free, they did a lot and were brave men and women, like Frederick Douglass, a former slave who became a powerful supporter of the abolition of slavery.
Harriet Tubman, intelligence-gatherer and the leader of the underground railroad confronted slavery head on and lead several to freedom.
They said no. Rosa Parks said no to sitting in the back portion of a bus, reserved for African Americans by an ignorant cultural mentality of superiority.
They lead. In education, Booker T. Washington
Journalist and activist, Ida B. Wells led the anti-liynching crusad in the 1890’s.
Some of the greatest dancers, such as Misty Copeland, the first African American female Principal Dancer of the American Ballet Theatre. Image courtesy of FordneyFoundation.com
Jazz Music, the music style was born in the U.S. by the African American communities of New Orleans during the 19th and 20th Centuries. It’s birth brought the invention of the drum set and the words cool and hip. Some of the greatest Jazz musicians include:
Miles Davis, lyrical trumpeter
Louis Armstrong, vocalist and trumpeter, with such amazing works as Dream a Little Dream of Me, Summertime. We hear him all the time on our favorite romantic comedies.
Dizzy Gillespie
Duke Ellington
Ray Charles, the pioneer of soul and R&B, though blind, immortalized this beloved state with Georgia on My Mind. He has been sampled countless times by the likes of Kanye West, Ludacris, and will.i.am.
Billie Holiday, one of the most influential jazz singers of all time. Check out Lady Sings the Blues, the song of her life and later film adaptation.
Some of the most brilliant musical performers and producers music of every other kind, which has permeated the soul of American music. Performers who teach us how to put on a show, like, Michael Jackson
James Brown
Diana Ross, Beyoncé
Prince, Stevie Wonder
Marvin Gaye
Aretha Franklin
Whitney Houston
Nat King Cole
What would we do without movies with ACTORS, like Morgan Freeman
Sydney Poitier
Denzel Washington
Danny Glover
Forest Whitaker
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Terrence Howard
Award-Winning ACTRESSES Illustration by Candice McDonald
Viola Davis, Angela Bassett
Halle Berry, Diahann Carroll
H attie McDaniel
Dorothy Dandridge, the first African American to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Whoopi Goldberg, Queen Latifah
Oprah Winfrey, the first black talk show host.
and Viola Davis, the first African American woman to win an Emmy Award for best actress.
They are some of the highest ranking Olympians and athletes in the entire world.
I mean, they are fast. Like world-record holders, including this year’s Olympic gold medalists, Allyson Felix,
Vonetta Flowers, who, in 2002, she became the first black athlete to win gold at the Winter Olympics.
Simone Manuel, the first African-American swimmer to win an individual gold medal.
Gabby Douglas, American gymnast, the first African American to win the individual all-around event in the 2012 Summer Olympics, along with more golds in 2012 and the 2016 games in Rio.
Simone Biles, “the most decorated American gymnast, winning 19 Olympic and World Championship medals.”
Usain Bolt, Jamacaian, is the fastest human alive. He won three gold medals at the 2008 Olympics, becoming the first man in history to win both the 100- and 200-meter races in record times. “He made history again at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio when he won gold in the 100-meter and 200-meter race and 4×100-meter relay, completing a ‘triple-triple,’ earning three gold medals at three consecutive Olympics for a total of 9 gold medals over the course of his Olympic career.”
Muhammad Ali, after losing his title to Leon Spinks in February 1978, Ali defeated him in a September rematch, becoming the first boxer to win the heavyweight championship three times.
Michael Jordan, arguably the most inspiring basketball player of all time.
Jackie Robinson, the first black athlete to play Major League Baseball
Hank Aaron, “considered one of the best baseball players of all time, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s hallowed record of 714 home runs in 1974, finishing with a career total of 755.”