Written by: Nikki Nair

Black Americans have been changing the world for centuries. This Black History Month, we're covering 20 contemporary Black changemakers that are writing the next chapter in the history books. 

Sandra Lindsay

On December 14th, 2020, Sandra Lindsay became the first person in the United States to get the COVID-19 vaccine outside of trials. Lindsay has been a nurse for 28 years and currently supervises five critical care nursing units at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center. Her professional proximity to the COVID-19 virus made her aware of its dangerous short-term and long-term effects, so she got the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as soon as she could. At the time, she didn't know that she would be the first vaccine recipient in New York state, let alone the United States.

For Lindsay, getting the vaccine was important for two reasons: keeping herself and the people around her safe, and leading by example as a Black woman. A history of racial disparities and discrimination in healthcare and medicine has caused widespread medical distrust among the Black community. Because of this, Black people are much less likely to get the COVID-19 vaccine and thus have been disproportionately affected by the virus. Lindsay, however, was not afraid of the vaccine and wanted to encourage others to follow in her footsteps.

Since the day she made history, Lindsay says she has received letters from around the world, thanking her for her bravery. A true healthcare professional, Lindsay doesn't see her actions as extraordinary. She says she took the vaccine for the same reason she became a nurse: she just wanted to help people.

Cynthia “Cynt” Marshall

Cynthia “Cynt” Marshall has been making history long before entering the National Basketball Association (NBA). In the late 1970s, she was one of the University of California, Berkeley's first Black cheerleaders. After graduating from college, Marshall worked for AT&T for 36 years in various leadership roles. Her main focus was improving workplace culture and encouraging diversity and inclusion. In 2017, she retired from the company and founded her own consulting firm: Marshalling Resources. In 2018, Mark Cuban hired Marshall to be the chief executive officer for the Dallas Mavericks after an investigation uncovered 20 years of sexual harrassment and misconduct issues within the organization. This new employment made Cynt Marshall the first Black woman CEO in the NBA.

Since Marshall assumed her role, the Mavericks organization has guaranteed a minimum of 10,000 employee volunteer hours and over $5 million to aid local communities through education, mentorship, scholarships, and public policy. Marshall is highly motivated to help and mentor others to make sure that she is not the last Black woman CEO in the NBA. Worth magazine named Marshall as one of the 21 Most Powerful Women in the Business of Sports. Marshall says she reached this achievement by dreaming big, having focus, prayer, and taking action.

Cori Bush

On January 3, 2021, Cori Bush was sworn in as Missouri's first Black congresswoman. Her involvement in politics began in 2014, when Michael Brown was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. She worked as a triage nurse and Black Lives Matter organizer on the frontlines during the ensuing unrest. In 2016, she was a candidate for the Senate election in Missouri. Two years later, Bush conducted a primary campaign against the incumbent Democratic representative Lacy Clay in Missouri's 1st congressional district, which includes St. Louis. She emerged victorious after unseating Clay in 2020. 

Bush stands for several progressive policies, including: defunding the police, criminal justice and police reform, abortion rights, Medicare for All, a $15 minimum wage, and canceling student debt. She was endorsed by several progressive organizations and received endorsements from prominent figures in the progressive movement, including Bernie Sanders, Jamaal Bowman, and Angela Davis. Bush was highlighted in the 2019 Netflix documentary Knock Down the House, where the story of her 2018 primary campaign was covered. She is also a Nonviolence 365 Ambassador with the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change. And she says her work is only beginning.

Jordan Peele

Jordan Peele has been in the film and television industry for almost two decades. His breakthrough role came in 2003, when he became a cast member on the Fox sketch comedy series Mad TV, which he spent five years on. In 2012, Peele and his Mad TV collaborator Keegan-Michael Key created their own Comedy Central sketch comedy series, Key & Peele. Since 2018, Peele has co-authored the TBS comedy series The Last O.G. In 2019, he co-authored the YouTube Premium comedy series Weird City. He also was the host and producer of the 2019 CBS revival of The Twilight Zone. Peele has voice acted in Storks (2016), Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017), Big Mouth (2017-present), and Toy Story 4 (2019). In 2019, he directed, wrote, and produced the horror film Us. He is also the founder of the film and television production company Monkeypaw Productions.

Peele's 2017 directorial debut Get Out earned critical acclaim and box office success. He also received numerous awards for the project, including the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and nominations for Best Picture and Best Director. In the same year, he was included on the Time100 list of the most influential people in the world. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture for producing Spike Lee's BlackKkKlansman in 2018. Other nominations of his include two British Academy Film Awards, two Golden Globe Awards. Peele has also won a Primetime Emmy award.

Jason Wright

When the Washington Football Team hired Jason Wright in August 2020, he became the first Black president of a National Football League (NFL) team. At 39, he is also the youngest president of an NFL team. Wright was a running back on Northwestern University's football team while he was in college. Then, he played for seven years in the NFL for a variety of teams, including the San Francisco 49ers, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns, and Arizona Cardinals. After retiring in 2011, he earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He worked for the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, advising companies on organizational culture and workplace diversity for a few years before taking on his history-making presidential role with the Washington Football Team.

Wright has a difficult task ahead of him. In the coming years, he will need to fix the Washington franchise culture, including allegations of sexual harassment and the legacy of the team's former racist name. It will not be an easy journey, but Wright has comprehensive knowledge of the league and is optimistic. He considers this position as a chance to merge his two worlds in a distinctive way, and with that as his motivation, many eagerly await to see his accomplishments.