First African American : Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin is a very successful singer, songwriter and musician who's been in the business since 1956. To this date she has released 39 studio albums,  6 live albums, 47 compilation albums and 131 singles. She known around the world for the songs "R-E-S-P-E-C-T"  and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", which are major part of our culture and won several awards over the years. Between 1968 and 1975 she won a Grammy every year, to the point where some people were referring to it as the Aretha Award. In 1987, became the first woman to be  inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in the performer category. Last October, she became the first woman to have 100 songs on the Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip Hop Song chart. Let's just say, she sings a lot a good song and definitely made her mark in history.