From the Civil Rights Movement to the election of President Barack Obama, African-Americans are still making history in America. We look back to the past to find the mostdefining moments that changed history forever.

On Feb. 12, 1909, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) was founded by W.E.B. Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Archibald Grimké, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villard, William English Walling and Florence Kelley. NAACP is one of the oldest and most influential civil rights organization in the United States.

On Dec. 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Ala., Rosa Parks refused to obey Bus driver James Blake’s order to give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. Her action sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Her act of defiance was an important symbol of the modern Civil Rights Movement.

James Meredith becomes the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi on Oct. 1, 1962. U.S. Marshals ordered by President John F. Kennedy escorted him. He graduated on Aug. 18, 1963 with a degree in political science.

Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the famous “I Have a Dream” speech on Aug. 28, 1963, from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. King called for racial equality and an end to discrimination and segregation. The speech was delivered to more than 200,000 civil rights supporters.

On April 8, 1974, Henry Louis "Hank" Aaron hits his 715th home run, breaking Babe Ruth's longstanding record. Aaron is considered to be one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

On Nov. 30, 1982, Michael Jackson releases “Thriller,” with sales of $110 million, it becomes the best-selling recording of all time. “Thriller” made Jackson a household name, and enabled him to break down racial barriers via his appearances on MTV and meeting with President Ronald Reagan at the White House 

On Oct. 7, 1993, Toni Morrison becomes the first African-American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Among her best known novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Beloved.

On Oct. 16, 1995 the Million Man March, under the leadership of Minister Louis Farrakhan, is held in Washington, D.C. Black men from across the United States converged on Washington in an effort to “convey to the world a vastly different picture of the Black male” and to unite in selfhelp and self-defense against economic and social ills plaguing the African American community.

In 2001, Halle Berry becomes the first African-American female to win the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film “Monster’s Ball.”

Denzel Washington also won the Academy Award for Best Actor the same year in the film “Training Day.” He is notable as the second African American man (after Sidney Poitier) to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.

On Nov. 4, 2008, United States Sen. Barack Hussein Obama becomes the 44th president of the United States.