| 100% | {HAT}TIE | 8 | Actress McDaniel, the first African-American Oscar winner and the subject of a 2004 Rita Dove poem |
| 38% | DANDRIDGE | 9 | Singer Dorothy who was the first African-American to get a Best Actress Oscar nomination |
| 38% | VIOLA | 5 | Actress Davis who was the first African American to win the Triple Crown of Acting |
| 38% | ITOO | 4 | Classic Langston Hughes poem quoted on a wall of the National Museum of African American History and Culture |
| 37% | INGRIDBERGMAN | 13 | Winner of a Best Actress Oscar for "Gaslight" and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for "Murder on the Orient Express": 2 wds. |
| 37% | POITIER | 7 | Sidney who was the first African American to win a Best Actor Oscar |
| 36% | AVA | 3 | Director DuVernay who was the first African American woman nominated for a Best Picture Oscar |
| 36% | WINTERS | 7 | Shelley —, Best Actress in a Supporting Role Oscar winner for The Diary of Anne Frank |
| 36% | RENEE | 5 | First name of the alphabetically last Best Actress Oscar winner |
| 35% | HELENHAYES | 10 | American actress nicknamed "First Lady of American Theatre" who has won the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony): 2 wds. |
| 35% | MARIA | 5 | ___ Mitchell, astronomer who was the first female professor of astronomy and the first American to discover a comet |
| 35% | VVEBDUBOIS | 10 | Historian, essayist and civil rights leader who was the first African American to receive a doctorate at Harvard |
| 35% | GLENDAJACKSON | 13 | English actress (1936-2023) who achieved the American Triple Crown of acting with two Oscars, three Emmys, and a Tony award (2 wds.) |
| 35% | BONHAMCARTER | 12 | Helena —, Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar nominee for The Wings of the Dove |
| 35% | GRAHAME | 7 | Gloria —, Best Actress in a Supporting Role Oscar winner for The Bad and the Beautiful |
| 35% | JOANNE | 6 | & 12A Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar winner for The Three Faces of Eve |
| 35% | ONEAL | 5 | Actress Tatum who holds the record for youngest winner of a competitive Oscar |
| 34% | ETHELWATERS | 11 | Harlem Renaissance singer and actress who was the first African American to star in her own TV show: 2 wds. |
| 34% | MAGGIESMITH | 11 | Winner of a Best Actress Oscar for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for "California Suite": 2 wds. |
| 34% | MAEJEMISON | 10 | The first Black female astronaut and winner of a National Achievement Scholarship in 1973: 2 wds. |
| 33% | HALLEBERRY | 10 | First African-American to win the Oscar for Best Actress |
| 33% | POITIER | 7 | Sidney who was the first African-American to win a Best Actor Oscar |
| 33% | ELMO | 4 | Saint ___ Brady, first African American in the US to obtain a Ph.D. degree in chemistry (University of Illinois, 1916) |
| 33% | KESTREL | 7 | American raptor that's the size of a mourning dove |
| 33% | ANNPRESTON | 10 | American physician and activist who was the first female dean of a medical school in the world: 2 wds. |
| 33% | ASA | 3 | ___ Philip Randolph, civil rights activist and founder of the first AFL-chartered African American-led labor union |
| 33% | WARRENMOON | 10 | Undrafted quarterback who was the first African American quarterback inducted into the Hall of Fame: 2 wds. |
| 32% | AVA | 3 | Director DuVernay who was the first African-American woman nominated for a Best Picture Oscar |
| 32% | RITA | 4 | Dove, who became the first African American U.S. Poet Laureate |