Talk:Timeline of African-American firsts

Stormie Forte
Hi SummerPhDv2.0, I wanted to ask you about your reversion of my edit. While yes, I understand that there are "thousands of city councils", both Raleigh City Council and the individual representative who is the first black woman on that council, Stormie Forte, are both notable enough to have their own Wikipedia articles. So why is she not notable enough to be included on List of African-American firsts? The first black woman to serve as a city council member in a major city in the Southeastern United States seems pretty significant to me. -- Willthacheerleader18 (talk) 17:04, 16 July 2020 (UTC)
 * This article is currently about 200 entries. Without objective inclusion criteria here, we'll certainly have to decide on whether or not to list:

in the U.S.
 * First governor or first governor for each state (territory?)
 * First mayor for each city or 10/20/50/100 largest? Maybe those above a population threshold?
 * First member of city council for each city or 10/20/50/100 largest? (your entry implies top 50 or more)
 * First presidential cabinet member or each cabinet position?
 * First U.S. senator or first for each state?
 * First Representative or first for each state?

That's a starter list, limited to political positions. We're looking at hundreds of entries from those alone. Then we need to figure out military ranks, airline pilots, CEO/board members, award recipients, scholars, authors, movie stars/directors/etc., TV, music, etc.


 * Given that we do not have objective criteria, I made a judgment call. - Sum mer PhD v2.0 20:00, 16 July 2020 (UTC)


 * Sounds like you want List of African-American U.S. state firsts. --Tenebrae (talk) 18:55, 27 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Would you support eligibility criteria like "each person who made the 'first' should have their own wikipedia page"? Many of the entries would be notable independently from their "first" status (e.g. president Obama, governors, many sports people), or they derive their notability from their status as a "first". I added the first Phi Beta Kappa member, which is certainly a prestigious honor, but the recipient does not have an article of his own. I'm okay with removing it if it means the eligibility criteria are better defined.-Ich (talk) 12:28, 8 December 2020 (UTC)

First African-American woman
I have just removed an addition] based primarily on it being a first for an African-American woman (the other problem could have been corrected).

IMO, this article is about the first African-American to do something noteworthy. If we decide to go beyond that to the first AA woman to do something, we will need to come to a consensus in that regard and decide if that is the only exception. Otherwise, we can reasonably expect additions of the first AA Latinx, first LGBTQ AA, first immigrant AA, etc. - Sum mer PhD v2.0 17:47, 2 August 2020 (UTC)


 * Hmm. From a bit of a look at the page, we already have a number of first AA women here. Our current inro text says "first achievements by African Americans" which, to my reading, would not include the first AA woman. Thoughts? - Sum mer PhD v2.0 17:51, 2 August 2020 (UTC)


 * I completely agree that it should be limited to African-American firsts and not include African-American woman firsts. That's not what the article is about. Adding that qualifier alone risks multiplying the size of the list by two. --Dennis C. Abrams (talk) 23:11, 8 October 2021 (UTC)

First emergency medical service to be staffed by paramedics
The Wikipedia article for the Freedom House Ambulance Service article starts with the following sentences: "Freedom House Ambulance Service was the first emergency medical service in the United States to be staffed by paramedics with medical training beyond basic first aid. Founded in 1967 to serve the predominantly black Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the majority of its staff were African-American." Is this enough to qualify Freedom House Ambulance Service as an African-American first for the purpose of this article? --HugoHelp (talk) 02:48, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

1st black person to not have a big deal made about them as the first black person to do something
Still hoping for this person to exist soon 2600:1700:290:B980:9079:DF5F:1887:C11B (talk) 17:19, 30 November 2022 (UTC)