It’s amazing when I think about how much the human race has accomplished so much within the past 100 years. We’ve discovered new things, made technological advances every chance we got and created new ways to help better the world.

It makes it even more amazing how black people have performed and accomplished so much due to how segregated the world was (and, unfortunately, still is). Even though black people do have a voice in this world today, pretty much most blacks of the 20th century and earlier had to work harder than the average white person (I mean, let’s be real here) to make a change for the country.

So, in honor of black history month, and to the thanks of BlackPast.org, I am going to give you a brief look at the history of black excellence.

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1916: Garrett Morgan

On July 25, Garrett Morgan uses his newly invented gas mask to rescue men trapped after an explosion in a tunnel 250 feet beneath Lake Erie.

1926: Carter G. Woodson

Carter G. Woodson establishes Negro History Week in February between the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

1936: Jesse Owens

Track star Jesse Owens wins four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics between Aug. 3 and Aug. 9.

1946: Channing H. Tobias

Channing H. Tobias is the first African American to head the Phelps-Stokes Fund, a philanthropic organization that supports black education.

1956: Nat "King" Cole

On Nov. 11, Nat King Cole becomes the first African American to host a primetime variety show on national television. He appears on NBC.

1966: Constance Baker Motley

On Jan. 25, Constance Baker Motley is appointed by President Lyndon Baines Johnson to the Federal Bench in New York City. She becomes the first African American woman elevated to a Federal judgeship.

1976: Janie L. Mines

The United States Naval Academy at Annapolis admits women for the first time in June. Janie L. Mines becomes the first African American women cadet to enter. She graduates in 1980.

1986: Oprah Winfrey

The Oprah Winfrey Show with Oprah Winfrey as the talk show host becomes nationally syndicated.

1996: George Walker

On April 9, George Walker becomes the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize for Music. The winning composition, "Lilies for Soprano or Tenor and Orchestra," is based on a poem by Walt Whitman.

2006: Sophia Danenberg

In 2006, Sophia Danenberg became the first African American and first black woman from anywhere in the world to climb the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest in the Himalayas.

2016: Beyonce Knowles

On Feb. 6, 2016, Beyonce released the music video for her single titled "Formation." The music video displays black culture and has been seen as a beacon (including Beyonce herself) for the "Black Lives Matter" movement.

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When I think of the word black, so many words come to mind. My words include "forgiving" because through all of these years black people have basically had to forgive for all of this shit that's happened in the past, "apologetic" because it seems like black people always have to say sorry for "the way they are," and "underestimated" because black people have been seen on a lower level compared to white people.

Other words that come to mind are "power" because as a race black people make things happen, "strength" because black people literally built this country through labor but also they had the strength to deal with white people's bullshit for the past few hundred years, and "beauty" because black people are just simply beautiful in their own way.