List of black Nobel laureates

The Nobel Prize is an annual, international prize first awarded in 1901 for achievements in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace, with an associated prize in Economics awarded since 1969.[1] As of November 2022, Nobel Prizes had been awarded to 954 individuals,[2] of whom 17 were Black recipients (1.7% of the 954 individual recipients).

Black people have received awards in three of the six award categories: twelve in Peace (70.6% of the black recipients), four in Literature (23.5%), and one in Economics (5.9%). The first Black recipient, Ralph Bunche, was awarded the Peace Prize in 1950. W. Arthur Lewis became the first Black recipient of a Nobel Prize in one of the sciences when he was awarded the Economic Prize in 1979. The most recent laureate, Abdulrazak Gurnah, was awarded the Prize in Literature in 2021.

Among the Black laureates, three served as heads of state or government of their respective countries upon receiving the Nobel Prize, while one was awarded before taking office. Those include Barack Obama of the United States and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, who were presidents, along with Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia, who was prime minister; all of them were awarded the Peace Prize. In addition, Nelson Mandela of South Africa became a Nobel Peace laureate before being elected president.

Literature

Four Black people have been given the Nobel Prize in Literature.

YearImageLaureateCountryComment
1986 Wole Soyinka  Nigeria First Black person to win the Nobel Prize for Literature[3]
1992 Derek Walcott  Saint Lucia
1993 Toni Morrison  United States First Black woman to win a Nobel Prize[4]
2021 Abdulrazak Gurnah  United Kingdom Gurnah moved to the United Kingdom in the 1960s as a refugee following the Zanzibar Revolution[5]

Peace

12 Black people have been given the Nobel Peace Prize.

YearImageLaureateCountryComment
1950 Ralph Bunche  United States First Black person to win a Nobel Prize[6]
1960 Albert John Luthuli  South Africa First Black African to win a Nobel Prize
1964 Martin Luther King Jr.  United States Youngest African American to win a Nobel Prize, at age 35
1984 Desmond Tutu  South Africa
1993 Nelson Mandela  South Africa
2001 Kofi Annan  Ghana
2004 Wangari Maathai  Kenya First environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize
2009 Barack Obama  United States
2011 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf  Liberia
2011 Leymah Gbowee  Liberia
2018 Denis Mukwege  Democratic Republic of the Congo
2019 Abiy Ahmed  Ethiopia

Economics

One Black person has been awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.

YearImageLaureateCountryComment
1979 W. Arthur Lewis  Saint Lucia First and (so far) only Black person to win a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences; first West Indian to win a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences[7]

See also

References
  1. "Nobel Prize" (2007), in Encyclopædia Britannica, accessed 14 November 2007, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online:
    An additional award, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was established in 1968 by the Bank of Sweden and was first awarded in 1969
  2. "All Nobel Laureates". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  3. "Wole Soyinka Biography". Nobelprize.org.
  4. Grimes, William (1983-10-08). "Toni Morrison Is '93 Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
  5. "Nobel Literature Prize 2021: Abdulrazak Gurnah named winner". BBC News. 7 October 2021. Archived from the original on 7 October 2021. Retrieved 9 October 2021.
  6. Ralph Bunche, PBS.
  7. "Unsung Heroes". Time. 2007-12-01. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved 2010-05-08.
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