List of black Nobel laureates

Template:Short description 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. As of November 2022, Nobel Prizes had been awarded to 954 individuals, 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 Nobel 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 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1979. The most recent black laureate, Abdulrazak Gurnah, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2021.

Among the black Nobel laureates, three served as heads of state or government of their respective countries upon receiving the Nobel Prize, while one was awarded the prize 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 awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Year	Image	Laureate	Country	Comment
1986	File:Wole Soyinka 2015 (3x4 cropped).jpg		Nigeria	First black man to win the Nobel Prize for Literature
1992	File:Derek Walcott (3x4 cropped).jpg		Saint Lucia
1993	File:Toni Morrison (3x4 cropped).jpg		United States	First black woman to win a Nobel Prize
2021	File:Gurnah, Abdulrazak k-litcologne (3x4 cropped b).jpg		United Kingdom	Gurnah moved to the United Kingdom in the 1960s as a refugee following the Zanzibar Revolution

Peace

12 black people have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Year	Image	Laureate	Country	Comment
1950	File:Ralph Bunche - 1963 March on Washington.jpg		United States	First black person to win a Nobel Prize
1960	File:Albert Lutuli nobel.jpg		South Africa	First black African to win a Nobel Prize
1964	File:Martin Luther King, Jr. (3x4 cropped).jpg		United States	Youngest African American to win a Nobel Prize, at age 35
1984	File:Desmond Tutu (47327456801) (cropped and adjusted).jpg		South Africa
1993	File:Nelson Mandela 1994.jpg		South Africa
2001	File:Kofi Annan.jpg		Ghana
2004	File:Wangari Matthai 2001 (cropped).jpg		Kenya	First environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize
2009	File:Obama 2008 portrait crop (3x4 cropped).jpg		United States
2011	File:President Sirleaf on Capitol Hill (3x4 cropped).jpg		Liberia
2011	File:2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee (cropped).jpg		Liberia
2018	File:Denis Mukwege par Claude Truong-Ngoc novembre 2014 (3x4 cropped).jpg	Denis Mukwege	Democratic Republic of the Congo
2019	File:Abiy Ahmed during state visit of Reuven Rivlin to Ethiopia, May 2018.jpg	Abiy Ahmed	Ethiopia

Economics

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

Year	Image	Laureate	Country	Comment
1979	File:Arthur Lewis Dollar (3x4 cropped).jpg		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

See also

• List of Nobel laureates
• List of African Nobel laureates
• List of Asian Nobel laureates
• List of Latino and Hispanic Nobel laureates
• List of Christian Nobel laureates
• List of Jewish Nobel laureates

External links

• Nelson Mandela Interview