USAF Major Guion S. Bluford, Jr., (born 1942). The First Black Astronaut and First African American Astronaut in Outer Space.
“Guy” Bluford was chosen for the space program by NASA in January, 1978, earning a PhD in Aerospace Engineering that year. On August 30, 1983, he became the first African American to make a space flight, and went on to fly three more, logging 314 hours outside Earth’s atmosphere, before retiring as a colonel in 1993.
Above, a 1978 signed photo of Major Bluford.