Who Was the First African American on a US Coin?

By GovMint :

Booker T. Washington was the first African American to appear on an official American coin. The important milestone occurred on the Booker T. Washington Memorial Half Dollar, which was minted from 1946 to 1951. The coin was also notably designed by Isaac Scott Hathaway, who was the first African American to design a U.S. coin.

The obverse of the half dollar depicts a three-quarter bust of Booker T. Washington. Meanwhile, the reverse portrays the Hall of Fame for Great Americans and the cabin where Washington was born, and the inscription, "FROM SLAVE CABIN TO HALL OF FAME.”

Sources Used:

https://www.money.org/1946-1951-booker-t-washington-half-dollar/