Who Is On Your List Of The 5 Greatest African Americans ?
For Black History Month.
It goes without saying that 5 barely scratches the surface. I said 5 so as to encourage replies. If you have more or less than 5 that is ok too.
My list.
1. Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
2. Muhammad Ali
3. Frederick Douglas
4. Barack Obama
5. Stevie Wonder
second five - Rosa Parks, Jackie Robinson, Thurgood Marshall, Ida B. Wells, James Baldwin, Shirley Chisholm, Colin Powell, Malcolm X, Nat Turner, Ella Fitzgerald, Dorie Miller, Jack Johnson, Sidney Poitier, Cicely Tyson, John Lewis, Jim Brown, Harriet Tubman, Tuskegee Airmen, Berry Gordy, Crispus Attucks, Milton Olive, Oprah Winfrey, John H. Johnson, Henry Johnson, Mary Jackson, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong , Hank Aaron,...
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Kamala Harris is being saved for a later date.
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Thurgood Marshal, and Fredric Douglas, and Harriet Tubman for sure.....
1. General Benjamin O. Davis
2. General Daniel James
3. Brigadier General Charles McGee
4. George Washington Carver
5. Frederick Douglas
MLK Jr., Rosa Parks, Colin Powell, Tuskagee Airmen, Joe Carter.
It's difficult to pick out a top 5 but I would put this group (not an individual). An all-black unit that is probably forgotten in history but nonetheless deserves a spot among those blacks citizens that deserve recognition..
The original ''Black Panthers'' 761st Tank Battalion an all-black unit that earned its place in history.
Kareem Abdul Jabbar wrote an excellent book about the unit and the men that served with many interviews with the actual members of the unit.
Martin Luther King
John Lewis
Frederick Douglas
Joe Louis
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I have been told that I'm a progressive/liberal and or democrat (true) and I've never found it offensive.
Minority then................again. Sorry
OMG you wouldn't since your side of the aisle is the one using it. Hahahaha
I have no idea what point you're trying to make. The article is about who each of us consider black citizens that are exceptional.
Same here
There is no point other than trolling.
Louis, Oprah, Barrack, Martin and Madea...
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Colin Powell
Ben Carson
George Washington Carver
Condoleezza Rice
Martin Luther King Jr.
I would put Powell and Rice in a tie and then add Clarence Thomas to the list. Five is too few as there are so many well worth noting and remembering. Stephen Douglass, Harriet Tubman, MLK Jr.
I'm going a different route
Louie Armstrong
Billie Holliday
Robert Johnson
Ella Fitzgerald
Nat King Cole
I'm embarrassed to say that I do not know Black history well enough to have a valid opinion.
To the list of important historical figures already named, let me add W.E.B. D Bois, who, among many other achievements, was the first African American to earn a doctorate at Harvard, and was one of the founders of the N.A.A.C.P.
I would also like to mention my friend, H.B. Barnum, who was not only Aretha Franklin's musical director for decades, but was also one of the important figures in the music industry, working as a producer, arranger, songwriter, pianist and inspiration and mentor to many, many great musicians.
I have other African American friends, women and men, many of them highly-regarded musicians and performers, who are very important to me.
And, I will always remember a very wonderful African American lady, who I worked with when I was a student employee at college back in the early 70's. Anita was an administrator in the department where I was working, and she said to me one day while we were talking: "G, we just want to be middle class like everyone else." That is important and a lesson I have always taken with me.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Crispus Attucks
Jackie Robinson
Harriet Tubman
Tuskagee Airmen
I thought about putting just Tuskegee Airmen but there are far too many, so I named the three most prominent, being two 4 star generals (Davis and James). James was also the first African American to achieve 4 star rank), and one1 star (McGee). All three served their country with honor and distinction through three wars.
My first superintendent in the Air Force. I loved that man. He found me something to do when my supervisor went on a TDY. I didn't let him down, either.
Colin Powell
Martin Luther King
Barack Obama
Shirley Chisholm
Shirly C....... very good!
I see I am the only one who named Muhammad Ali, which is interesting because I am pretty sure he would be near the top of the list of many surveys as to who are the most well known African Americans in US history.
Ali remains a controversial figure, but I think his impact is certain. Here is the opening of his wikipedia page
I recently went back and watched an interview with Muhammad Ali on a British television show that was filmed around 1964 I believe. In the interview Ali talks about winning the gold medal in the Olympics (1960) and thinking he would come home as a great hero, but then when he went into a restaurant in his home town of Louisville he was still discriminated against because he was black. In Ali's telling the story was heartbreaking but also very funny. This man was a transcendent figure.
Oh, well known! I thought you said greatest African- Americans
Muhammad Ali wasnt an African-American? I dont understand.
Oh I get it - you dont think he was great. ok.
John, yes, he was a well known African-American. Great? I guess so. He dodged the draft by switching religions and changing his name. I never got into boxing, but I did like Evander Holyfield. That's a name I should add to my list
Ali changed his name two years before he was drafted and five months before the Gulf Of Tonkin incident that started heavy US involvement in Vietnam. He didnt change his name and his religion to get out of the draft. Ali would have been given a cushy role in the military giving boxing exhibitions and making celebrity tours behind the front lines. Instead he was prevented from boxing for four years until his case was overturned by the Supreme Court.
People can question whether or not he was a sincere conscientious objector I suppose, but he did not change his name or religion to stay out of the war. He changed his name and his religion because he thought, at that time, that blacks would never be treated fairly in America.
I'm sorry, but a draft dodger (Ali) is not on my great list.
probably just as well since Ali wasn't a draft dodger
Fredrick Douglas, Jackie Robinson, Clarence Thomas, Martin Luther King Jr, Condi Rice
MLK
Barbara Jordan
Bayard Rustin
W.E.B. DuBois
James Baldwin
Rosa Parks, MLK, Stevie Wonder, Collin Powell, Oprah,
Denzel Washington, loved him in American Gangster.
Harriet Tubman
Fredrick Douglass
Barbara Jordan
Martin Luther King
Elijah Cummings
Barack and Michelle Obama (They're a package deal.)
one more...
Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Outstanding!
Ah! Come to the head of the Class!
By Mike Shelton, Yuma City Council member
The Yuma Sun is a very good local paper (and website).
My list of five greatest African-Americans:
George Foreman - professional boxer, entrepreneur, pastor.
Patty Labelle - professional singer, entrepreneur, trailblazer
Barry Gordy Jr. - music mongrel
Don Cornelius - producer, trailblazer
A Collection and Assortment of Black Americans Who Died from Lynchings and Firebombings.
Flip Wilson
Sammy Davis Jr.
Sherman Hensley and Isabel Sanford ( "The Jeffersons." )
James Carter Walker Jr.
Mr. "Dynamite."
Bill Cosby
"Mr. Cliff Huxtable & Family." (Ps. Thank you for all the memories, before the fall! Your public persona made life bearable and trailblazing for me, 'us' and more!)