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Who Is On Your List Of The 5 Greatest African Americans ?

  

Category:  News & Politics

By:  john-russell  •  3 years ago  •  45 comments

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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JohnRussell
Professor Principal
1  author  JohnRussell    3 years ago

Kamala Harris is being saved for a later date. 

 
 
 
Just Jim NC TttH
Professor Principal
1.1  Just Jim NC TttH  replied to  JohnRussell @1    3 years ago

[deleted]         

 
 
 
FLYNAVY1
Professor Guide
1.2  FLYNAVY1  replied to  JohnRussell @1    3 years ago

Thurgood Marshal, and Fredric Douglas, and Harriet Tubman for sure.....

 
 
 
Ed-NavDoc
Professor Quiet
1.3  Ed-NavDoc  replied to  JohnRussell @1    3 years ago

1. General Benjamin O. Davis

2. General Daniel James

3. Brigadier General Charles McGee

4. George Washington Carver

5. Frederick Douglas

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2  Buzz of the Orient    3 years ago

MLK Jr., Rosa Parks, Colin Powell, Tuskagee Airmen, Joe Carter. 

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
3  Kavika     3 years ago

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. 

US_761st_Tank_Battalion_-_Black_Panther.jpg

Martin Luther King

John Lewis

Frederick Douglas

Joe Louis

 
 
 
Just Jim NC TttH
Professor Principal
3.1  Just Jim NC TttH  replied to  Kavika @3    3 years ago

[deleted]

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
3.1.1  Kavika   replied to  Just Jim NC TttH @3.1    3 years ago

I have been told that I'm a progressive/liberal and or democrat (true) and I've never found it offensive. 

 
 
 
Just Jim NC TttH
Professor Principal
3.1.2  Just Jim NC TttH  replied to  Kavika @3.1.1    3 years ago

Minority then................again. Sorry

 
 
 
Just Jim NC TttH
Professor Principal
3.1.3  Just Jim NC TttH  replied to  Kavika @3.1.1    3 years ago

OMG you wouldn't since your side of the aisle is the one using it. Hahahaha

 
 
 
Kavika
Professor Principal
3.1.4  Kavika   replied to  Just Jim NC TttH @3.1.3    3 years ago

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.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
3.1.5  Trout Giggles  replied to  Kavika @3.1.1    3 years ago

Same here

 
 
 
Dulay
Professor Expert
3.1.6  Dulay  replied to  Kavika @3.1.4    3 years ago

There is no point other than trolling. 

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
4  JBB    3 years ago

Louis, Oprah, Barrack, Martin and Madea...

 
 
 
Just Jim NC TttH
Professor Principal
4.1  Just Jim NC TttH  replied to  JBB @4    3 years ago

[Deleted]

 
 
 
Just Jim NC TttH
Professor Principal
5  Just Jim NC TttH    3 years ago

Colin Powell

Ben Carson

George Washington Carver

Condoleezza Rice

Martin Luther King Jr.

 
 
 
XXJefferson51
Senior Guide
5.1  XXJefferson51  replied to  Just Jim NC TttH @5    3 years ago

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.  

 
 
 
lady in black
Professor Quiet
6  lady in black    3 years ago

I'm going a different route

Louie Armstrong

Billie Holliday

Robert Johnson

Ella Fitzgerald

Nat King Cole

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
8  Bob Nelson    3 years ago

I'm embarrassed to say that I do not know Black history well enough to have a valid opinion.

 
 
 
Gsquared
Professor Principal
9  Gsquared    3 years ago

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.

 
 
 
Perrie Halpern R.A.
Professor Principal
10  Perrie Halpern R.A.    3 years ago

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Crispus Attucks 

Jackie Robinson

Harriet Tubman

Tuskagee Airmen

 
 
 
Ed-NavDoc
Professor Quiet
10.1  Ed-NavDoc  replied to  Perrie Halpern R.A. @10    3 years ago

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.

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
11  Trout Giggles    3 years ago

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

 
 
 
FLYNAVY1
Professor Guide
11.1  FLYNAVY1  replied to  Trout Giggles @11    3 years ago

Shirly C....... very good!

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
12  author  JohnRussell    3 years ago

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

Muhammad Ali ( / ɑːˈliː /; bornCassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer, activist, entertainer and philanthropist. Nicknamed The Greatest, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated figures of the 20th century and as one of the greatest boxers of all time.

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. 

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
12.1  Trout Giggles  replied to  JohnRussell @12    3 years ago

Oh, well known! I thought you said greatest African- Americans

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
12.1.1  author  JohnRussell  replied to  Trout Giggles @12.1    3 years ago

Muhammad Ali wasnt an African-American?  I dont understand. 

Oh I get it - you dont think he was great. ok. 

 
 
 
Trout Giggles
Professor Principal
12.1.2  Trout Giggles  replied to  JohnRussell @12.1.1    3 years ago

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

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
12.1.3  author  JohnRussell  replied to  Trout Giggles @12.1.2    3 years ago

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. 

 
 
 
Paula Bartholomew
Professor Participates
13  Paula Bartholomew    3 years ago

I'm sorry, but a draft dodger (Ali) is not on my great list.

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
13.1  author  JohnRussell  replied to  Paula Bartholomew @13    3 years ago

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
13.2  Texan1211  replied to  Paula Bartholomew @13    3 years ago

probably just as well since Ali wasn't a draft dodger

 
 
 
Sean Treacy
Professor Principal
14  Sean Treacy    3 years ago

Fredrick Douglas, Jackie Robinson, Clarence Thomas, Martin Luther King Jr, Condi Rice

 
 
 
Dulay
Professor Expert
15  Dulay    3 years ago

MLK

Barbara Jordan

Bayard Rustin

W.E.B. DuBois 

James Baldwin

 
 
 
pat wilson
Professor Participates
16  pat wilson    3 years ago

Rosa Parks, MLK, Stevie Wonder, Collin Powell, Oprah, 

 
 
 
Thrawn 31
Professor Guide
17  Thrawn 31    3 years ago

Denzel Washington, loved him in American Gangster. 

 
 
 
Sister Mary Agnes Ample Bottom
Professor Guide
18  Sister Mary Agnes Ample Bottom    3 years ago

Harriet Tubman

Fredrick Douglass

Barbara Jordan

Martin Luther King

Elijah Cummings

Barack and Michelle Obama (They're a package deal.)

 
 
 
pat wilson
Professor Participates
19  pat wilson    3 years ago

one more...

 
 
 
Gsquared
Professor Principal
19.1  Gsquared  replied to  pat wilson @19    3 years ago

Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Outstanding!

 
 
 
CB
Professor Principal
19.2  CB  replied to  pat wilson @19    3 years ago

Ah!  Come to the head of the Class!

 
 
 
Bob Nelson
Professor Guide
20  Bob Nelson    3 years ago

384 The reason for Black History Month: Hidden Figures

By Mike Shelton, Yuma City Council member

Carter G. Woodson, (Dec. 19, 1875 – April 3, 1950) was an American historian, author, journalist and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. He’s credited as the father of Black History Month. It was started in 1915 as Negro History Week and February was chosen as the birth months of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. That year, 1915, is the 50th Anniversary of the passage of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in the United States.

Woodson’s purpose was to make known the unknown African American contributions to American society, deliberately ignored in the general history. Our time is not the only time or the first time of “cancelled culture.” I gave a presentation to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in 2012 for Black History Month and chose to highlight African-American contributions to science and technology. Among the many I could have cited:

• Lewis Latimer (1818-1897). Latimer was an African-American inventor, electrical pioneer, and a son of fugitive slaves. With no access to formal education, Latimer taught himself mechanical drawing while in the Union Navy, and eventually became a chief draftsman, patent expert, and inventor. He was the only African American member of Thomas Edison’s Menlo Park engineering laboratory. He contributed to evolutions in the light bulb and improvements to the telephone.

• Garrett Morgan (1877–1963): After witnessing a road accident, Morgan worked on a device to keep cars, buggies, and pedestrians from colliding. In 1923 he patented the traffic signal.

• Benjamin Banneker (1731 – 1806): Banneker was a free African American astronomer, mathematician, surveyor, almanac author and farmer. The son of former slaves, at 15 he took over the family farm and invented an irrigation system to control water flow to the crops from nearby springs. In the 1750s he borrowed a pocket watch, took it apart, studied it and created a fully functioning clock made entirely out of wood. It would keep on ticking for decades. Borrowing books on mathematics and astronomy he accurately predicted a solar eclipse in 1789. Impressed by his abilities, Thomas Jefferson added Banneker to be part of a surveying team to lay out the new Washington D.C. When the lead architect quit, taking the plans with him, Banneker recreated the plans from memory and the task was completed.

• George Crum (1824-1914): Inventor of the potato chip. In the summer of 1853, a patron who ordered a plate of French fried potatoes sent them back to Crum’s kitchen because he felt they were too thick and soft. Crum sliced a new batch of potatoes as thin as possible, and then fried them until they were hard and crunchy. Then he added a generous heaping of salt. To Crum’s surprise the dish turned out to be a hit and a new snack was born.

• Charles Henry Turner (1867-1923): He became a noted authority on the behavior of insects. He was the first researcher to prove in 1907 that insects could hear.

• Percy L. Julian (1899-1975): Earned a master’s degree from Harvard and a PHD from the University of Vienna. His most famous achievement is his synthesis of cortisone, used to treat arthritis and other inflammatory diseases.

• Bessie Coleman, aviator (1892-1926): As a teen she wanted to amount to something. She worked in laundries but longed for more. Then she fell in love with the new idea of flight. With no white pilots willing to train her and no African American pilots available she was encouraged to go to France. Coleman left for France late in 1920. There she completed flight training at the best school in Paris. She traveled Europe, gaining further flying experience so that she could perform in air shows. She became the first licensed female aviator in America. She created a school for aviators of any race, and she would appear before audiences in churches, schools, and theaters to spark the interest of African Americans in the new, expanding technology of flight. In 1926, she died in a flight accident at the age of 34.

• NASA’s “Hidden Figures:” The human computers of Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan helped the United States in the Space Race.

We have too few heroes. It’s a blood sport to set them up and tear them down. We don’t need to replace some with others. We need to add more. Celebrate more. Know more. Learning from and unveiling those many “hidden figures.” Repairing those gaps in our history, without punching any more holes in our history.


The Yuma Sun is a very good local paper (and website).

 
 
 
CB
Professor Principal
21  CB    3 years ago

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.

 
 
 
CB
Professor Principal
22  CB    3 years ago

Flip Wilson    flip_wilson.jpg?itok=veXwyhs5

Sammy Davis Jr. sammy-davis-jr--4.jpg

Sherman Hensley and Isabel Sanford ( "The Jeffersons."1360615569_17-sherman-hemsley-isabel-sanford-560.jpg

James Carter Walker Jr.   good-times.james-j-j-evans-jr.jpg Mr. "Dynamite."

Bill Cosby   Cliff-huxtable-290x400.jpg   "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!)

 
 

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