When slavery was finally outlawed during the Civil War, few Americans took the removal of the slaves’ shackles to mean that the African should be accorded equal status with the white man. Yet, in 1903, just 40 years after the Emancipation, one man dared to envision such a future. W.E.B. Du Bois’s book, “The Souls of Black Folk,” made its author the foremost Black thinker, writer and sociologist of the early 20th Century. More importantly, Du Bois initiated the “great debate” -integration versus segregation, the insistence of equality versus the accommodation of racism – that set in motion a chain of events, ultimately leading to the election of first Black President of the United States. The very election of Barack Obama is a vindication of the convictions and tireless work of W.E.B. Du Bois.

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born in Great Barrington, MA, on February 23rd, 1868. Du Bois attended Fisk University, and became the first Black American in history to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard. His intellectual upbringing informed his philosophies, as later expressed in “The Souls of Black Folk.” Du Bois coined the term “double consciousness” to describe the way that Black Americans led their lives as human beings, yet second-class citizens, in an America that was born on the concept that all men are created equal. Du Bois believed that the path to liberty would lie in educating the top echelon, or “Talented Tenth,” of African-Americans to lead the rest.

Du Bois’s main adversaries were Marcus Garvey and Booker T. Washington. Garvey believed that the quest for parity with white Americans was foolish, and proposed to repatriate freed Blacks to Africa. Washington believed that Du Bois’s tactics would antagonize whites and lead to a disastrous race war. Du Bois called Washington “the Great Accomodator.” Not surprisingly, Washington was favored among the white leaders of his day.

Du Bois was one of the initial founders of the National Association For The Advancement of Colored People, and thus laid the groundwork not only for the Civil Rights movement, but the very idea of partnership with liberal whites to achieve socio-political results.

Du Bois became more radical towards the end of his life, joining the Communist Party in the 1961 at the age of 93, and expatriating to Ghana shortly thereafter. W.E.B. Du Bois died in 1963, just one day before the March on Washington.

Du Bois’s intellect, his insistence on equal rights for Black Americans, and his willingness to form a coalition with whites to achieve his ends formed the model by which Barack Obama ascended to the highest office in the land, and in so doing, liberating us all from the tyranny of racism.

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As a noted surgeon and scientist, Charles Drew was responsible for creating the technology to store blood for long periods of time. His lifelong concern for the necessary transport and storage of blood and plasma made him a pioneer in his field and a valued scientist in world history. Drew saved thousands of soldiers’ lives in World War Two, when he developed his technology and techniques during the Battle of Britain; and millions more since then. At the same time, Drew battled segregation and bigory at home. Dr. Charles Drew and Barack Obama are, of course, alike in that they both accomplished legendary African-American firsts in the face of prejudice. But President Barack Obama may indeed accomplish a similar lifesaving legacy if he ends the bloody wars begun by the previous administration.

Charles Richard Drew was born on June 3rd, 1904 in Washington D.C. Drew first discovered his passion for medicine at Amherst College, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1926. Drew saved money for medical school by taking instruction jobs and working hard labor before enrolling at McGill University Medical School in Montreal. He finished his residency at Montreal General Hospital and then moved to his hometown of Washington D.C. to serve as a professor at Howard University. But it was during his fellowship at Columbia Presbyterian where he endeavored his groundbreaking research about blood transfusions. His thesis project, “Banked Blood: A Study in Blood Preservation,” earned Drew a Doctorate of Science in medicine from Columbia University in 1940, and then proceeded to change the world.

At the outset of World War II, Drew’s work with plasma was critical in helping the United States and their allied forces to save soldiers’ lives. Drew became an integral member of the American Red Cross in 1941, but later denounced his affiliation when the U.S. War Department declared that blood should be segregated by race. After making his commitment to soldiers of all colors, Drew was disheartened that his countrymen would not support his efforts. In 1946, he was elected to the International College of Surgeons after winning the NAACP’s Spingard Medal two years prior. On his way to a conference at Tuskegee in 1950, Drew fell asleep at the wheel, and his car wrecked. He died on April 1st of that year. Drew did not, as myth has it, die because he was refused a blood transfusion.

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In 1940, one Black novelist dared to show America what white supremacy did to one Black man. When “Native Son” appeared on America’s bookshelves, it became an instant bestseller, the first title by an African-American author selected by the Book-of-the-Month Club. It also introduced the world to the complicated protagonist of “Native Son,” Chicago’s Bigger Thomas, who was driven to murder a white woman through his terror of white people, not because of hate. Wright, as an accomplished writer, a prophet, and a leftist, helped cut the path on which Barack Obama walked into Chicago’s South Side, onto the local and national political stage, and now, the White House.

Richard Wright, the grandson of slaves, was born on a plantation in Mississippi in 1908. Shuffled between Mississippi and Memphis for most of his childhood, Wright published his first short story, “The Voodoo of Hell’s Half-Acre,” when he was 15. In 1927, after graduating high school, Wright moved to Chicago, where he worked for the post office and wrote in his spare time. During the Great Depression, Wright affiliated with the Communist Party, and Wright penned many of his earliest works for leftist publications. Richard Wright’s career blossomed after he moved to New York in 1937. He mentored Ralph Ellison, published an acclaimed book of short stories called “Uncle Tom’s Children,” and with the help of a Guggenheim Fellowship, wrote “Native Son,” published in 1940.

“Native Son” was criticized by many people for its violence. Black critics targeted Wright for writing a spectacle that seemed to confirm white America’s worst racist fantasies about Black men. But the book catapulted Wright to the top echelon of American letters. He published his autobiography, “Black Boy,” in 1945.

After World War II, Richard Wright expatriated to France, where he fell in with noted existentialist writer/philosophers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. He traveled to Africa in the 1950s, where he contracted dysentery. The illness contributed to Wright’s failing health before his death in Paris in 1960 of a heart attack. Wright was only 52.

Richard Wright greatly influenced the mindset of white liberals in the 1940s and 50s, and his work inspired the Black activists of the 1960s. “Wright,” said Amiri Baraka, “was one of the people who made me conscious of the need to struggle.” Without a doubt, Wright inspired Barack Obama, too.

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Before the battle for Civil Rights was waged in the South, it was fought in the North. And foremost among those northern Black leaders who spearheaded the charge for equality was Adam Clayton Powell Jr. As a local leader in pre-World War Two Harlem, Powell fought successfully to end discrimination in hiring and in public facilities. As the first- ever African-American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from New York, Powell placed himself at the forefront of the passage of Civil Rights and anti-poverty legislation. In a way, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. was the archetype for the modern Black politician in America. As such, he took those first steps in the long walk that eventually led to Barack Obama crossing the threshold of the White House.

Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. was born on November 29, 1908 in New Haven, Connecticut to Adam Clayton Powell Sr. and Mattie Shaffer. After moving to Harlem, Powell, Jr. published a regular column called “The Soap Box” in the Amsterdam News, a well-reputed black newspaper for Harlemites, and was able to establish himself as a voice for the people. In 1937, he succeeded his father as the head pastor of Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church. As a prominent leader of New York City’s Black community, Powell fought ceaselessly for the abolition of unfair, racist policies and practices. He led successful mass actions of all kinds: rent strikes, bus boycotts, and protests against the hiring practices of the 1939 World’s Fair and Harlem Hospital. Powell helped to create several organizations like the Harlem People’s Committee, who espoused his slogan “Don’t buy where you can’t work.” But Powell was not yet satisfied with the projects he saw to completion as a community leader, and ran for Congress in his district.

In 1944, he became the first African-American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from New York, and one of only two in the country at the time. Powell was a constant agitator in the House of Representatives and passed legislation to assure equal pay. He campaigned for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, aligning himself with a class of New Deal Democrats who hoped to create jobs for the working poor. Powell also helped create a Minimum Wage Bill, the Manpower Development and Training Act and the National Defense Education Act of 1958. Powell also desegregated the “whites only” facilities of the U.S. Capitol.

While Powell’s critics often condemned his flamboyant style, it was the way he drew attention to social issues that may have been neglected otherwise that made him so successful. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. died in 1972 but has left a legacy with his sons and nephew of the same name who have gone on to lead their local political struggles. President Obama is surely an incarnation of the great Adam Clayton Powell, a community organizer who rose to become the first of his kind in high office, giving hope to legions of under-represented Americans.

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Despite the rough nature of his sport, Muhammad Ali was one of the smoothest persons ever to walk the Earth. His poetic verse and well-considered metaphors came out a time during the 1960s when boxers were
better known for punching than speaking. But Muhammad Ali did speak, and spoke intelligently – in a loud, boisterous and uncompromising voice. In this way, Ali was the public epitome of the Black man who
would not be denied and would not back down. Ali, in a way, made it okay to be that man. Barack Obama, and all Black men of his generation, inherited that legacy and that gift from Muhammad Ali.

Born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky in 1942, Muhammad Ali grewup as a Baptist. Clay took to the sport of amateur boxing at the age of 12, where he won two national Golden Gloves titles and eventually won the gold medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics. Ali won a staggering 100 matches with only 5 losses in his amateur career before turning pro in 1960. In his first title fight, Clay triumphed over Sonny Liston with a T.K.O., after having brazenly said he would “shock the world” by doing so. Ali would win many more professional fights in his pro career, 56 in all, in which his winning was no longer all that shocking.

Outside of the boxing ring, Clay was just as powerful. His conversion to Islam, which prompted his name change, made him extremely controversial. Muhammad Ali often publicly declared his allegiance to
Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad during a time when Elijah was regarded with a great deal of hostility by Americans. Ali also supported controversial Nation of Islam beliefs, such as separatism,
and he was also avidly against interracial marriage. Despite his contentious beliefs, Ali remained well regarded by the public.

Ali declared himself a conscientious objector during the height of the Vietnam War. “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong,” Ali said. “No Viet Cong ever called me nigger.” In 1967, Ali was convicted of
draft evasion and stripped of his boxing license and titles. After a four-year legal battle, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1971.

Ali was involved in two of the most prominent fights in the history of the sport. First in 1971, there was the “Fight of the Century” in which Ali and Joe Frazier faced each other in Madison Square Garden.
The fight was hyped by sportscasters, newspapers, and of course, Ali’s diatribes. Joe Frazier had become known for his backing of the Vietnam War, while Ali was, of course, vociferously against it. It was a match
of undefeated wills and opposing idealisms. Ultimately, Frazier would win, but in two rematches, Ali was the victor both times, accumulating wins that essentially cemented his legacy. Ali was also the winner of
the “Rumble in the Jungle”, where he knocked George Foreman out and was the impetus behind the term “Rope-A-Dope.”

Since his retirement in 1981, Ali has used his boxing as a pedestal. He has traveled the world many times over, lending both his name and his prestige to honorable causes, especially that of hunger.

Ali’s independent and brazen character during a time of great racial tension was a symbol for all those who admired him as a boxer and as a man. His endeavors helped him earn a Presidential Medal of Freedom and
helped blaze the path for a Black man to be himself in front of the entire nation, just as Barack Obama was throughout his run for the Presidency.

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American music has always been, at base, African-American music. Gospel, minstrelsy, vaudeville, jazz, blues, rhythm & blues and rock n’ roll — it’s all basically Black, no matter the color of the artist who performs it. But until the 1960s, Black people did not much control their culture, much less profit from it. That all changed with the emergence of Detroit’s Motown Records in 1960, and its legendary founder, Berry Gordy. Gordy’s Motown remained the largest Black-owned business in America for decades, until Reginald Lewis bought Beatrice Foods in 1987.

But Gordy did something even more significant. He was the first Black entertainment entrepreneur to cross his roster into the American mainstream, making Motown the sound of all young America. In creating this powerful crossover, in which both white and Black youth felt comfortable, Gordy set the cultural stage for the emergence of the multiracial society that elected a Black man, Barack Obama, as the 44th President of the United States.

Berry Gordy, Jr. was born November 29, 1929 in Detroit, Michigan. The seventh of eight children, Gordy became a high-school dropout with dreams of becoming a professional boxer. After serving in the Korean War, Gordy returned to Detroit to open a record shop, which failed. After working in the local Lincoln-Mercury auto plant, Gordy fell in with a local singer named Jackie Wilson. Gordy began writing songs for Wilson, and their partnership ultimately resulted in a Top 1-0 R&B single, “Lonely Teardrops.”

After discovering Smokey Robinson and The Miracles in the late 1950s, Gordy borrowed some money from his family and started his own record label, Tamla, in 1959. The next year, he incorporated it as Motown. The 1960s had begun.

With an acute ear for catchy tunes, and a spit-and-polish work ethic, Gordy transformed a small recording studio into “Hitsville U.S.A.,” and launched the careers of Diana Ross and The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, The Four Tops, and the Jackson 5, among many others. Gordy’s glossy production sound stood in stark counterpoint to the “gut-bucket” southern soul of Stax and Atlantic Records. But Gordy’s insistence on punctuality, rigorous stage training and even charm school for his performers created an aura around Motown artists of impeccable, Black royalty — a roster that inspired young Black Americans and seduced a generation of young white Americans. The artists and producers of Detroit’s Motown Records provided much of the soundtrack to the 1960s and beyond.

Motown’s influence waned somewhat in the 1970s, and dissipated altogether by the mid 1980s, with the aging of its roster and the emergence of the new sound of young America, hip-hop. But Motown’s influence is felt to this day in the election and inauguration of Barack Obama. When one looks back at how America’s racial attitudes changed in the 1960s, when one looks back at the birth of the modern Black business — both changes bringing us to this powerful climax in 2009 — one must see, and salute, Mr. Berry Gordy.

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Bill Cosby is a man of many “firsts.” Cosby was the first Black comedian to conquer white American audiences. He was the first African- American to take a starring role in a network television series in the 1960s, “I Spy”; and the first to star in and produce a #1 TV show in the 1980s, “The Cosby Show.” He became the first successful Black “pitchman” for American consumer products too, from Jell-O to Kodak to Coca-Cola. Bill Cosby both defined and defied what it meant to “cross over.” On the one hand, Cosby was undeniably the first Black celebrity to transcend race — he wasn’t America’s top Black TV star; he was America’s top TV star, period. On the other, Cosby’s mainstreaming was controversial. To some critics, Cosby’s refusal to “deal with racial issues” in his work was a dereliction of duty. But Cosby, even more than Oprah Winfrey, was the foremost archetype for the racially transcendent ascendance of Barack Obama, now the 44th President of the United States.

William Henry Cosby, Jr. was born in Philadelphia in 1937. As a student, Cosby was sub-par, but as a class cut-up, he was a star. Cosby became more serious about his studies after a sobering experience in the Navy, where he worked in the physical therapy wing of a hospital that treated servicemen injured during the Korean War. Cosby returned to Temple University to get a degree in physical education, supporting himself by tending bar at a Philadelphia club. It was here, at the Cellar, that Cosby’s offhand humor became a vocation.

In 1962, Cosby’s performances at the Gaslight Café in New York City attracted the attention of Carl Reiner, whose mentorship sent Cosby on a trajectory to the Holy Grail for American stand-up comedy, the “Tonight Show.” Cosby performed around the country and signed a contract with Warner Bros. Records. But his historic breakthrough came when he was tapped to co-star in “I Spy” with Robert Culp.

Even then, Cosby was dogged by suggestions that, perhaps, his on- screen character presented an opportunity to deal with issues of race. Cosby begged to differ, saying that his mere presence as a white man’s peer, without reference to race, had a transformative effect on the white American psyche.

In the 1970s, Cosby starred in successful films like “Uptown Saturday Night,” and forged his credentials as a children’s educator with his participation in PBS-show “The Electric Company” and his creation of the “Fat Albert” series. But Cosby truly became “America’s Dad” with the triumph of the “Cosby Show,” which ran for most of the 1980s. The fictional Huxtable family presented, again, the definition and defiance of crossover. The Huxtables never dealt with racism on their show. And yet, they were proudly Black, even Afrocenric at times. A reprise of the Cosby TV juggernaut in the 1990s was interrupted by the tragic murder of Cosby’s son, Ennis.

In the 21st Century, Cosby continues to be a controversial figure, especially among young Blacks of the hip-hop generation who take offense to his often pointed denouncements of today’s Black youth. But there can be no doubt that Cosby created a powerful American imprint with his work, and that before the Obamas could enter the White House, the Huxtables had to enter all of ours.

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Ralph Ellison was the first novelist to portray the Black experience as a critical part of the American experience. His seminal novel, “Invisible Man,” was his only major work, but his letters, articles and fiction work established him as one of the most important writers in history. “Invisible Man” encapsulated the feelings of Black men and women as second-class citizens during the heart of the 20th Century. The phenomenon of invisibility — the feeling that one’s very existence isn’t acknowledged — continues to this day for many, if not most Black Americans. Invisibility doubtlessly dogged the young Barack Obama as he grew to manhood. But Obama’s election and inauguration as America’s first Black president marked a turning point. Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States, is now very much the Visible Man.

Ralph Waldo Ellison, named for Ralph Waldo Emerson, was born on March 1, 1914 in Oklahoma City. His father was a small business owner who died when Ellison was only three, but who secretly wished that his son would grow up to be a poet, like Emerson. When Ellison enrolled at the Tuskegee Institute, he studied music and already had a reputation as a trumpet player from his days in a high school orchestra. He segued into a relationship with writing and sculpture. Ellison left Tuskegee after his third year, hoping to earn money to pay for his final year by working in New York as an artist. The journey from the South to the North signified the shift in his life from promising rural artist to embattled author of the Black experience.

As Ellison made his way through New York’s circle of intellectuals, he met poet Langston Hughes, and artist Romare Bearden, but it was his acquaintance with author Richard Wright that influenced his later work. Ellison wrote reviews of Wright’s work in “New Challenge” and adopted some of Wright’s socialist attitudes; he also traveled the city searching for a circle of writers who could make sense of this new Black experience in the North. While writing book reviews for the journals of the day had earned Ellison income and public stature, Richard Wright suggested Ellison try his hand at fiction. In Ellison he saw the kind of rich Southern tradition that had made Richard Wright’s early work so palpable.

Ellison’s first attempt at short story writing “Hymie’s Bull” was indicative of his experimentation with the naturalist style, which combined elements of anger, double consciousness and lucidity for a truly unique work. Ellison received the Federal Writer’s Grant to fund his early career and worked consistently on “Invisible Man” from 1947 to 1952 with help from wife Fannie McConnell. “Invisible Man” was, in large part, Ellison’s nuanced response to the radical discourse coming from his social circle. In his novel, with its nameless protagonist, ambiguous racial allegiances, and subtle reference to Black culture seeping into American culture, Ellison encapsulated the parts of Black life that had been overlooked by both the radicals and the mainstream. It was an unapologetic tome that portrayed the sensitivity of Black men, while trumping some of the previously held notions of masculinity. “Invisible Man” won the National Book Award in 1953, beginning its long history into the annals of American literature as an essential work. Ellison reportedly finished 2000 pages of a second novel, but never finished. He did not allow that incomplete novel to end his range of works, preferring instead to join with other writers of his time to create more social commentary. Ellison served as a professor at Rutgers, Yale and New York University, and kept details of his second novel to himself. After Ellison’s death on April, 16th 1994, a long-time friend published Ellison’s anticipated second work as “Juneteenth.”

Ralph Ellison was among the first to assert that Black culture was an integral, inseparable part of American culture. Ellison aspired to show how connected the two cultures could be. The biracial Barack Obama wrote an autobiographical memoir, “Dreams from My Father,” that paralleled the Ellison’s vision of collective, united country, where all Men and Women are visible.

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A master of storytelling, Toni Morrison was the first Black woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Pulitzer Prize winning novelist and legendary professor is known for the vivid black characters brought to life in her novels that recreate the Black experience. Morrison’s novels often illuminate themes of slavery, racism, and identity, but also shine with hope for the future. In her first-ever political endorsement, Morrison wrote of a “national evolution” in a letter that publicly endorsed Barack Obama. As an educator and author, Morrison used her authority and standing as a Black pioneer to lay the groundwork for the presidency of Barack Obama.

Morrison was born Chloe Ardelia Wofford, in Lorain, Ohio, on February 18, 1931. An avid reader and learned storyteller, she graduated from high school with honors. In 1953 Morrison received her Bachelors in English from Howard University and then earned her Masters from Cornell.  Morrison soon became an English professor at Texas Southern University in Houston. She later returned to Howard to teach English.

In 1970 Morrison wrote her first novel, “The Bluest Eye,” about a little Black girl that dreamed every night of waking up with blue eyes.  Seven years later, she gained national acclaim with her third novel, “Song of Solomon.” It was the first novel by a black writer to be selected for the Book-of-the-Month Club since Richard Wright’s Native Son in 1940.
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She wrote a play, “Dreaming Emmett,” based on the true story of Emmett Till, an African-American teenager brutally killed by racist whites after allegedly whistling at a white woman in the South. It premiered January 4, 1986. In 1988, Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for her novel, “Beloved,”  which was adapted for film by Oprah Winfrey. In 2006, The New York Times Book Review named “Beloved” the best American novel published in the past 25 years.

Morrison taught within the State University of New York system and held the Robert F. Goheen Chair in the Humanities at Princeton University from 1989 until 2006. Morrison authored nine novels, the most recent being “A Mercy.”  She continues to exemplify brilliance in creative writing and sets the bar with her multilayered narrative.

Perhaps the most interesting political moment in Morrison’s career came when she called Bill Clinton “our first Black president.” But in 2008, Morrison backpedaled from that assertion, saying that Clinton was “Black” only in the sense that he had been treated that way. If there was any question of Morrison’s true feelings, it was answered by Morrison’s spurning of Hillary Clinton in favor of Barack Obama.

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Professing to be “unbossed and unbought,” Shirley Chisholm was the first black female major-party candidate for President of the United States, and the first black woman to be elected to Congress. Chisholm wasn’t intent on winning the presidency, but was steadfast on challenging conventions and showing Black America that they could aim high. She set the bar, in many ways, over which President Barack Obama jumped.

Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm was born November 30, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York. She attended Brooklyn College, where she majored in sociology; she later earned a Masters from Columbia University.

In 1964, Chisholm ran for and was elected to the New York State Legislature. Four years later, she ran as the Democratic candidate for New York’s 12th District congressional seat and was elected to the House of Representatives. As the first woman in Congress she hired an all-female staff.

Serving seven terms, Chisholm was an outspoken advocate for women, minorities, and the poor: she worked to improve opportunities for inner-city residents. She authored legislation that instituted a program called SEEK (Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge), which provided college funding to disadvantaged youth.

The pinnacle of Chisholm’s ascent occurred in 1972, when she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States, and the first female candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination. Chisholm won 152 votes at the 1972 Democratic National Convention, but lost.

Chisholm retired from Congress in 1982, but remained a public figure and voice. On January 1, 2005, Shirley Chisholm died. Chisholm, as politician, author, and educator, overcame her two largest “handicaps,” being a woman and being black. She fought for political change in the 20th century that allowed tangible change, which is exhibited in the current presidency of Barack Obama.

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a dynamic theology student and pastor who entered the battle for civil rights somewhat reluctantly, thrust into the fray during the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955. But the young Dr. King’s moral courage, deep understanding and rhetorical abilities made his local and national leadership inevitable. In the face of white supremacist violence, King’s espousal non-violence struck many Black activists as dangerously naïve, King’s most notable critic being Malcolm X. But at the very least, King’s philosophies made his moral authority unquestionable, and irresistible to a generation of young whites who wanted to help the cause.

King’s “I Have A Dream” speech to the assembled protesters at the 1963 March on Washington galvanized a national movement, and his direct negotiations with President Lyndon Baines Johnson led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act in 1965, enfranchising millions of Black voters. For his efforts, Dr, King was recognized the world over, and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. King spoke out forcefully against the Vietnam War, and was poised to organize a multi-racial “Poor People’s Campaign” when he was gunned down by a white assassin in Memphis in April, 1968.

If there ever was a “Black leader” — someone who held to respect of a large number of African-Americans and had the power to negotiate on their behalf — it was King. In the years after Dr. King’s murder, many African-Americans lamented the lack of a strong leader of King’s stature. It was a void occupied, at times, by figures like Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan, but never quite filled. But King’s legacy turned out to be just as powerful as his Earthly presence. He left an America transformed: segregation declining, and Black political power increasing. His insistence on an America that lived up to its highest ideals of equality weighed heavily in the successful campaign to create a national holiday in his honor, the first African-American to achieve that near demigod-status.

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Born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. in 1947 in New York, New York, Jabbar was a born basketball player and leader. After his high school career, Jabbar went out West to play for the UCLA Bruins and legendary coach John Wooden. Despite not being able to play his freshman year due to NCAA rules, Jabbar is still well regarded as the greatest college basketball player ever. In three seasons, he won two Player of the Year Awards, three National Championships, three Most Outstanding Player in Tournament awards, and he averaged 26.4 points per game. Jabbar was picked first by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 1969 NBA Draft and went on to win the NBA Rookie of the Year title. Jabbar would later be traded to Los Angeles, where five more championships would ensue. It was in L.A .that Jabbar would also pursue what would turn out to be a respectable acting career.

Jabbar used his influence to enlighten the American population. He wrote several books with the intention of popularizing the contributions of African-Americans to American culture, including “Black Profiles in Courage: A Legacy of African-American Achievement,” and “On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the Harlem Renaissance.”

In 2008, Jabbar was chosen as The Greatest Player in College Basketball History. His influence on college basketball was immeasurable. From causing the dunk to be banned because of his dominance and the creation of the skyhook, to beating the #1 ranked UCLA Bruins varsity team with his junior varsity classmates in an intrasquad match, Jabbar’s achievements in college are legendary.

Jabbar’s heights of achievement made him an example of excellence to everyone. But whether it was basketball, acting, writing, or speaking, Jabbar was and is always an excellent human being, a model citizen, and someone who many people turn to for guidance. Even though he was raised in a time of racial upheaval, Jabbar stayed above the fray and never let racial animosity affect him—something Barack Obama has done equally well in his quest for the Presidency.

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In his seminal work, Race Matters, Dr. Cornel West questions matters of economics and politics, as well as addressing the crisis in Black leadership. The book was written in 1993, but many of its themes are salient today. His scholarship has come to be recognized globally and West, himself, is known for his combination of political and moral insight and criticism. The bulk of his work focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society. As a contemporary of Barack Obama, and fellow Harvard student, West is among the few scholars to so eloquently articulate the modern Black experience of our generation. Both men are products of various influences including the civil rights movement and, like West, Barack Obama has made an art of maximizing his patchwork heritage to bring greater consciousness to the American public and elevate civic dialogue on race, politics and society.

Cornel West was born in 1953 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Shaped by his family, church, education and the black social movements of the 1960s, West admired the “sincere black militancy of Malcolm X, the defiant rage of the Black Panther Party… and the livid black theology of James Cone.” He enrolled at Harvard University and took classes taught by philosophers like Robert Nozick and Stanley Cavell. After earning his doctorate from Princeton in 1980, he went on to teach at several institutions including Yale and Harvard.

In 2000, after a public row with economist, former U.S. Treasury Secretary and then-president of Harvard, Lawrence Summers, he left his post and returned to Princeton University, where he has been teaching ever since.

He has been involved in projects such as the Million Man March and Russell Simmons’ Hip-Hop Summit. West’s outreach and projects were focused on bringing youth into the political fold and helping them realize the power of their generation to change the status quo, a meem echoed by Barack Obama during his presidential campaign, which resulted in an unprecedented amount of youth participation both, on the ground and in the voting booths.

West is probably best known for his views on race in America, a topic of immense relevance as we begin the term of the first black President, Barack Obama. West describes the United States as a “racist patriarchal” nation where “white supremacy” continues to define everyday life. In a somewhat controversial statement with regard to the September 11 attacks, West said the attack gave white Americans a glimpse of what it means to be black in America – feeling “unsafe, unprotected, subject to random violence, and hated” for who they are.

Being, in many ways, a kindred spirit to President Barack Obama, it was no surprise when West so actively supported and campaigned for Obama during the presidential race. Both Dr. Cornel West and President Barack Obama were deeply influenced by the histories they came from and realized that the real power of a nation came from overturning stale paradigms and reinvigorating the youth toward positive change.

Watch our Video of Dr. West discussing his favorite “Way Black When” moment. Take a look:

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Harriet Tubman freed more than 70 slaves over the course of 13 clandestine missions in her lifetime. That number is infinitesimal compared to the millions of Africans in bondage before the American Civil War. But Tubman’s legend had a psychological impact on the enslaved and the free, on Black and white, that far exceeded her armspan and lifespan. Tubman, the tenacious liberator of Black slaves, was called “Moses” because she led her people to “the promised land.” Some people have also called the election and inauguration of Barack Obama’s as the 44th president of the United States a substantial fulfillment of that American promise.

Tubman was born Araminta Ross in Dorchester County, Maryland. Araminta, called “Minty,” was a slave, as were her parents, brothers, sisters and extended family. Tubman was always rebellious, naturally enraged at the brutality of her bondage. But it was the repeated “sell-offs” of members of her family that first prompted her escape to free territory in Philadelphia, and then to boldly sneak back across the Mason-Dixon line to rescue her loved ones.

In the years before the Civil War, despite the passage of a tough fugitive slave law, Tubman braved capture and death to lead over a dozen missions to free scores of slaves, mostly from Maryland’s Eastern Shore. During journeys that went as far north as Canada, she used an already established network of houses and way-stations owned by freed Blacks and sympathetic whites, dubbed the “Underground Railroad.”

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Slavehouse to the White House

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In the north, Tubman befriended abolitionists and rebels like John Brown, for whom she raised money. At the dawn of the war, Tubman joined the Union forces as a nurse, an aid to refugees, and a scout. After the war and Emancipation, Tubman lent her efforts to another liberation movement: women’s suffrage. She died in 1913.

To say that Tubman was tough is an understatement. She set the bar very high indeed for the men and women who followed. It is that determination in the face of violence, death and failure that is Tubman’s greatest legacy.

When Booker T. Washington stepped to the podium at the Atlanta Exposition in 1895 to give a speech on race relations, two things happened.

First, many fellow Black Americans, including W.E.B. Du Bois, derided his speech as “The Atlanta Compromise,” because Washington called the agitation for social equality “the extremest folly,” advocating instead slow, steady, and segregated self-improvement for the American Negro.

Second, Booker T. Washington’s was acclaimed by the white power structure, and his less threatening approach to progress proclaimed in the press. Washington himself was elevated to the status of the pre-eminent “Negro leader,” at least in the eyes of white folks. Washington alone had access to the ears and pockets of millionaires like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. Washington alone received an invitation to Teddy Roosevelt’s White House in 1901.

His debate with Du Bois — who called Washington “The Great Accommodator” — has been simplified to one of segregation versus integration. But Washington secretly contributed to anti-segregationist causes, all the while publically advocating an industrial education for Negroes, rather than the liberal arts education that Du Bois favored. Most notably, Booker T. Washington, who was born a slave, went on to found the Tuskeegee Institute, one of the first historically black colleges.

Washington was not a radical, and he caught hell from activists who wanted to move faster. In our time, Barack Obama’s moderate policies, his willingness to meet with his political adversaries, and his advocacy of Black self-reliance rankles many liberals and older Black leaders. As such, Obama and Booker T. Washington share a legacy of both personal achievement in the face of past adversity; and, in some ways, prudent accommodation with the larger power structure.

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The Marley family has just released pictures of Bob Marley’s wife, Rita and his son, Ziggy’s visit to the White House. I wonder how Bob would feel to know that a Black man with the same bi-racial heritage as him is president of the United States, the heart of Babylon. I wonder how Marley would react to his song, “One Love,” being used to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama.

Thirty years after Jamaican reggae artist Bob Marley united the world under the banner of peace, unity, and human rights, Barack Obama inspired the world with a similar message. Bob Marley chastised corrupt politicians and war while exhorting oppressed people to “get up, stand up.” Both Marley and Obama would not only win the love of the Black people, but also the admiration of young, idealistic whites who would further Marley’s cause. Bob Marley was born in Jamaica in 1946. His father, Captain Norval Marley, was an officer in the English Navy as well as a plantation overseer. His mother was an 18-year-old black woman by the name of Cedella Booker. Marley’s parents didn’t stay together. His father died when Marley was 10.

As a young man, Marley moved to Kingston, Jamaica’s capital, where a burgeoning music scene was developing. Marley joined up with local musicians such as Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. The trio formed the Wailers and recorded with some of Jamaica’s top producers. Marley composed several songs that represented the angst of the Jamaican underclass, and the tensions between the haves and have-nots in his native land.

It wasn’t until Bob Marley signed with Chris Blackwell’s Island Records that Marley would take his sound around the world. Bob Marley positioned himself the rebel, singing songs that people all over the world could relate to, songs like “I Shot The Sheriff,” “Get Up, Stand Up,” and “Concrete Jungle.” Marley was able to do what King and Ghandi did, and what Obama accomplished in 2008 — rally educated people of European backgrounds around the cause of multiculturalism and racial harmony. The same populist underdog voice Marley’s songs echoes in Obama’s speeches.

While Marley painted a dark picture, there was always an undying optimism in his voice, a sense that things would get better, that people could unite to end racism and classism.

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Both Marley and Obama have the ability to be militant without being threatening. Obama’s anti-war stance and criticism of America’s social system reflected the angst of the working and middle class in America. Still, he was able to sweeten up his strong desire for change with calls of unity, hope, and progress in an all-inclusive America. Similarly, Marley managed to remain pro-Black and a voice of the downtrodden while sweetening up his message with calls for love, peace and unity. The millions of white Americans who grew up on Marley’s music — from the frat boys, to the hippies, to the millions of Americans who’ve heard his songs on the radio and own his “Legend” CD — became the a crucial part of Obama’s “post-racial” America.

Obama and Marley made the same bi-partisan efforts to unite people. After Marley was shot, he united the heads of the warring Jamaican political parties at the historic “One Love” peace concert in Jamaica. Bob Marley was the voice of the Third World, but was still able to attract the attention of the European upper-class, royalty and celebrities. Time Magazine named “Exodus” the “Album of the Century,” and the BBC named “One Love” the song of the century.

Marley said: “I don’t have prejudice against meself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don’t dip on nobody’s side. Me don’t dip on the black man’s side nor the white man’s side. Me dip on God’s side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.”

Click here to see video of Bob Marley!

Click here to read about Obama’s Top 5 Marley Songs!

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Top 10 Ghetto Ways to Support Obama

President Barack Obama’s inauguration fundraisers had no problem capitalizing on a hot market for keepsakes. Their sales of Obama souvenirs reaped $2 million for the inaugural committee.

When added to the $53 million in individual donations disclosed by the committee earlier this week, those sales boost total inaugural fundraising to about $55 million.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the inaugural committee is debt-free. He said the swearing-in celebrations cost about $50 million.

Inaugural fundraisers sold a wide range of items carrying Obama’s name and image. Mementos included clothing, jewelry, glassware, artwork and even decorated piggy banks, rulers and coasters.

Obama’s predecessor, President George W. Bush, raised $40 million to $42 million for each of his two inaugurations.

Top 10 Ghetto Ways to Support Obama

Top 10 Ghetto Ways to Support Obama

Civil rights icon the Rev. Joseph Lowery was released from a hospital Monday following a dizzy spell a day earlier as he greeted parishioners at the famed Ebenezer Baptist Church.

Lowery, 88, was the keynote speaker Sunday to mark Ebenezer’s 123rd anniversary. Called “America’s Freedom Church,” the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached there from 1960 until his death in 1968.

“I just got overheated,” Lowery told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his home. “The doctor did tell me to slow down, though. I’m going to slow down, but it’s hard. Nobody respects my retirement, and I don’t insist. You have to be grateful folks still want you around.”

Lowery had preached for about 40 minutes, said the Rev. Raphael G. Warnock, senior pastor at Ebenezer.

“He was shaking hands and he just became a little weak and lost his balance,” Warnock said. “Within moments, he was able to respond to questions.”

Warnock said doctors in the congregation looked at Lowery before paramedics were called as a precaution. Warnock accompanied Lowery to the hospital.

“I think he just overdid it,” Warnock said.

Lowery was kept overnight for observation and left the hospital on Monday about 2 p.m., and he won’t be slowing down anytime soon.

He said he has plans to travel to Washington, D.C., on Thursday and to his native Alabama this weekend.

“I’m off and running,” he said. “People want you to help them, and I’m a chaplain of the common good.”

Lowery is a co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and is known as the “Dean of the Civil Rights Movement.” Though he is officially retired from preaching, Lowery gave the benediction at President Barack Obama’s inauguration in January and is still an activist today, championing voting and human rights.

Dear Michelle,

If I had to assign a visual to accompany Maya Angelou’s poem “Phenomenal Woman”, I’d choose yours. Your blend of confidence, humility, sparkling intelligence, and compassion you exude are indeed phenomenal. Neither a pre-positioned doll nor trophy wife you have real friends of your own; a life of your own design. The success I want for you in your new role is beyond articulation.

It is precisely your authenticity that inspires me to speak up on work-life balance, because you’ve set its achievement among your priorities as First Lady. After seventeen years of working and eight years of motherhood, I humbly suggest a reframing of the work-life balance conversation.

I assert that what women need is work-life function. ‘Balance’ connotes equal distribution. No one woman can be at the meeting that runs long, at the spring recital, and lounging before the fire in lingerie at one time. Inevitably, something gets sacrificed. If nothing else, the phrase is a misnomer. Even the leaders in the field acknowledge this: according to Jim Bird, CEO of worklifebalance.com, “work-life balance is not a problem to be solved. It is an issue to be managed.”
You are most fortunate to have a husband who is a present, loving, and participating father; and equally blessed to have your mother with you to share in the labor of love known as parenting. What about married women of soldiers on duty? What about single moms, women with absentee spouses who opt out of parenting, or women whose parents or extended family are in different locations, differently abled, or deceased? What about the women who can’t afford to hire a nanny or even a babysitter on a consistent basis?

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Women need family and career lives to work instead of just hang in the balance. According to some important research, the AFL-CIO says women now outnumber men in the occupational labor category, comprising 56.2% as of 2008. Despite being the majority of managers and executives, women still earn 23% less income than their male counterparts. (It is worth noting here that the National Organization of Women website points out that “for women of color, this [pay] gap is even wider.”) Nearly half of working women cannot support themselves with one job, so they have two or more to supplement income until equal pay for equal work is a reality. This figure has jumped 22% since 1974. According to a 1996 report by the AARP, 44% of women between the ages of 45 and 55 are caring for a parent and a child as members of Generation S, the Sandwich Generation. In short, the demands on women have grown, by far outpacing their earning power. If anything needs balance, it’s the pay scale. With your husband’s signing of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, we’re on the right path.

When it comes to my career and family, it is not balance, but alignment that I seek. Balance is for yoga and budgets. I’ve figured out that I can have it all, just not all at once. Frankly, I don’t need to have it all at the same time. I just need harmony in the orchestration of my life. And I need for our leaders to make a new commitment to provide the aforementioned equal pay for equal work, to allow deductions for weight loss and fitness expenses, increases credits and deductions related to child care, designated employee sick time for the care of dependents, corporate incentives to provide access to child care on or near the job site, and of course, universal health care, which will bring considerable relief for all Americans.
Yes working women can achieve first-class working citizenship. Yes, Americans can have careers and family lives that work. Balancing the two, as it turns out, is overrated.

Respectfully yours,
Thembisa Mshaka

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In addition to being a copywriter, voice actor, wife and mother, Thembisa S. Mshaka is the author of the career guide, “Put Your Dreams First: Handle Your [entertainment Business]”.

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Click here to read about Oprah Winfrey!

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Click here to read about Women and Work In The Age of Obama!

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A woman who believes “luck is preparation meeting opportunity,” Oprah Gail Winfrey has continuously shattered gender and racial barriers in America. Winfrey is the most successful talk show host in American TV history — male or female, Black or white — and the first female African-American billionaire. As one of the most influential women in the world, Winfrey continues to be a beacon that transcends racial and social barriers, much like Barack Obama. In 2006, Winfrey endorsed Obama for president, her first public political stance ever. She accompanied the Obamas on the campaign trail. But perhaps her greatest contribution to the ascendance of Barack Obama is how she prepared America for him through her show, as an African-American who won the hearts of women from all walks of life.

WATCH: Oprah Winfrey delivering 2008 Stanford Commencement speech.

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Explore the year 1994!

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From The New York Times:

Following are two poems by Barack Obama that were published in the Spring 1981 issue of “Feast,” a 51-page student literary journal that described itself as “a semi-annual journal of short poetry and fiction collected from the Occidental College community.” The journal is no longer published, according to a college spokesman.

To read Obama’s poetry, click here.

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One of the most astounding voices in African-American literature, Maya Angelou is heralded for her literary prowess and activism. Working alongside Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., Angelou was a profound figure in the Civil Rights Movement, and was the first Black woman to have a screenplay produced. The Grammy Award-winning poet is an icon that continues to motivate and inspire. Her accomplishments and voice have moved people beyond boundaries of race and gender, setting the standard for figures like Barack Obama.

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VIDEO: Maya Angelou speaks to Harry Smith about Obama’s victory and recites her poem “I Rise.”

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Click here to read the Poetry of Barack Obama!

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From Tom McGeveran at The New York Observer:

Legendary novelist and editor Toni Morrison’s endorsement of Barack Obama is obviously not significant for her ability to move voters at the polls, which is not proven and probably not likely to be proven. But given her perceived attachment to the Clintons—Bill, she famously once called America’s first black president; and Hillary she has been close to in the past—we thought it worth printing in full the letter of endorsement she sent to the Illinois senator, as released by the Obama campaign.

Click here for the full letter.

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Click here to read about Toni Morrison!

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Click here to read Toni Morrison’s Letter To Obama!

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A master of storytelling, Toni Morrison was the first Black woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Pulitzer Prize winning novelist and legendary professor is known for the vivid black characters brought to life in her novels that recreate the Black experience. Morrison’s novels often illuminate themes of slavery, racism, and identity, but also shine with hope for the future. In her first-ever political endorsement, Morrison wrote of a “national evolution” in a letter that publicly endorsed Barack Obama. As an educator and author, Morrison used her authority and standing as a Black pioneer to lay the groundwork for the presidency of Barack Obama.

VIDEO: Toni Morrison reads an excerpt from her new book, “A Mercy”

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Click here to read Toni Morrison’s Letter To Obama!

Explore the year 1992!

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• What About Shirley Chisholm?

• The Femme Candidate | Article | Video

• Explore the year 1991

DAY 26 of 44

• From Medgar Evers To Barack Obama

• The Desegregator | MEDGAR EVERS | Article | Video

• Explore the year 1990

DAY 25 of 44

• From The Slavehouse To The White House

• The Liberator | HARRIET TUBMAN | Article

• Explore the year 1989

DAY 24 of 44

• Black Fatherhood In The Age Of Obama

• The First Father | BILL COSBY | Article | Video

• Explore the year 1988

DAY 23 of 44

• Will Obama Change Hip-Hop’s Attitude?

• The Hitmaker | BERRY GORDY | Article | Video

• Explore the year 1987

DAY 22 of 44

• Obama’s Top 5 Marley Songs

• The Legend | BOB MARLEY | Article | Video

• Explore the year 1986

DAY 21 of 44

• Hope On A Tight Rope

• The Scholar | CORNEL WEST | Article | Video

• Explore the year 1985

DAY 20 of 44

• Double Consciousness: Obama & The White Vote

• The Invisible Man | RALPH ELLISON | Article

• Explore the year 1984

DAY 19 of 44

• Influencing Politics In The Age Of Obama

• The Congressman | ADAM CLAYTON POWELL, JR. | Article | Video

• Explore the year 1983

DAY 18 of 44

• Experts Critique Obama, The Writer

• The Native Son | RICHARD WRIGHT | Article

• Explore the year 1982

DAY 17 of 44

• Political Art In The Age Of Obama

• The Poet | GWENDOLYN BROOKS | Article | Video

• Explore the year 1981

DAY 16 of 44

• Are Black Republicans Obsolete?

• The Activist | FANNIE LOU HAMER | Article | Video

• Explore the year 1980

DAY 15 of 44

• White America Reacts

• The Greatest | MUHAMMAD ALI | Article | Video

• Explore the years 1978 & 1979

DAY 14 of 44

• 11 Questions For The Obama Science Team

• The Lifesaver | CHARLES DREW | Article | Video

• Explore the years 1978 & 1979

DAY 13 of 44

• The End Of White America?

• The Diplomat | RALPH BUNCHE | Article

• Explore the year 1977

DAY 12 of 44

• Michelle Obama, The American Girl

• The Storyteller | ZORA NEALE HURSTON | Article | Video

• Explore the year 1976

DAY 11 of 44

• Community Organizing & President Obama

• The Nationalist | MARCUS GARVEY | Article | Video

• Explore the year 1975

DAY 10 of 44

• Socialism, Racism & Obama

• The First Champion | JACK JOHNSON | Article | Video

• Explore the year 1974

DAY 9 of 44

DAY 8 of 44

• Black Womanhood In The Age Of Obama

• The Businesswoman | MADAME CJ WALKER | Article | Video

• Explore the year 1972

DAY 7 of 44

• Black Male Stereotypes In The Age Of Obama

• The Renaissance Man | KAREEM ABDUL JABBAR | Article | Video

• Explore the year 1971

DAY 6 of 44

• White Feminists & Michelle Obama

• The Woman’s Woman | SOJOURNER TRUTH | Article | Video

• Explore the year 1970

GIANT Magazine & Celebrate 44 present: A NEW DAY

• Celebrity reflections from Usher, Akon, Bow Wow, Mary Mary, Keri Hilson, D’Angelo and more.

• Plus Obama Quotes of the Day, and more on inaugural style, celebrity and culture!

DAY 5 of 44

• How The Black Athlete Paved The Way For Obama

• The Man Who Could Fly | MICHAEL JORDAN | Article | Gallery | Video

• Explore the year 1969

DAY 4 of 44

• A More Perfect Union: Obama’s Speech On Race

• The Man Who Dreamed Our Reality | MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. | Article | Gallery | Video

• Explore the year 1968

DAY 3 of 44

• Hollywood & Race In The Age Of Obama

• The Moderate | BOOKER T. WASHINGTON | Article | Video

• Explore the year 1967

DAY 2 of 44

• American Cities In The Age Of Obama

• The Man Who Wouldn’t Settle For Less | W.E.B. DU BOIS | Article | Gallery | Video

• Explore the year 1966

From Linda Lowen at About.com:

As we look back at the 2008 presidential primaries – with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama trading one-liners and fighting for percentage points – it’s important to look back and pay homage to someone who paved the way for both of them.

That person is Shirley Chisholm.

To read more, click here.

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Professing to be “unbossed and unbought,” Shirley Chisholm was the first black female major-party candidate for President of the United States, and the first black woman to be elected to Congress. Chisholm wasn’t intent on winning the presidency, but was steadfast on challenging conventions and showing Black America that they could aim high. She set the bar, in many ways, over which President Barack Obama jumped.

VIDEO: Shirley Chisholm gives a speech in 1972

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Click here to read What About Shirley Chisholm?

Explore the year 1991!

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Little did I realize when John Frazier and I had our tear- and emotion-filled reunion in November 2007 at a “Symposium on Social Justice in the 1960s” at the University of Southern Mississippi that I would find myself a year later as part of an event shaping up at the Smithsonian Institution that will help connect the dots between the civil rights era of four decades ago with the election of America’s first black president, Barack Obama.

Frazier said he and his daughter are working with the Smithsonian to donate the historic letters, writings and documents of Medgar Evers to the Civil Rights wing of the nation’s museum.

If everything goes together as planned, it is possible that President Obama may be enticed to participate, to take receipt of papers associated with a man who has often been described as the first martyr of the great civil rights movement of the 1950s and ‘60s.

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