100 Greatest African Americans

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100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia
100 Greatest African Americans.jpg
AuthorMolefi Kete Asante
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SubjectAfrican-American biographies
Published2002
PublisherPrometheus Books
Media typePrint
Pages345
ISBN978-1-57392-963-9

100 Greatest African Americans is a biographical dictionary of one hundred historically great Black Americans (in alphabetical order; that is, they are not ranked), as assessed by Temple University professor Molefi Kete Asante in 2002. A similar book was written by . First published in 1992, Salley's book is titled The Black 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential African-Americans, Past and Present.

Criteria[]

Asante used five factors in establishing the list:

  • "significance in the general progress of African-Americans toward full equality in the American social and political system"
  • "self-sacrifice and a willingness to take great risks for the collective good"
  • "unusual will and determination in the face of great danger and against the most stubborn odds"
  • "a consistent posture toward raising the social, cultural and economic status of African Americans"
  • "personal achievement that reveals the best qualities of the African American people"

Reference and User Services Quarterly reviewed the list positively in 2003, while noting the subjectivity in judging greatness, particularly for contemporary individuals.[1] A review in Booklist that same year states that Asante "makes it very clear that he left out numerous current popular people because he feels the hype around the pop persona is not what makes an individual important . . . Each portrait covers two to four pages that summarize the person’s life, work, and importance and is accompanied by a black-and-white photograph or illustration."[2]

The list[]

(This is the list as published in the 2002 book.)

  1. Hank Aaron (1934-2021)
  2. Ira Aldridge (1807-1867)
  3. Muhammad Ali (1942-2016)
  4. Richard Allen (1760-1831)
  5. Marian Anderson (1897-1993)
  6. Maya Angelou (1928-2014)
  7. Arthur Ashe (1943-1993)
  8. Crispus Attucks (1723-1770)
  9. James Baldwin (1924-1987)
  10. Benjamin Banneker (1731-1806)
  11. Amiri Baraka (1934-2014)
  12. Romare Bearden (1911-1988)
  13. Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955)
  14. Guion Bluford (born 1942)
  15. Arna Bontemps (1902-1973)
  16. Edward W. Brooke (1919-2015)
  17. Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000)
  18. Blanche K. Bruce (1841-1898)
  19. Ralph Bunche (1903-1971)
  20. George Washington Carver (1864-1943)
  21. Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005)
  22. Kenneth B. Clark (1914-2005)
  23. John Henrik Clarke (1915-1998)
  24. John Coltrane (1926-1967)
  25. Bill Cosby (born 1937)
  26. Alexander Crummell (1819-1898)
  27. Countee Cullen (1903-1946)
  28. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. (1912-2002)
  29. Martin R. Delany (1812-1885)
  30. Frederick Douglass (1817-1895)
  31. Charles Drew (1904-1950)
  32. W. E. B. Du Bois (1868-1963)
  33. Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)
  34. Katherine Dunham (1909-2006)
  35. Duke Ellington (1899-1974)
  36. James Forten (1766-1842)
  37. John Hope Franklin (1915-2009)
  38. Henry Highland Garnet (1815-1882)
  39. Marcus Garvey (1887-1940)
  40. Prince Hall (1735-1807)
  41. Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977)
  42. Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965)
  43. Dorothy Height (1912-2010)
  44. Matthew Henson (1866-1955)
  45. Charles Hamilton Houston (1895-1950)
  46. Langston Hughes (1901-1967)
  47. Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960)
  48. Jesse Jackson (born 1941)
  49. Mae Jemison (born 1956)
  50. Jack Johnson (1878-1946)
  51. James Weldon Johnson
  52. John H. Johnson
  53. Percy Julian
  54. Ernest Just
  55. Maulana Karenga
  56. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  57. Edmonia Lewis
  58. Alain Locke
  59. Joe Louis
  60. Thurgood Marshall
  61. Benjamin E. Mays
  62. Elijah McCoy
  63. Claude McKay
  64. Oscar Micheaux
  65. Dorie Miller
  66. Garrett Morgan
  67. Toni Morrison
  68. Elijah Muhammad
  69. Jesse Owens
  70. Rosa Parks
  71. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
  72. Colin Powell
  73. A. Philip Randolph
  74. Hiram Revels
  75. Paul Robeson
  76. Jackie Robinson
  77. John Russwurm
  78. Arturo Schomburg
  79. Benjamin "Pop" Singleton
  80. Mary Church Terrell
  81. William Monroe Trotter
  82. Sojourner Truth
  83. Harriet Tubman
  84. Kwame Ture
  85. Henry McNeal Turner
  86. Nat Turner
  87. David Walker
  88. Madame C. J. Walker
  89. Booker T. Washington
  90. Ida B. Wells-Barnett
  91. Phillis Wheatley
  92. Walter F. White
  93. Roy Wilkins
  94. Daniel Hale Williams
  95. August Wilson
  96. Oprah Winfrey
  97. Tiger Woods
  98. Carter G. Woodson
  99. Richard Wright
  100. Malcolm X


See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Hughes, M. Elaine (Summer 2003). "'100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia' Book Review". Reference and User Services Quarterly. 42 (4): 356.
  2. ^ "100 Greatest African Americans". Booklist. 99 (12): 1097. February 15, 2003.
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