The Black 100

the long version

Who are the most influential African-Americans that ever lived? After extensive thought and research, author and educator Dr. Columbus Salley has selected the one hundred most influential African-Americans of all time and ranked them according to their contributions to the struggle for equality. The Black 100 is not a debate on the most talented or most famous black Americans but a listing - and a ranking - of those who have had the greatest impact on the progress toward complete participation in our society. Here are the one hundred who have fundamentally altered the ways in which millions of Americans - of all races - live today. The names in The Black 100 read like a history of African-Americans over nearly four hundred years. They include Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Zora Neale Hurston, Paul Robeson, Muhammad Ali, James Baldwin, Jackie Robinson, Toni Morrison, Marcus Garvey, Thurgood Marshall, and Arthur Ashe. For each of the one hundred Dr. Salley provides a biographical sketch and an account of the reasons why each individual is ranked where he or she is. This revised and updated edition now includes Oprah Winfrey and August Wilson among the one hundred most influential African-Americans.