The Black 100

Who are the most influential African-Americans that ever lived? Any such list is subject to passionate discussion and debate. It is within this controversy that readers are educated about the full breadth and depth of the African-American experience. After extensive thought and research author and educator Dr. Columbus Salley has selected the 100 most influential African-Americans of all time, and then ranked them according to their contributions to the struggle for equality. As a result, the Black 100 is a unique compendium of the most significant African-Americans, past and present. Dr. Salley identifies 100 black women and men as the collective giants on whose shoulders African-Americans stand in their unending quest for full economic, political and social equality. The Black 100 is not a debate on the "most talented" or "most famous" Black Americans, but is a listing - and ranking - of those who have had the greatest impact on the progress toward complete participation in our society. Here are the 100 who have fundamentally altered the ways in which millions of Americans - of all races - live today. It is fascinating to read how the author ranks the influence of some personalities as opposed to others. Who is first? Who is last? And why? The list of names in The Black 100 reads like a history of African-Americans over nearly 400 years. To name just a few: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Zora Neale Hurston, Paul Robeson, Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, James Baldwin, Booker T. Washington, Fannie Lou Hamer, Muhammad Ali, Bill Cosby. Dr. Salley reveals the unique contributions of each of the 100 to African-American history. The Black 100 is one of the mostprovocative and informative books ever written on this subject. It will be endlessly debated, discussed and scrutinized. A compellingly readable contribution to an understanding of our history, it will prove to be an essential book for all students and teachers in the field - as