1900

In this century African Americans moved their feet and changed lives for all Americans. We have made significant accomplishments and changed the way we as a people were seen and how our struggle was told.

Barack Hussein Obama II

Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president of the United States. He was born in August of 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law.

He married Michelle Robinson.

As the President, Obama passed a health care bill into law that gave more protection for more Americans. He is currently building his Presidential Library in Chicago in a predominately African American neighborhood.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz and swing music singer. She was born Eleanora Fagan on April 7, 1915 in Philadelphia. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. She also sang stories that gave insight into African American life, such as Strange Fruit. This song protests the lynching of African Americans. She won four Grammy’s posthumously. Holiday died of cirrhosis on July 17, 1959, at age 44.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Holiday

James Baldwin

James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various mediums, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, was published in 1953; decades later, Time magazine included the novel on its list of the 100 best English-language novels released from 1923 to 2005. His first essay collection, Notes of a Native Son, was published in 1955.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baldwin