The United States is a big country. It has mixed cultures and societies. African-American is one of the biggest societies in the US. Most African-American people are black. Blacks have supplied the US with their homeland spirit. They have formulated American life since they came. Some of the men and women give great contribution. They achieve popularity in some areas like politics, economics, entertainment, and sports. There are 5 African-American men and women who are popular word wide.
1. Oprah Winfrey
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| Wikipedia ( Obama< Michelle,Oprah) |
Her name was Orpah Gail Winfrey. She was born on January 29, 1954 in Mississippi. She is one of the most popular talk show-host and one of the richest African-American women. She was not born in prosperity. Winfrey switched to Milwaukee, Wisconsin when she was six. Her mother, Vernita Lee was a housemaid. She found her childhood difficult. She gave a birth at the age of 14 but her son passed away. When she moved to Tennessee, she took a job in a radio station while she was a high school student. She began her broadcasting as the co-anchoring news. Then she changed to talk show.
Oprah’s career in entertainment industry
Her talent in communication had appeared since she was at East Nashville High school. She was the most popular girl. She won speech contest that helped her get scholarship at Tennessee State University. She learned communication. Around 1971, she succeeded the Miss Black Tennessee beauty contest. Then she became a part time news host at WVL, a black radio station. She became the first black female who appeared on TV in Nashville. She was the news commentator at WLAC-TV. She went to Baltimore and worked at WJZ-TV in 1976.
Winfrey moved to Chicago. She worked at WLS_TV. She hosted unpopular morning talk in 1983. She took her first show on January 2, 1984. Surprisingly, the show began to be the most popular morning show in Chicago. Winfrey started her own show named Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986. The show broadcasted nationally. It attracted about 10 million people. She had the right of possession of the program from ABC. Her production house was Harpo Production ( Harpo means Oprah).
Oprah’s properties and achievements
- After her success with Oprah Winfrey Show, Winfrey co-starred miniseries drama The women of Brewster Place.
- She involved in women’s cable television network Oxygen.
- She played in The Color Purple directed by Steven Spielberg in 1985.
- She starred Beloved in 1998.
- She and Discovery Communication renamed Discovery Health Channel to be OWN :Oprah Winfrey Network in 2011.
- She also played and starred in Charlotte’s Web in 2006, Bee Movie in 2007.
- She was the dubbing voice of the mother of Princess Tiana in The Princess and the Frog in 2010 produced by Disney.
- She published O,The Oprah Magazine in 2004, O at Home in 2002.
- She founded Oprah.com which gets more than 6,000,000 visitors each month. She used her web and show to follow and identify children molesters.
- She agreed to make $55 million contract with XM Satellite Radio on February 9, 2006.
- Forbes magazine reported her wealth was about $340,000,000 at the age of 41.
- Forbes reported in September 2010 her wealth was about $2,7 billion.
Oprah’s influence and activism
Winfrey is a great public speaker. She sways her audiences strongly. Her views affect mass opinions. Novel East of Eden written by John Steinbeck became a best seller when she told the book in Winfrey’s show. Barack Obama had much benefit from Winfrey’s powerful influence. Winfrey held funding support for Obama on September 8, 2007. She also campaigned for Obama in some states. Obama got amazing voters. Winfrey is a spiritual leader too. Winfrey established a foundation named the Oprah’s Angel Network in 1998. The foundation had earned donation more than $80 million. It gives charity around the world. In the Katrina disaster, the Oprah Angel Network distributed more than $ 11 million. Winfrey shared $10 million from her own fund.
2. Barack Obama
Barack Obama is the first black African descendent who achieves the presidency in the United States. He was born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father is from Kenya and His mother is from Kansas. His full name is Barack Hussein Obama. His mother’s name is Ann Dunham and his father’s name is Barack Obama Sr. Barack Obama Sr. was Kenyan born student. He was born in Luo ethnicity in Nyanza Province, Kenya.
Ann Dunham divorced with Barack Obama Sr. when Obama was 2 years old in 1965. She married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian student. The family switched to Jakarta in 1966. Ann Dunham gave a birth Obama’s half sister, Maya Soetoro. Little Obama was brought back to the United States when he was 10 years old. He was raised by his grandparents in Hawaii. His mother and sister later followed him. His father , Obama Sr. died because of car accident in 1982 when Barack Obama was 21. Barack Obama had been separated with his father since he was infant.
Obama’s education history
Obama spent some years attending elementary school in Indonesia. Obama went to Fransiskus Assisi Catholic School. He remained at the school until 3rd grade. He moved to state public school in Menteng administrative village. He attended the school from 3rd grade to 4th grade. He continued his elementary education in Hawaii. He entered Punahou School , Honolulu in 1971 commencing in 5th grade. He finished his education there until 12th grade in 1979. He went to higher education. He went to Occidental College in Los Angeles, California from 1979 to 1981. After completing his college, he went to Columbia University, New York from 1981 to 1983. Then, he studied in Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1988 to 1991.
Obama’s law career
Obama attended Harvard Law School in 1988. He joined as an internship at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin. He passed his Law degree in 1991. He became a civil right lawyer at the Miner, Barnhill and Galland. He was a teacher at the University of Chicago. He taught Law in 1992 -2004. After getting married with Michelle on October 3, 1992, he switched to Kenwood.
In 1995 Obama wrote his autobiography named Dreams From My Father; A story of Race and Inheritance. The book was successful. It had been translated into ten languages like Swedish, Hebrew, and Chinese.
Obama’s political career
Obama competed in the Senator election in the Illinois. He succeeded in 1996. He also had great achievement in the senate. He seized the position as the head of the Illinois Senate’s Health and Human Services Committee. Obama failed to run for the House of Representatives ‘election in 2000. He did not give up. He prepared the next election of the U.S senate in 2004. Obama published his second book. It was The Audacity of Hope; Thoughts on Reclaiming the American dreams in October 2006. It became bestseller.
Obama took an opportunity to run for Democratic presidential candidate selection. He fought against Hillary Rodham Clinton in February 2007. Finally, He won the competition. He was the Democratic Party Candidate on June 3, 2008. In the presidential election, he won 52.9 % to John McCain. He became 44th president of the U.S. Joe Biden was his vice president. He won the seat of the presidency for the second time. He defeated Mitt Romney from Republican Party in 2012.
3. Malcolm x
He is a politician. He became the most Afro politician who had strong power in
U.S. He was brave. He promoted black encouragement in U.S known as the black
supremacy. His child name
was Malcolm little. He was born on May 19,1925 in Omaha, Nebraska U.S. He
embraced Islam and changed his name El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz. His father’s name
was Earl Little. His mom was Louis Norton. He died because of assassination. He
married Betty Shabazz. He had six children. They were Attallah Shabazz, Qubilah Shabazz,Ilyasah Shabazz, Gamilah
Lumumba Shabazz, Malikah Shabazz, and Malaak Shabazz.
Living
in violence was common in Malcolm Little’s life. Whites had killed his father
brothers. Malcolm’s family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1926 because of Ku
Kluk Klan’s menace to Earl Little’s UNIA (Universal
Negro Improvement Association) actions. Soon , the family shifted to
Lansing, Michigan. The family had threat from the Black Legion and a white
supremacist group there. In 1929 Malcom’s house was burnt. His father blamed
the Black Legion. His father died because of car accident when he was about
six. At the funeral of his father, someone said that the Black Legion was
present behind the death of his father.
Malcolm
Little was smart and intelligent student when he went to high school. He left
the school after his white teacher said that his dream to work in law was not
realistic for nigger. The teacher’s words made him white will not give him
chance for his career because he was black. read more about biography of Malcolm x
4. Muhammad Ali
His
child name was Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. He was born on January 17, 1942 in
Louisville, Kentucky. Ali had boxing skill when he was 12
years old. The story began when his bike was stolen. Ali said he wanted to
fight the thief. He met a police officer, Joe Martin. Joe told him to learn to
fight before confronting people. Joe was a boxer trainer at local sports club.
Shortly,
Joe Martin couched Ali to be a boxer. Ali started his boxing career. His first
fight was in 1954. Ali won the fight but he did not get his victory by knock
out. Two years later, he won the Golden Gloves Championship. He also won the Amateur
Athletic Union for the light-heavyweight class.
Ali
succeeded on the U.S. Olympic in 1960. He fought in Rome, and Italy. Ali
conquered Zbigniew Pietrxkowski from Poland and got the gold medal. Ali
switched to professional after his Olympic triumph. His career in professional
boxing seemed sky rocketed. He won most of his fights. His punches knocked out
many rivals in his matches. He challenged the heavyweight champion from England
Henry Cooper in 1963. He knocked out Sonny Liston and became the heavy weight
belt holder in 1964. His philosophy in fighting was “float like a butterfly and
sting like a bee”. Read more the life history of Muhammad Ali
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