Throughout history, there have been many groundbreaking African Americans who have shaped the way we live in modern society. People like Maya Angelou, Malcom X, Harriet Tubman and Sydney Poitier just to name a few, have impacted the way we are politically shaped, the way we view social equality, the way we take in entertainment and much more. These groundbreaking strides continue today in modern society because black history is still in the making. Here are 10 people making black history today.
1. Beyoncé Knowles Carter
She has been one of the leading women in pop and R&B music for arguably the last two decades and she continues her grind with a Grammy nomination for this current year. She has influenced the evolution of music throughout the years and she has used her platform to encourage people of color. She’s also one of the few artists who are both great singers and performers and she has given us life time and time again starting from her beginnings in Destiny’s Child to her current Lemonade and Everything is Love albums.
2. Lena Waithe
Lena is a screenwriter, producer and actor. She is well-known as a writer for the popular hit show on Netflix, Masters of None, and became the first African American woman to win an Emmy for outstanding writing in a comedy series. She is a proud member of the LGBT community who has been hitting home runs these past couple of years as an actor on a Spielberg film and is currently co-creating a series on BET with Halle Berry called Boomerang.
3. Michelle Obama
I don’t think this woman needs any introduction but here goes. She is a writer, lawyer, mother and our previous and arguably best first lady of the United States. During her time as first lady she has advocated for physical activity and health, poverty awareness and education for the youth. She has made strides to help young women of color as well as young entrepreneurs gain the opportunities that they have been robbed of due to systematic oppression based on social constructions. She currently has an amazing memoir out called Becoming.
4. Oprah Winfrey
This woman has been grinding since the 70s and has managed to beat the patriarchy by becoming a journalist and having a leading talk show that spanned from 1986 to 2011. She paved way for African American journalists as well as entertainers. She enjoys giving back, building many programs for children around the world as well as donating to many charities and she currently has her own television network called OWN.
5. Serena Williams
She’s one of the most influential athletes of our time. She is one of the top tennis players in history and was ranked number one by the Women’s Tennis Association from 2002 to 2017. She also holds the most Grand Slam titles in mixed doubles, doubles, and singles in the Open Era and she is also a winner of four Olympic gold medals.
6. Elaine Welteroth
She was named the editor-in-chief of Teen Vouge in 2016, becoming the second African American to hold that position as well as the youngest at age 29. She has made strides to help create more coverage of issues of social justices and politics within the magazine in order to target the concern of the younger generation. She also helped launch the magazine’s YouTube channel which helped give a platform for diverse content.
7. Kendrick Lamar
Lyrical genius and rapper Kendrick Lamar is one of the top musical influencers of our time creating works about issues that range from everyday relationships to social injustice among African Americans in regards to the justice system as well as systematic racism and oppression. He is a multi-Grammy winner as well as the receiver of the Pulitzer Prize for his album DAMN.
8. Barack Obama
We can’t forget about our first African American president, Barack Obama. He is truly an example of what the American dream should look like in that he has worked hard for everything he has achieved. He was a Harvard grad who became an attorney and a politician who gained the title of the 44th president of The United States. During his time in office he did a lot with healthcare, created a plan called Obama Care, helped improve the conditions of the U.S when in recession and became a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He also gave people of color hope in regard to what they can achieve in a system that is built against them.
9. Yara Shahidi
She is an African Iranian American young actress and activist who is a huge influencer of the millennial generation. She has advocated for the involvement of the youth in politics and news in her campaign for getting young people to vote in the recent midterm elections. She is currently the star in the Black-ish spin-off, Grown-ish, and is also a college student at Harvard University. She aspires to become a historian in regard to political policy and hopes to continue her political activism.
10. Donald Glover (Childish Gambino)
Actor, singer/rapper and show creator, Donald Glover, has taken the word by storm through his hit show Atlanta and his famous music video This Is America. His work has emphasized issues of the oppression within the black experience as well as gun violence, and social injustice among class and gender. He made history when winning the director category at the Emmy’s, becoming the first African American to achieve that honor. He also won Record of the Year in the 2019 Grammy’s for his song This Is America.
We are consistently being amazed by the work and achievements of these people, and we know there is more to come.