6 Modern Black History Icons

Muhammad Ali was born Cassius Clay on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. When he was 12, Clay's bicycle was stolen, so he reported it to a local police officer named Joe Martin, who taught Clay to box and ended up training him for the next six years. Ali won his first fight by a split decision six weeks later. Muhammad Ali was a revolutionary humanitarian and peace advocate who committed his life to better people's lives. He assisted people worldwide in achieving freedom, justice, and equality. In 1980, Muhammad Ali met with African leaders on behalf of US President Jimmy Carter, who had called for a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics as part of his human rights diplomatic efforts. Before capturing his first world heavyweight boxing title in 1964, Ali donated the money from his fights to help those in need.

Photography: Wikimedia Commons

Chisholm passed away in 2005, due to health issues. Aside from her work in the U.S. government, Shirley Chisholm was a founding member of the National Women’s Political Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus, and co-founder of NOW (National Organization of Women). Her legacy is grounded in her passion for improving the country for all people, particularly for African-Americans who have suffered unimaginable injustices.

Photography: Wikimedia Commons/U.S. Congress

After growing close to Malcolm X, the heavyweight champion abandoned the name Clay because he considered it a slave name, and instead adopted Cassius X and later, Muhammad Ali. Under his new name, he successfully defended his heavyweight championship 19 times. Muhammad Ali passed away at 74 after a 32-year struggle with Parkinson's disease. Ali is widely regarded as one of the most essential athletes and humanitarians of all time, having generated some of the most iconic moments in sports, social justice, and civil rights history.

Photography: Wikimedia Commons

Serena Jameka Williams is a retired American professional tennis player regarded as one of the best players ever. She was rated #1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association for 319 weeks, including a joint record, for 186 consecutive weeks atop the rankings. Williams has transformed women's tennis since the 1990s with her 23 Grand Slam victories.

Photography: Flickr/Carine06

Williams fought her way to the top of the Olympic podium four times. She won two Olympic gold medals in the doubles event alongside her sister Venus in Sydney and Beijing in 2000 and 2008. Williams shone brightest during the 2012 London Olympics where she won her first gold medal in the singles event. Her extraordinary accomplishments and off-court success have made her one of the world's most powerful voices for women's issues. Williams collaborated with UNICEF in 2006 to visit Ghana and help the country's health program. As a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador ambassador in 2011, she championed the UNICEF Schools for Africa project.

Photography: Flickr/Julie Edgly

After a contentious separation from the Nation of Islam and Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X found a new religious home as part of Islam’s Sunni denomination. He later founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which strongly advocated for Pan-Africanism — a worldwide movement to unify the descendants of the transatlantic slave trade. Many believe that Malcolm’s rising profile threatened the power of Elijah Muhammad, which led to Malcolm's assassination by three members of the Nation of Islam in 1965. Although he only lived 39 years, Malcolm’s impact on black American culture has endured. The trailblazing community leader inspired millions of black Americans to feel valued, empowered and self-reliant — a sentiment that has been carried on through the decades by the resilient black American community.

Photography: MalcolmX.com

Malcolm X was born in Omaha, Nebraska, as Malcolm Little to Louise Norton Little and Earl Little — a minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. After a troubled youth marked by his father’s murder by a white supremacy group, his mother’s admittance into Kalamazoo State Hospital as a mental patient and a seven-year jail sentence for burglary, Malcolm re-emerged from prison a new man. As a devout Muslim and a student of the Nation of Islam’s founder Elijah Muhammad, the charismatic Malcolm X used TV, newspapers and radio to communicate messages of black self-esteem and self-reliance. He chose the surname X to symbolize the true African family name that he would never know.

Photography: MalcolmX.com

Obama was elected to his first public office in 1997 when he joined the Illinois State Senate. In 2005, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served on numerous committees. In the historic 2008 election, Obama won 365 electoral college votes and 53% of the popular vote to defeat Arizona senator John McCain. He delivered an inspiring victory speech in Chicago's Grant Park.

Photography: Pete Souza

The London Olympics of 2012 holds a special place in Williams' heart. The Games gave her a shot to become only the second player, after Steffi Graf, to complete a career Golden Slam. She won all four Grand Slams and the Olympic gold medal in singles in her straight win against Maria Sharapova. Williams has repeatedly proven she can rise to any challenge, and at 35 years old she became the oldest female player to win a Grand Slam title. She won the championship after defeating her elder sister, Venus at the 2017 Australian Open.

According to Reuters, Serena Williams received over $94 million in prize money, but an estimated $340 million in endorsements. In her retirement from tennis, she devotes her attention to entrepreneurial projects and is eager to give back through her charitable ambassador positions.

Photography: S By Serena

By winning the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama effectively opened a door that many African-Americans felt wasn’t available to them. During his two terms, the charismatic Illinois senator became one of the most admired public figures in the world by citizens and world leaders alike. During his tenure, he cut the unemployment rate, secured health care for all Americans, saved the U.S. auto industry and was a major ally in the fight for marriage equality.

After graduating from Columbia University, Barack Obama started his career as a community organizer in Chicago. He eventually attended Harvard Law School where he became the first black president of the “Harvard Law Review” — a foreshadowing of things to come.

Photography: Pete Souza

Between 1952 and 1963, Malcolm X was an integral part of the Nation of Islam’s growth from 500 to over 30,000 members. Hundreds of African-Americans joined the Nation each month as Malcolm X continued to influence black Americans to take action and most notably, defend themselves, “by any means necessary.” Malcolm X’s ideologies differed from those of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. While Dr. King preached a message of peace and unity, Malcolm X rejected those ideas, calling for more radical actions like arming black Americans and urging the exodus of all black people back to Africa.

Photography: MalcolmX.com

Shirley Chisolm, born Shirley Anita St. Hill came into the world on November 30, 1924, in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents, Charles and Ruby, were Caribbean immigrants who came to the United States in the early 1920s. Shortly after graduating from Brooklyn College in 1946, she began working as a nursery school teacher. After quickly advancing her career, she would begin working as a consultant for the New York City Division of Daycare. Soon after in 1964, she became the second African-American woman elected to New York State legislature.

Photography: Wikimedia Commons

Chisholm's next move was to run for a position in the U.S. Congress. Her campaign motto was “unbossed, and unbothered”, a phrase that remains popular today. She served 7 terms in the House of Representatives from 1969 - 1983. In 1972, Chisholm sought the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. This was another monumental time for Chisholm and the Black community. She earned 150 delegate votes at the Democratic National Convention, but sadly it was not enough to earn the nomination.

Photography: Library of Congress

Obama campaigned and passed significant legislation centered around civil rights, health care reform, gun control and carbon emissions, among other important issues. According to the American Political Science Association, President Obama ranks as the 8th best president of all time. His legacy will forever include pulling the country out of a financial recession and ordering the strike that killed Osama bin Laden. His optimism, diplomacy and ideals will not soon be forgotten.

Photography: Pete Souza

The legendary activist Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is best known for his leading role in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. Through an ideology that included nonviolence and civil disobedience, the charismatic Dr. King helped shape the way race relations evolved in the United States.

Photography: Photography: The King Center