On one of my recent posts about helping the poor, Monte Asbury commented:
If you are black, you have grown up in a country where virtually every CEO you’ve ever heard of is not of your background. What role models did you follow?
Well, I’m not black. I just want to set the record straight on that. I’m neither proud of being white nor ashamed of it. I wouldn’t mind being black or Asian or hispanic; in fact, I think it might be interesting to have a more exotic identity than just a plain white average American.
I don’t happen to think that a CEO is necessarily the ultimate thing to be, and I’m surprised that Monte thinks so.
I happen to think that there are plenty of role models for black people to follow.
Here are just a few:
- Benjamin Banneker
- Charles Henry Turner
- Colin Powell
- Florence Griffith Joyner
- Thurgood Marshall
- Herman Russell Branson
- Mae Jemison
- Johnny Cochran
- Condoleeza Rice
- Langston Hughes
- Hank Aaron
- Ben Carson
- Mary McLeod Bethune
- Emmett W. Chappelle
- Greenbury Logan
- Pierre Toussaint
- Bill Cosby
- Thomas Sowell
- Jean-Michel Basquiat
- Booker T. Washington
- Marian Anderson
- Romare Bearden
- Archibald Henry Grimke
- Maya Angelou
- Tiger Woods
- Jewel Plummer Cobb
- Gwendolyn Brooks
- Oprah Winfrey
- Louis Armstrong
- Phyllis Wheatly
- Archibald Alphonso Alexander
UPDATE: Janie recommended that I add Justice Clarence Thomas. I didn’t at first because of the controversy surrounding him. However, he would make a good role model, as far as I know.
UPDATE: Aniko recommended that I add Shelby Steele to the list. I didn’t think of him, but he certainly is a great rold model. As people suggest other names to add to the list, they reinforce my point. There are plenty of African American role models.
8 responses so far ↓
janie // October 25, 2007 at 9:42 am |
I just wanted to mention that Justice Thomas’s autobiography was recently published. It is called “My Grandfather’s Son”. I just finished reading it (couldn’t put it down, actually). After doing so, I have incredible respect for him and I think he, too, belongs on your list. It is a most insightful book.
William J. Zick // October 25, 2007 at 12:55 pm |
AfriClassical.com is full of African American role models. AfriClassical Blog offers even more, such as these people: Regina Harris Baiocchi, composer, with a 2007 CD for children, “Kidstuff”; Alvin Singleton, composer with 2007 CD “Sing to the Sun”; Quincy C. Hilliard, composer for wind band; William Grant Still, composer of the “Afro-American Symphony”; T. J. Anderson, composer; R. Nathaniel Dett, composer and famous choral director. The website offers many more.
Monte // October 29, 2007 at 5:25 pm |
I find two that I studied in school.
I didn’t intend to suggest that being a CEO was a high calling; merely that it is one of many fields respected in America where African-Americans are rare.
Nor did I suggest that there were no black role models; nor did I suggest that blacks could not make it without role models. Nor am I saying black people are less able that whites; nor am I saying that people don’t benefit from role models of other races. None of these either-or absolutes are the point I struggle to make.
Friend, I keep saying it is harder, in a million small ways, to make it in America without white privilege. Argue that it has been done and I’ll agree – for that’s not my point. It is harder, so fewer will be able to do it.
The black man and woman will have to have a great deal of personal initiative. But I believe our role as whites is to make sure that we don’t minimize the task by suggesting “color-blind” society is fair; that trivializes the effects of the past. That might be true if this were Leviticus, and we all had equal access to the means of producing wealth. We don’t. And black people don’t more often than white people don’t.
Our ancestors had race-based college admissions on their side , for instance, for three hundred years in America. For us to now say color doesn’t matter is to ignore the enormous head start that those centuries have given us over people of color. Just look around.
Black society will have to work very hard to make it; white society will have to open its eyes to the fact that personally disavowing racial hatred doesn’t come close to making blacks and whites equal. For none of us are entirely self-made; we play the deck we’re dealt. Among all races, some are very good players, others are not. But if you’re white in America today, you’ve probably started the game with more face cards in your hand than your non-white fellow Americans.
renaissanceguy // October 29, 2007 at 10:12 pm |
Monte,
Now that you have added some nuance to your point, I agree with you completely. What you are saying is obvious. I can’t deny it, and I don’t.
What makes this discussion particularly interesting to me personally is that during those three hundred years, most of my ancestors were not college graduates. Most of them were poor farmers. In fact, one of my 19th Century ancestors was officially listed as a pauper in the census. Granted, they weren’t slaves, but they weren’t wealthy either.
When it was my time to go to college, I observed reverse discrimination. Several of my black friends got automatic scholarships and grants and were accepted easily into college. My middle-class white father made too much for me to qualify for some of the same benefits but not enough to pay for my tuition outright. In addition, I had to earn my admission to college by having good grades and sufficient test scores.
shay // January 31, 2008 at 11:01 pm |
where did he go to college u stupid ppl…
Clarence Thomas’s Education « Significant Pursuit by Renaissance Guy // February 1, 2008 at 12:49 pm |
[...] Clarence Thomas, “Where did he go to college u stupid ppl. . .” in my thread about African American Role Models. I’m not sure that there is a point to the question, but I did look up the [...]
Aniko // February 6, 2008 at 3:01 am |
It sounds like Monte needs to read Shelby Steel’s book “White Guilt.” As an actual black person I’d like to say I’m more inclined to agree with Renaissance Guy that the current system of Affirmative Action is very frustrating and unfair and should be considered so to anyone who claims to be in favor of an “even playing field.”
By the way, I belive Shelby Steel and Thomas Sowell should be added to your list of black role models. I take issue with Johnny Cochran being on your list however.
Aniko // February 6, 2008 at 3:04 am |
Whoops, I see you do have Thomas Sowell on your list… guess I missed it the first time I looked. Good job. That almost makes up for Cochran.