As a new chapter begins in this country, THE BLACK LIST offers a dynamic and never-before-heard perspective from achievers of color. This series of inspired - and inspiring - observations on African-American life in the 21st century forms a roll call of some of the most compelling politicians, writers, thinkers and performers ever to tackle their fields of endeavor. Watch the interview-portraits and get a sharper snapshot of where this country has been and where it's headed.
01-22-2008
1h 27m
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Colin Luther Powell was an American politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army officer who served as the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African-American secretary of state.
Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison, known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist, essayist, book editor, and college professor. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Sean Love Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent director at Uptown Records before founding his own record label, Bad Boy Records in 1993. Combs has produced and cultivated artists such as the Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, and Usher.
Combs' debut album, No Way Out (1997), has been certified seven times platinum. The album was followed by Forever (1999), The Saga Continues... (2001), and Press Play (2006), all of which were commercially successful. In 2009, Combs created and produced the musical group Diddy – Dirty Money; they released their successful debut album Last Train to Paris in 2010.
Combs has won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards and is the producer of MTV's Making the Band. In 2022, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$1 billion. In 1998, he launched his own clothing line Sean John. He was nominated for the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Award for Menswear Designer of the Year in 2000 and won in 2004.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Sean Combs, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Saul Hudson (born 23 July 1965), better known as Slash, is an English-American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Slash has received critical acclaim and is considered one of the greatest guitarists in rock history.
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III (born February 7, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer, and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central. He was also voted in the UK as the 9th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups in 2007, and again in the updated 2010 list as the 8th greatest stand-up comic.
He is known for his roles in Dogma, Beverly Hills Ninja, Lethal Weapon 4, Nurse Betty, The Longest Yard, Bad Company, and a starring role in Down to Earth. Rock has also increasingly worked behind the camera, as a writer and director (and starring actor) of Head of State and I Think I Love My Wife.
In the fall of 2005, the UPN television network premiered a comedy series called Everybody Hates Chris, based on Rock's school days, of which he is the executive producer and narrator. The show garnered both critical and ratings success. The series was nominated for a 2006 Golden Globe for Best TV Series (Musical or Comedy), a 2006 People's Choice Award for Favorite New Television Comedy, and two 2006 Emmy Awards for costuming and cinematography.
Following the release of his first documentary, 2009's Good Hair, Rock is working on a documentary about debt called Credit is the Devil. In 2010 he starred alongside Adam Sandler in Grown-ups and with fellow comedian/actor Martin Lawrence in the remake of the British film Death at a Funeral.
Louis Gossett Jr. (born May 27, 1936 - March 29, 2024) was an American film and television actor, best known for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the movie "An Officer and a Gentleman" and as Fiddler in the television miniseries "Roots". He has won an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, and two Golden Globe Awards in an acting career that spans over five decades.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Russell Wendell Simmons (born October 4, 1957) is an American entrepreneur, the co-founder, with Rick Rubin, of the pioneering hip-hop label Def Jam, and creator of the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and American Classics.
Russell Simmons is the third richest figure in hip-hop, having a net-worth estimate of $340 million.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Russell Simmons, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr.) is an American former professional basketball player who played 20 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers. NBA coach Pat Riley and players Isiah Thomas and Julius Erving have called him the greatest basketball player of all time. Abdul-Jabbar has also been an actor, a basketball coach, a best-selling author, and a martial artist, having trained in Jeet Kune Do under Bruce Lee.
Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, television/radio talk show host and a former White House adviser for President Barack Obama. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. presidential election. He hosts his own radio talk show, Keepin' It Real, and he makes regular guest appearances cable news television. In 2011, he was named the host of MSNBC's PoliticsNation, a nightly talk show. In 2015, the program was shifted to Sunday mornings.
Sharpton's supporters praise "his ability and willingness to defy the power structure that is seen as the cause of their suffering" and consider him "a man who is willing to tell it like it is". Former Mayor of New York City Ed Koch, a one-time foe, said that Sharpton deserves the respect he enjoys among black Americans: "He is willing to go to jail for them, and he is there when they need him." President Barack Obama said that Sharpton is "the voice of the voiceless and a champion for the downtrodden." A 2013 Zogby Analytics poll found that one quarter of African Americans said that Sharpton speaks for them.
His critics describe him as "a political radical who is to blame, in part, for the deterioration of race relations". Sociologist Orlando Patterson has referred to him as a racial arsonist, while liberal columnist Derrick Z. Jackson has called him the black equivalent of Richard Nixon and Pat Buchanan. Sharpton sees much of the criticism as a sign of his effectiveness. "In many ways, what they consider criticism is complimenting my job," he said. "An activist's job is to make public civil rights issues until there can be a climate for change."
(Wikipedia)
Keenen Ivory Desuma Wayans (born June 8, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is a member of the Wayans family of entertainers. Wayans first came to prominence as the host and the creator of the 1990–1994 Fox sketch comedy series In Living Color. He has produced, directed and/or written several films, starting with Hollywood Shuffle, which he cowrote, in 1987.
A majority of his films have included him and one or more of his brothers and sisters in the cast.
One of these films, Scary Movie (2000), which Wayans directed, was the highest-grossing movie directed by an African American until it was surpassed by Tim Story's Fantastic Four in 2005. From 1997 to 1998, he hosted the talk show The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show. Most recently, he was a judge for the eighth season of Last Comic Standing.
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