Today it is hard to believe that African Americans were once excluded from most professions, but that part of our history was not so long ago. Now black Americans excel in nearly every field. Here are three modern leaders whose great ideas and hard work are transforming our world.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Director of the Hayden Planetarium, in New York City
How hot is the Sun? Could Earth be sucked into a black hole? How many
planets are in the universe? These are just the sorts of questions that
astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson loves to hear--and tries to answer.
As director of the Hayden Planetarium, the author of seven books and the
host of a popular PBS-NOVA science series, Tyson never tires of fielding
questions and sharing his excitement about the secrets of the cosmos.
"What I try to convey is my love of learning," he told TFK. "There is so
much to discover." With the universe at his fingertips, there will be no
end to the mysteries Tyson can explore.
Wynton Marsalis
- Artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, in New York City
Wynton Marsalis, 44, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a family of
musicians. When Marsalis was 6 years old, a popular jazz musician gave
him a trumpet. He has been a trumpet player ever since. Marsalis is the
only musician to win Grammy awards for both jazz and classical music. In
1997, he hit another milestone when he became the first jazz musician in
history to win the Pulitzer Prize for music. Marsalis's message to kids:
"Don't wait for someone to do later what you can do now."
Condoleezza Rice
- U.S. secretary of state, in Washington, D.C.
Whether she's on the phone with North Korea's leader or briefing the
President on Iraq, Condoleezza Rice is in her element. As the leader on
U.S. foreign policy, Rice is driven by her belief in the power of
American ideals. She draws from her own experiences, having risen from
segregated Alabama to the top Cabinet post in the U.S. government. "If
somebody had looked at the United States in 1954," she told TIME last
August, "and said the secretary of state will be a black woman, people
would have said, 'No, really--are you kidding me?'"