His detractors labeled him as a racist, anti-Semitic black supremacist who preached violence, unlike his counterpart Martin Luther King who preached non-violence during his fight for civil rights. Before rising to national prominence as a preacher and civil rights advocate, Malcolm X was a felon who served prison time for burglary. It was in prison that he converted to Islam and joined the Nation of Islam, a controversial Black muslim organization founded by Elijah Muhammad that taught Black supremacy and separatism. Malcolm X quickly rose through the ranks to become the public face of the group and leader of its Harlem No. 5 mosque.

Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam in 1964 after becoming disillusioned with the group. He founded the Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity after spending time abroad in the Middle East and Africa and discovering a new perspective that challenged his previous views of race. Unfortunately, Malcolm X did not have a chance to spread his new found message because he was assassinated in front of his wife, four daughters and hundreds of audience members during a speech in Harlem in 1965. His shooters were three alleged members of the Nation of Islam.

Top 5 Malcolm X Speeches according to News One

1. By Any Means Necessary

2. Ballot or the Bullet

3. House Negro Vs. The Field Negro

4. Speech on Police Brutality

5. Speech at Oxford University

Disagree with the list? Did we miss one? Let us know what you think in the comments area below.

Kirk Franklin has been apart of revolutionizing Gospel music for nearly twenty years now. His style and range knows no boundaries. Check out and listen to his music discography below from his debut in 1993 till the present.

”Kirk Franklin & the Family”
Released: June 29, 1993
Track: Why We Sing

”Kirk Franklin & the Family Christmas”
Released: November 7, 1995

”Whatcha Lookin’ 4”
Released: April 30, 1996
Track: Melodies Of Heaven

”God’s Property from Kirk Franklin’s Nu Nation”
Released: May 27, 1997

”The Nu Nation Project”
Released: September 22, 1998

”Kirk Franklin Presents 1NC”
Released: February 8, 2000

Track: Nobody

”The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin”
Released: February 19, 2002

”A Season of Remixes”
Released: 2003

”Hero”
Released: October 4, 2005
Track: Imagine Me

”Kirk Franklin Presents: Songs For The Storm Vol. 1”
Released: November 7, 2006

”The Fight of My Life”
Released: December 18, 2007

”Hello Fear”
Released: March 22, 2011
Track: I Smile

Source

On the hardwood, Bill Russell was the cornerstone of the Boston Celtics’ dynasty of the 1960s, winning an unprecedented 11 championships in his 13 seasons. A skilled shotblocker, Russell revolutionized NBA defensive concepts. A five-time NBA Most Valuable Player and a 12-time All-Star, Russell averaged 22.5 rebounds per game and led the league in rebounding four times. He had 51 boards in one game, 49 in two others and a dozen consecutive seasons of 1,000 or more rebounds.

William Felton Russell was born on February 12, 1934, in Monroe, Louisiana. His family later moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where Russell would go on to attend the University of San Francisco, where he blossomed. Russell would lead the University of San Francisco to 56 consecutive victories and NCAA Championships in 1955 and 1956. Russell was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player in 1955.

Boston Celtics Coach and General Manager Red Auerbach drafted Russell to the Celtics in 1956, but Russell didn’t join the Celtics until December because he was a member of the 1956 U.S. Olympic basketball team, which won a gold medal at the Melbourne Games in November.

After another NBA Championship in 1965-66, Red Auerbach retired, and Russell took over as player-coach the following season, becoming the first African-American coach in the league. He led the Celtics to a 60-21 regular-season record, but Boston finally had their streak of championships snapped when they lost to a powerful Philadelphia 76ers team in the Eastern Division Finals.

Having witnessed racism and all its ugliness firsthand as a child growing up in segregated Louisiana, Russell took public stands against discrimination throughout his career. Before the 1961–62 NBA season, Russell refused to play in an exhibition game in Lexington, Kentucky when he and his black teammates were refused service at a local restaurant. Russell also joined other prominent black athletes like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in publicly supporting Muhammad Ali’s decision to refuse to be drafted.

Until the ascent of Michael Jordan in the 1980s and ’90s, Russell was considered by many as the greatest player in the history of the NBA.

MUSIC

Will got his first taste of showbiz when he debuted in a rap duo “DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince” with a chart-topping and record-breaking single, “Parents Just Don’t Understand” which garnered the first Grammy awarded in the Rap category in 1988.

Who could forget the critically acclaimed “Summertime” performed by the duo? This song still gets heavily played during the summer season during family reunions, in your local barber and beauty shops, and on radio stations nationwide.

TELEVISION AND FILM

After nearly being bankrupt in 1990, NBC networks created a show around Will called ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” which seen huge success and launched a thriving acting career for the rapper.

He then set a goal to be the “biggest movie star in the world” and began studying hit movies trends and successes.

His first movie was in 1993 titled, Six Degrees of Separation later starring alongside Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys two years later.

Check out more of Will Smith’s top 10 films below courtesy of IMDB.

Independence Day (1996)

In the beginning of July, a strange spaceship is heading towards Earth. Humans received a strange signal, and this has turned into a global phenomenon. It was aliens. smaller spaceships began to cover entire cities around the world. Suddenly, the wonder turns into horror as the spaceships destroy the cities. Then, when the world counterattacked, the alien ships are invincible to normal weapon systems, then The President of the United States, decides to head to area 51, to formulate a plan to defeat the aliens. Now, the fate of the world rests on a handful of surviving humans. Written by John Wiggins

Men In Black (1997)

Men in Black follows the exploits of agents Kay (Jones) and Jay (Smith), members of a top-secret organization established to monitor and police alien activity on Earth. The two Men in Black find themselves in the middle of the deadly plot by an intergalactic terrorist who has arrived on Earth to assassinate two ambassadors from opposing galaxies. In order to prevent worlds from colliding, the MiB must track down the terrorist and prevent the destruction of Earth. Source

Enemy of the State (1998)

A successful lawyer (Smith) finds himself the target of a treacherous NSA official and his goons after receiving evidence to a politically motivated murder, the only man that can help him is a former government operative turned surveillance expert (Hackman). Written by mystic80

Ali (2001)

Muhammad Ali from 1964 to 1974, told in three braided threads. The boxer: from becoming champion to regaining the championship. Religion and politics: Cassius Clay becomes a Black Muslim, truncates a friendship with Malcolm X, perhaps is Elijah Muhammad’s pawn, refuses induction into the US military, and faces a five year prison sentence while his case goes to the Supreme Court. Family: he marries twice and by 1974 marriage two is strained, defends his white trainer, has a brother in Bundini Brown, and is wily with Howard Cosell. Throughout, Ali keeps his own counsel: in the ring, at the induction center when he won’t step forward, and in friendship, love, and victory. Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>

Men In Black II (2002)

For Agent J, it is another day at the office, monitoring, licensing and policing all alien activity on Earth. One day, J receives a report of an unauthorized landing of an alien spacecraft near New York. It is an old enemy of MIB, a Kylothian named Surleena. Who is searching for a powerful artifact called The Light of Zartha. J investigates and quickly realizes he is going to need help. Unfortunately, the other MIB agents do not work up to par like J can. So, J decides to bring back K. J must bring back K’s memory as an MIB agent and try to stop Surleena, before she can succeed. Written by John Wiggins

I, Robot (2004)

This is the year 2035. Everybody in the world relies on a huge system of robots, which are programmed specifically to help humans and not harm them in any way. But one person does not think that robots are helpful. Chicago homicide detective Del Spooner. but one day, he received a call from the United States Robotics (USR) about a recent death of renowned robot scientist Dr. Alfred J. Laning. Spooner immediately blamed this incident on robots without justifiable reason or proof. Then, he begins his investigation on Lanning’s death, only to discover Sonny, a “unique” robot. What Spooner does not realize, is that something is about to happen. Something that is beyond even spooner’s wildest dreams. Written by John Wiggins

Hitch (2005)

Alex Hitchens is “The Date Doctor.” He helps men to land dates. Sara is a gossip columnist for a New York City tabloid. Both are very guarded around the opposite sex. Despite their natures, Alex and Sara begin a relationship. Complications ensue when Sara’s latest scoop happens to be one of Alex’s clients. Written by Ken Miller <wkmiller704@yahoo.com>

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

Chris Gardner has big dreams for him and his family but it doesn’t seem to come together for him. Chris has an opportunity to be a stock broker but first he has to go through a grueling internship which means no pay. Chris decides to do it but when his wife leaves and he is evicted, he has to take care of his son on his own. So they find themselves sometimes living on the street and struggling to get by. But Chris is determined to make it. Written by rcs0411@yahoo.com

I Am Legend (2007)

It is the year 2012. In the ruins of New York city. Robert Neville who is a military scientist who is the lone survivor of a biochemical disease which was supposed to cure cancer 3 years previous. With only blood thirsty zombies as his neighbors and his trusty dog, Samantha, Robert is trying to discover a cure for this disease and to find out any other people who might have also survived. Written by John Wiggins

FUN FACTS ABOUT WILL SMITH:

1. He was originally casted as Neo in The Matrix movie, but turned it down to do the film, Wild Wild West.
2. He enjoys playing chess.
3. He was a millionaire by age 20.
4. Will Smith speaks fluent Spanish.
5. Will Smith is also an author, penning a children’s book called “Just The Two of Us”.

SOURCE

Bob Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was one of the most popular reggae singers of his time and is known, even now after his death, as the most popular Jamaican musician of all time, introducing Reggae to the world. He is best known as the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for many of his popular Reggae hits, which include “I Shot the Sheriff”, “Redemption Song”, “One Love”, “No Woman, No Cry”, with his band The Wailers. His album ‘Legend’ is reggae’s best-selling album worldwide, going ten times Platinum and selling 25 million copies Internationally. His music was heavily inspired by his Jamaican culture and Rastafarian beliefs. His music spoke to his generation on issues of socioeconomic and cultural hardship while spreading a message of unity, love and rebellion.
Bob Marley songs introduced the world to Reggae. The following 5 Best Bob Marley Songs and inspiring lyrics.

5. ’Get Up, Stand Up’

4. ’Could You Be Loved’

3. ’Jamming’

2. ’No Woman, No Cry’

1. ’One Love/People Get Ready’

- Best Of Bob Marley Lyrics
5. Man’s Greatness
“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”

This is inspiring quote that should be taken to heart. Man’s greatness should be measured by his integrity and how he affects those around him.
4. I Know
“When the race gets hard to run, it means you just can’t take the pace.”

This line appeared in the song “I Know”, a song off of the Confrontation album, which was released two years after Marley’s death.
3. Who is Worth Suffering For?
“The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.”

This is one of Bob Marley’s most famous quotes. And it’s not hard to see why. There are some people in life that are, in fact, worth suffering for.
2. Judge Not
“Who are you to judge the life I live? I know I’m not perfect -and I don’t live to be- but before you start pointing fingers… make sure you hands are clean!”

This line is from the song “Judge Not”, the first single that Bob Marley ever recorded. It was later included on the 1992 compilation CD set Songs of Freedom.
1. Trenchtown Rock
“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”

This line appears in the song “Trenchtown Rock”, which was included on the 1973 album African Herbsman.

Rosa Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called “the first lady of civil rights”, and “the mother of the freedom movement.” Born February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama, Parks grew up when racism and discrimination was a norm in African American cultures. She made a name for herself in civil rights circles when she refused to obey a white bus driver and move to the back of the bus, so someone white could take her seat in the front of the bus. Parks’ act of defiance became a major player in the civil rights movement and caught the attention of leaders like Martin Luther King Jr.

Click HERE to read Rosa Parks Bio

Below we take a look at the life of Rosa Parks through a timeline of the major events in her life…

1913 – This Rosa Parks timeline starts on February 4, 1913 when Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her parents were James McCauley, a carpenter and Schoolteacher Leona McCauley

1928 - She attends Booker T. Washington High School for ninth grade, but drops out when her grand mother becomes seriously ill and subsequently dies

1932 – December 18: Marries Raymond Parks, a barber, at 19.

1945 – WW2 ends and Rosa Parks receives her certificate for voting after three attempts

1946 – June 3: The U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation in interstate bus travel

Aug 10: Race riots occur in Athens, Alabama

1949 - Rosa and her husband Raymond work with Montgomery branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP’s) programs. Rosa Parks acts as secretary and later a youth leader

1955 - August: Rosa Parks meets Martin Luther King

November 25: The Interstate Commerce Commission bans segregation in buses and all waiting rooms involved in interstate travel
December 1: Rosa Parks is arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give her seat on the bus to a white passenger. She is arrested, fingerprinted, jailed by police and fined $14.
December 5: She stands trial and is found guilty of breaking the segregation laws.
December 5: Martin Luther King becomes the president of the Montgomery Improvement Association which was organized due to protest against the incident involving Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott begins which will last 381 days.

1956 – January: Rosa Parks loses her job as a seamstress at Montgomery Fair

December 21: The Montgomery buses are desegregated and black passengers could legally take any seat on the city’s buses

1979 – Rosa Parks receives NAACP’s Spingarn Medal

1987 - Rosa founds the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development with long time friend Elaine Eason Steele which offers guidance to young blacks

1992 – Rosa publishes her first book, “Rosa Parks My Story”

1998 - April 21: The Rosa Parks Museum and Library is opened at her arrest site in Montgomery, Alabama

September 2: The Rosa L. Parks Learning Center is opened. Rosa is also inducted into the International Women’s Forum Hall of Fame

2003 - October 29: Rosa Parks is honored with the International Institute Heritage Hall of Fame Award. She is then diagnosed with progressive dementia.

2005 – October 24: Rosa Parks dies on in her Detroit home

“I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… so other people would be also free.” – Rosa Parks

“It’s probably the most hallowed record out there, as far as I’m concerned, but it’s now in the hands of somebody else,” said Aaron, who retired in 1976. “My hope today…is the achievement of this record will inspire others to chase their own dreams.”

Aaron congratulates Barry Bonds:

Aaron – born Henry Louis Aaron in Mobile, AL – knows plenty about dreams. He quit high school in 1951 to play for the Indianapolis Clowns in the Negro League. He started in the major league’s in 1954. He broke Babe Ruth’s record in 1974.

“I thought, we’ve come along way baby,” Aaron said in an interview regarding breaking’s Ruth’s record, “From Mobile, Ala., to breaking the most prestigious record in baseball. I feel very proud of myself like I had shown everybody that I could play major league baseball.”

Breaking Ruth’s record not only showed the world that Aaron could play major league baseball, but it was another signpost of what would become African-Americans’ domination of professional sports.

Aaron on breaking Ruth’s record:

A few notable achievements:
• Aaron made the All-Star team every year from 1955 until 1975.
• Won three Gold Glove Awards.
• Won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1957

Read Aaron’s bio here.

Read Newsone’s black 3,000 hitmakers. Read the full story.

James Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was a small child, and his father moved to Mexico. His grandmother raised him until he was thirteen, when he moved to Lincoln, Illinois, to live with his mother and her husband, before the family eventually settled in Cleveland, Ohio. It was in Lincoln, Illinois, that Hughes began writing poetry. Following graduation, he spent a year in Mexico and a year at Columbia University. During these years, he held odd jobs as an assistant cook, launderer, and a busboy, and traveled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman. In November 1924, he moved to Washington, D.C. Hughes’s first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926. He finished his college education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania three years later. In 1930 his first novel, Not Without Laughter, won the Harmon gold medal for literature.

Hughes, who claimed Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman as his primary influences, is particularly known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties. He wrote novels, short stories and plays, as well as poetry, and is also known for his engagement with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his writing, as in Montage of a Dream Deferred. His life and work were enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Unlike other notable black poets of the period—Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and Countee Cullen, Hughes refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the common experience of black America. He wanted to tell the stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including both their suffering and their love of music, laughter, and language itself.

Langston Hughes died of complications from prostate cancer in May 22, 1967, in New York. In his memory, his residence at 20 East 127th Street in Harlem, New York City, has been given landmark status by the New York City Preservation Commission, and East 127th Street has been renamed “Langston Hughes Place.”

In addition to leaving us a large body of poetic work, Hughes wrote eleven plays and countless works of prose, including the well-known “Simple” books: Simple Speaks His Mind, Simple Stakes a Claim, Simple Takes a Wife, and Simple’s Uncle Sam. He edited the anthologies The Poetry of the Negro and The Book of Negro Folklore, wrote an acclaimed autobiography, The Big Sea and co-wrote the play Mule Bone with Zora Neale Hurston.

A Selected Bibliography

Poetry

Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz (1961)
Collected Poems of Langston Hughes (1994)
Dear Lovely Death (1931)
Fields of Wonder (1947)
Fine Clothes to the Jew (1927)
Freedom’s Plow (1943)
Montage of a Dream Deferred (1951)
One-Way Ticket (1949)
Scottsboro Limited (1932)
Selected Poems (1959)
Shakespeare in Harlem (1942)
The Dream Keeper and Other Poems (1932)
The Panther and the Lash: Poems of Our Times (1967)
The Weary Blues (1926)

Prose

Good Morning, Revolution: Uncollected Social Protest Writings by Langston Hughes (1973)
I Wonder as I Wander (1956)
Laughing to Keep From Crying (1952)
Not Without Laughter (1930)
Remember Me to Harlem: The Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten, 1925-1964 (2001)
Simple Speaks His Mind (1950)
Simple Stakes a Claim (1957)
Simple Takes a Wife (1953)
Simple’s Uncle Sam (1965)
Something in Common and Other Stories (1963)
Tambourines to Glory (1958)
The Arna Bontemps-Langston Hughes Letters (1980)
The Big Sea (1940)
The Langston Hughes Reader (1958)
The Ways of White Folks (1934)

Drama

Black Nativity (1961)
Collected Works of Langston Hughes, vol. 5: The Plays to 1942: Mulatto to The Sun Do Move (2000)
Don’t You Want to Be Free? (1938)
Five Plays by Langston Hughes (1963)
Little Ham (1935)
Mulatto (1935)
Mule Bone (1930)
Simply Heavenly (1957)
Soul Gone Home (1937)
The Political Plays of Langston Hughes (2000)

Poetry in Translation

Cuba Libre (1948)
Gypsy Ballads (1951)
Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral (1957)

Translation

Masters of the Dew (1947)

Despite the rough nature of his sport, Muhammad Ali was one of the smoothest persons ever to walk the Earth. His poetic verse and well-considered metaphors came out a time during the 1960s when boxers were
better known for punching than speaking. But Muhammad Ali did speak, and spoke intelligently – in a loud, boisterous and uncompromising voice. In this way, Ali was the public epitome of the Black man who
would not be denied and would not back down. Ali, in a way, made it okay to be that man. Barack Obama, and all Black men of his generation, inherited that legacy and that gift from Muhammad Ali.

Born Cassius Clay in Louisville, Kentucky in 1942, Muhammad Ali grewup as a Baptist. Clay took to the sport of amateur boxing at the age of 12, where he won two national Golden Gloves titles and eventually won the gold medal in the 1960 Rome Olympics. Ali won a staggering 100 matches with only 5 losses in his amateur career before turning pro in 1960. In his first title fight, Clay triumphed over Sonny Liston with a T.K.O., after having brazenly said he would “shock the world” by doing so. Ali would win many more professional fights in his pro career, 56 in all, in which his winning was no longer all that shocking.

Outside of the boxing ring, Clay was just as powerful. His conversion to Islam, which prompted his name change, made him extremely controversial. Muhammad Ali often publicly declared his allegiance to
Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad during a time when Elijah was regarded with a great deal of hostility by Americans. Ali also supported controversial Nation of Islam beliefs, such as separatism,
and he was also avidly against interracial marriage. Despite his contentious beliefs, Ali remained well regarded by the public.

Ali declared himself a conscientious objector during the height of the Vietnam War. “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong,” Ali said. “No Viet Cong ever called me nigger.” In 1967, Ali was convicted of
draft evasion and stripped of his boxing license and titles. After a four-year legal battle, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 1971.

Ali was involved in two of the most prominent fights in the history of the sport. First in 1971, there was the “Fight of the Century” in which Ali and Joe Frazier faced each other in Madison Square Garden.
The fight was hyped by sportscasters, newspapers, and of course, Ali’s diatribes. Joe Frazier had become known for his backing of the Vietnam War, while Ali was, of course, vociferously against it. It was a match
of undefeated wills and opposing idealisms. Ultimately, Frazier would win, but in two rematches, Ali was the victor both times, accumulating wins that essentially cemented his legacy. Ali was also the winner of
the “Rumble in the Jungle”, where he knocked George Foreman out and was the impetus behind the term “Rope-A-Dope.”

Since his retirement in 1981, Ali has used his boxing as a pedestal. He has traveled the world many times over, lending both his name and his prestige to honorable causes, especially that of hunger.

Ali’s independent and brazen character during a time of great racial tension was a symbol for all those who admired him as a boxer and as a man. His endeavors helped him earn a Presidential Medal of Freedom and
helped blaze the path for a Black man to be himself in front of the entire nation, just as Barack Obama was throughout his run for the Presidency.

Share this post on Facebook! CLICK HERE:

As our battle to name The Greatest Black Sitcom of All-Time rages on, Bobby Brown explains why Sanford & Son should still be in the competition.

Take a Look:

Related: 25 Reasons We Love “A Different World”

Top 5 Black Sitcoms That Aren’t “The Cosby Show”

Top 9 Black Sitcom Theme Songs