1. Ed Bradley, award winning 60 Minutes correspondent (Cheyney State)
2. Keith Clinkscales, former CEO of Vanguard Media (Florida A&M University)
3. Alvin J. Boutte – founder and CEO of Indecorp, the largest Black-owned financial institution in the U.S. (Xavier)
4. Althea Gibson – first African American woman to win Wimbledon, U.S. Open and the French Open
5. Booker T. Washington – noted educator (Hampton)
6. The Honorable Barbara Jordan – legislator (Texas Southern)
7. Pam Oliver – trailblazing female sportscaster (Florida A&M University)
8. Reuben Studdard – American Idol winner (Alabama A&M)
9. Common – actor, hip hop artist (Florida A&M University)
10. Rosa Parks – civil rights icon (Alabama State)
11. Alex Haley – author (Alcorn State)
12. Steve McNair – NFL quarterback (Alcorn State)
13. Michael Clark Duncan – actor (Alcorn State)
14. A. Phillip Randolph – civil rights activist (Bethune Cookman College)
15. Mary McLeod Bethune – educator, college founder and presidential advisor (Barbara Scotia College)
16. James Weldon Johnson – writer of the Negro National Anthem “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” (Clark Atlanta)
17. Nikki Giovanni – poet (Fisk)
18. Matthew Knowles – music industry executive (Fisk)
19. Rob Hardy and William Packer – movie producers (Florida A&M University)
20. Erykah Badu – singer (Grambling)
21. Wanda Sykes – comedian (Hampton)
22. Ananda Lewis – talk show host (Howard)
23. Andrew Young – U.N. ambassador, Atlanta mayor (Howard)
24. David Dinkins – New York mayor (Howard)
25. Debbie Allen – choreographer, director (Howard)
26. Ossie Davis – actor (Howard)
27. Lynn Whitfield – actress (Howard)
28. Phylicia Rashad – actress (Howard)
29. Sharon Pratt Kell y- DC mayor (Howard)
30. Shirley Franklin – Atlanta mayor (Howard)
31. Toni Morrison – Nobel Prize winning author (Howard)
32. Vernon Jordan – former head of UNCF and Urban League (Howard)
33. The Honorable Roderick Paige – U.S. Secretary of Education (Jackson State)
34. Walter Payton – Hall of Fame NFL player (Jackson State)
35. Whitney Young – former Urban League head (Kentucky State)
36. George Curry – former editor, Emerge Magazine (Knoxville College)
37. Bessie Coleman – first female African American pilot (Langston College)
38. Benjamin Hooks – NAACP head (LeMoyne-Owen College)
39. Marion Barry – Washington, DC mayor (LeMoyne-Owen College)
40. Langston Hughes – writer (Lincoln)
41. Thurgood Marshall – Supreme Court Justice (Lincoln)
42. Jerry Rice- NFL player (Mississippi Valley State)
43. Esther Rolle – actress (Spelman)
44. Oprah Winfrey – talk show host, philanthropist (Tennessee State)
45. Ron Brown – Democratic Party head, Secretary of Commerce (Tennessee State)
46. Wilma Rudolph – Olympic athlete (Tennessee State)
47. Yolanda Adams – singer (Tennessee State)
48. Betty Shabazz – (Tuskeegee)
Keenan Ivory Wayans – (Tuskeegee)
49. Ralph Ellison – author of “The Invisible Man” (Tuskeegee)
50. Reginald Lewis – late CEO of TLC/ Beatrice (Virginia State)
51. Tony Brown – journalist (West Virginia State)
52. James Farmer – civil rights activist (Wiley College)
53. Jack Chaney – Basketball Coach (Bethune-Cookman College)
…and many more
