Frederick Douglass: Many of you may immediately associate Douglass with his groundbreaking book, My Bondage and My Freedom, but did you know that Douglass was our nation¡¯s first African-American vice-presidential candidate? He ran alongside Equal Rights Party candidate Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president in the United States. They didn¡¯t win, but their political aspirations inspired many.
- Re: From Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama: An MLK Salute to 10 Who Paved the Wayposted on 01/19/2009
Booker T. Washington: With the founding of the Tuskegee Institute, Washington provided a great education for countless African-Americans. He eventually became known as the most powerful African-American in the nation and, for his efforts, became the first African American to receive an invitation to dinner at the White House.
- Re: From Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama: An MLK Salute to 10 Who Paved the Wayposted on 01/19/2009
Martin Luther King Jr: Do we really need to explain MLK¡¯s inclusion? This man, one of the most respected civil-rights leaders in history ¡ª if not the most respected ¡ª helped break down the nation¡¯s color barrier and set the course for a more inclusive American dream. Without him, well, it¡¯s likely Obama never would have made it to the primary. Or, for that matter, the Illinois state Senate!
- Re: From Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama: An MLK Salute to 10 Who Paved the Wayposted on 01/19/2009
Thurgood Marshall: Thurgood Marshall rose to fame for winning case after case before the Supreme Court, including 1954¡¯s seminal Brown vs. Board of Education, which desegregated schools. A little more than a decade later, Marshall would become the high court¡¯s first African-American jurist.
- Re: From Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama: An MLK Salute to 10 Who Paved the Wayposted on 01/19/2009
Robert C. Weaver: Weaver left an indelible mark on Washington when, in 1966, he became the first African-American to hold a Cabinet-level position. Weaver served as Lyndon Johnson¡¯s Secretary for Housing and Urban Development, which was created that very year.
- Re: From Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama: An MLK Salute to 10 Who Paved the Wayposted on 01/19/2009
Douglas Wilder: The first African American to be elected as governor of a state (Virginia), serving from 1990-1994.
- Re: From Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama: An MLK Salute to 10 Who Paved the Wayposted on 01/19/2009
Colin Powell: Powell was the first African-American to serve as Secretary of State, but he was the first ¡ª and so far only ¡ª black man to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
- Re: From Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama: An MLK Salute to 10 Who Paved the Wayposted on 01/19/2009
Jesse Jackson: Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama may have had their political differences in the past, but it can certainly be argued that Jackson¡¯s 1984 campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination ¡ª and, also, his 1988 efforts ¡ª helped lay the groundwork for Obama¡¯s historic election.
- Re: From Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama: An MLK Salute to 10 Who Paved the Wayposted on 01/19/2009
Hiram Revels: Barack Obama owes a lot to Hiram Revels. Known as a great orator, Revels was the first African-American appointed to the United States Senate when Mississippi¡¯s state legislature voted 81 to 15 to send him to Washington in 1870.
- Re: From Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama: An MLK Salute to 10 Who Paved the Wayposted on 01/19/2009
Joseph Rainey: Unlike Revel, who was appointed to the Senate, South Carolinian Rainey was the African-American elected to the United States Congress and was the African-American to sit in the House of Representatives, which he did for nine years. Not too shabby, eh?
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