African Americans Heroes
Shawn Okelley Taylor
COM/150
04/28/2013
Lee Eubanks

Who is a Hero?

African American heroes have a great impact in our society and are often not recognized for their great achievements. What kind of life did they lead? What was some of the problems they faced? And what did they do to make them well known. So, What does define a Hero and Heroism in today’s society? Black History month has often spoken upon famous African-Americans such as Martin Luther King Jr., Booker T. Washington, Harriet Tubman and George Washington Carver. Those legendary figures are certainly worth celebrating, yet there have been many other African-American men and women who achieved significant milestones for their race, and made significant contributions to society, but get little attention today. Such people as: Hattie McDaniel, Guion Bluford, Edward Bouchet, Fritz Pollard, Oscar Micheaux, Madam C.J. Walker and James “Cool Papa” Bell.

Hattie McDaniel was actually the first black person to win an Oscar in 1940. Halle Berry who is well known made headlines in 2002 when she became the first African American to win an Academy Award for best actress, for her role in Monster’s Ball. McDaniel’s Oscar winning performance was as the character Mammy in gone with the Wind she was also regarded as the first Africa American to sing on the radio in the United States. McDaniel has two stars on the Hollywood walk of Fame honoring both her singing and film careers.

Guion Bluford became the first African American astronaut to reach the space with the liftoff of a 1983 mission aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. Bluford had a lot of experience in engineering he also made four shuttle flights between 1983 and 1992 and later served as an engineering consultant.

Edward Bouchet (1852-1918) overcame many segregationist obstacles on his way to become the