By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
September 1999
Rosa Parks. Martin Luther King. Malcolm X. Oprah Winfrey.
They are all pioneers who have made an impact on American society. And all four most likely will make the final cut of “The 100 Most Influential African Americans of the 20th Century.”
Conceived by the MPI Media Group, in collaboration with the DuSable Museum, the project will culminate in a television program that will air in February, 2000, followed by a video version shortly thereafter.
“Every year, we try to produce a new tape for Black History Month,” said Howard Motyl, a director and producer for MPI. “Because we wanted to plan ahead for 2000, I came up with the idea that we should do a retrospective of the great people of the 20th century. We all liked that idea, but a lot of us [at the company] are white, and we didn’t want to just offer one perspective. That’s how we ended up working with the DuSable Museum.”
Ballots for nominations were circulated to museums, libraries and schools nationwide. And a website (www.dusablemuseum.org/100mostinfluential) was set up so that the participants could each submit their three selections for the most influential African Americans who helped to inspire, educate and/or improve society from 1900 to 1999.
“I’ve always said that we need to honor folks who have really done something,” said Earl Moore, immediate past president of the DuSable. “A lot of the people on the list will be familiar to people. But others will be names that often were pushed aside. That’s why we wanted to go out to the masses and ask them to select the indivuals who’ve most influenced them.
But doesn’t that leave the door open for people to nominate their parents and grandparents?
“That was one of our fears originally,” said Motyl. “But no one has done that so far.”
Some nominees are automatically ineligible. For instance, political activists Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu aren’t American. John F. Kennedy wasn’t African American. And as for Pope John Paul II–well, he was neither neither black nor American.
OK, maybe those were honest mistakes. But the nomination for Newt Gingrich surely was a joke, right?
“I don’t think so,” Moore said, with a laugh. “The other two names on that ballot were African Americans. I think some people may have gotten carried away thinking of people in general who may have been the most influential this century. Then may have forgotten the parameters. But we didn’t get any votes for Donald Duck or anything like that.
“The response has been incredible,” said Moore. “In one week, we got 20,000 hits on our website. We except to have about 100,000 votes by [Sept. 15].”
Once all the nominations are tabulated, a racially diverse panel of historians will whittle the list down to 100.
