100 Greatest African Americans is a biographical dictionary of the one hundred historically greatest African Americans, as assessed by Molefi Kete Asante in 2002.
Contents |
Criteria
Asante used five factors in establishing the list:
- "significance in the general progress of African Americans toward full equality in the American social and political system"
- "self-sacrifice and a willingness to take great risks for the collective good"
- "unusual will and determination in the face of great danger and against the most stubborn odds"
- "a consistent posture toward raising the social, cultural and economic status of African Americans"
- "personal achievement that reveals the best qualities of the African American people"
Asante consciously omits some contemporary celebrities, whom he did not consider notable enough for a historical list.
Asante does not rank the historical figures.
Critique
A reviewer of this dictionary noted the brevity of some entries, then stated: "More serious perhaps is the lack of more critical information on the people’s [sic] whose biographies are presented."[1]
Notes
References
- Asante, Molefi Kete (2002). 100 Greatest African Americans: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Amherst, NY: Prometheus. ISBN 9781573929639.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
