Everyday People, Extraordinary Heroes Week 1 2 3 4

For that person that is first to lend a helping hand, yet last to accept an award. For the one that gives from the heart, then rejects to being on the front page of the newspaper. For the one that will work even when no one is around because it is important to get the job done... not who's watching you get the job done. We celebrate those every day individuals that have made an impact in our communities, changed our history, and left behind a revolutionary roadmap for all to follow. For each week we will highlight five influential individuals and their story, giving you a glimpse of what we mean when we say, "Ordinary People, Extraordinary Heroes."

Wynton Marsalis 1961 Brother Swing Through his Peabody Award-winning PBS series, Marsalis on Music, and his work on National Public Radio, Marsalis has led a personal crusade for music education. During his rise to prominence in the 1980s, Marsalis was alternately praised and disparaged for his neo-traditionalist insistence on the primacy of swing. After a stint in 1981 with Herbie Hancock and his V.S.O.P unit, Marsalis signed an unprecedented contract with Columbia Records to record both jazz and classical albums. Perhaps Marsalis’s most significant contribution to the jazz world has come in his role as cofounder and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, an ongoing project of New York’s prestigious Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. In 1984 he won a Grammy for his classical debut, Trumpet Concertos (1983), and another for his second jazz album, Think of One (1983), marking the first time in the history of the awards that an artist won in two different musical categories in the same year. Since then he has won six more Grammys. England’s Royal Academy of Music named him an honorary member; the United Stated Congress awarded him a citation for his contribution to music education.

Martin Puryear 1941 - The Sculptor Puryear is a poet who works with organic material rather than words – a master sculptor and craftsman. By the end of his two year term in the Peace Corps, Puryear had decided to apply to the Swedish Royal Academy of Art in Stockholm. Receiving a Scandinavian-American Foundation study grant, he studied printmaking and explored Scandinavian furniture-making. In Sweden, Puryear’s work appeared in the 1967 and 1968 annual exhibition of the Swedish Royal Academy of Art, while he also worked briefly as a designer for SCAN, a Scandinavian furniture company. He subsequently taught at Fisk University as an assistant professor of art and had his first U,S, individual exhibition in 1972 in Washington.

Spike Lee 1957 - The Director Born Shelton Jackson Lee in Atlanta, Georgia on March 20, 1957. The most visible and influential black filmmaker of this past century. His master’s thesis project, “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barber Shop: We Cut Heads” (1983), won him the Student Director Oscar from the Academy of Motion Pictures in 1986. Lee’s independent route consisted of securing the scant $125,000 needed to produce his first feature film, She’s Gotta Have It The film grossed a surprising $8.5 million domestically and was awarded the Prix de Jeunese at Cannes. But it was Do the Right Thing, Lee’s 1989 film chronicling the cataclysmic events of a single summer day in Brooklyn, that established him as America’s foremost black cinematic voice – and one of its most controversial cultural figures. Perhaps Lee’s most significant legacy is the model he has established for success as an African American in the film industry.

Maya Angelou 1928 - The Voice Born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, MO, on April 4, 1928. Author of five autobiographies so far, seven volumes of poetry, two collections of occasional essays, four children’s books, and a screenplay. To support herself during high school, she worked as a streetcar conductor in San Francisco, the first ever-female conductor. As a member of the Harlem Writers Guild she made the connections that would lead to her producing, directing, and performing in Cabaret for Freedom, an Off-Broadway revue to benefit the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLS). In 1960 she was asked to succeed Bayard Rustin as the northern coordinator for the SCLC. James Baldwin, admiring her poetry and intrigued by her life story, suggested that Angelou write her autobiography. The result was I know Why the Caged Birds Sings (1970). In 1971 she produced Georgia, Georgia, the first film screenplay by a black woman ever to make it to the screen. She appeared as an actress in Alex Haley’s acclaimed series Roots, for which she won and Emmy in 1977. On the stage, she performed in Look Away, for which she won a Tony in 1973. She is Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and she lectures and gives readings throughout the world

Jesse Owens 1913 - 1980 Olympic Hero Born into an Alabama sharecropping family in 1913, Jesse Owens was the seventh of eight living children. Struck a blow against the Aryan racism of Hitler’s Germany at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by winning gold medals in four events. In 1935, he was elected captain of the Ohio State University track team, the first African American to captain any team at that school. In 1936 he won a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. Owens proceeded to dominate winning gold in the 100- and 200-meter dash events (setting a new world record in the 100), and the 400-meter relay. His gold medal broad jump, at 25 feet, 10 ¼ inches, set a world record that stood for a quarter-century. In 1972, Owens moved to Phoenix and became a philanthropist, giving his money and his name to the Jesse Owens Memorial Medical Center and Jesse Owens Memorial Track Club. OSU awarded him an honorary degree in 1972.

John H. Johnson 1918 - Publisher, Chairman, CEO Because schools in Arkansas offered blacks no education beyond the 8th grade, Johnson’s mother, a widow, saved for two years in order to move her family to Chicago so that her son could continue his high school education. There, he became an honor student and served as class and student council president and edited the school newspaper and yearbook. While attending the University of Chicago at night, Johnson spent his days as an office boy with a life insurance company. It was here that he devised the idea of a magazine for a black readership. Negro Digest, first published in 1942, was financed originally with $500 his seamstress mother raised by pawning their furniture. In less than a year, circulation was up to 50,000. Ebony magazine was then published in 1945. Johnson now controls the world's largest Black-owned publishing company, which has revenues in excess of $386 million. He is publisher of EBONY, JET and EBONY South Africa magazines, and owns Fashion Fair Cosmetics, Supreme Beauty Products, television productions, and the Johnson Publishing Company Book Division.

Tom Joyner The hardest working man in radio Tom Joyner was born in Tuskegee, Alabama and received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the Tuskegee Institute. Upon graduating, Joyner took a job reading news on WRMA/Montgomery. Subsequent jobs at WLOK/Memphis, KWK/St. Louis and KKDA/Dallas followed. Joyner’s success led him to Chicago, where he worked at stations WJPC, WVON and WBMX before hitting it big at WGCI. Joyner made headlines in 1985 as “The Hardest Working Man in Radio,” when he accepted a morning position at KKDA/Dallas while simultaneously taking an afternoon show at WGCI/Chicago. His daily commute between the two cities led to high ratings in both markets while earning Joyner a new nickname: “The Fly Jock. ” In January of 1994, Joyner began syndicating The Tom Joyner Morning Show to 29 stations. Joyner’s new show offered a mix of music, comedy, guests—ranging from Stevie Wonder to Tipper Gore—and occasional discussions of social or political issues. Today, Joyner’s show is heard on over 110 stations. Perhaps Joyner’s most unique honor comes from Impact magazine, who awarded their “Best DJ of the Year” award to Joyner so many times over the years that they finally renamed it “The Tom Joyner Award.” Tom Joyner was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1998.

J.C. Watts 1957 - Congressman A former University of Oklahoma quarterback, Watts worked as a Baptist minister before being elected to Congress in 1994. In 1999 he was named chair of the House Republican Conference, making him the fourth ranking Republican in the House of Representatives. Watts retired from the House after four terms, but keeps active in Republican politics as the chairman of GOPAC, a training organization for Republican political candidates. J.C. Watts Jr. was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994, winning 52 percent of the vote in an overwhelmingly White Oklahoma district. He has been elected by even larger majorities in three subsequent elections and has emerged as one of the most visible members of Congress His 1996 speech at the Republican National Convention, his 1997 response to President Clinton's State of the Union Address, and his honorary co-chairmanship of the 2000 GOP Convention all have helped to make Watts -- the only Black Republican in Congress -- virtually a household name. Watts serves as chairman of the House Republican Conference, one of the top leadership positions in Congress. He also is a member of the Armed Services Committee and its Military Readiness and Procurement subcommittees.

Thank you for visiting! More poster and flyers can be found throughout 4C, 5C and CTV kiosk. top