U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell has enjoyed the highest rating as a U.S. Presidential candidate in the past two presidential elections and is now the most influential among African Americans, according to a recent poll. President Bush’s National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice, has been listed by Forbes Magazine as the most powerful woman in the world. These highly visible African Americans are among many prominent African Americans who are today considered the “Who’s Who in Black America.”

And “Who’s Where?” Atlanta, Georgia has been rated by Black Enterprise Magazine to be the best city for African Americans to live, work and play. Considering income earnings, cost of living, housing prices and entrepreneurial opportunities, Atlanta was followed by Washington, DC, Dallas, Nashville and Houston. Of the top ten cities, seven out of 10 are below the Mason-Dixon Line, five have Black Mayors and all ten have Black populations of at least 25%. Also, BlackMoney.com of San Francisco teamed with BlackCommerceMall.com of Oakland, CA to issue a national study, Loaded Dice, rating Virginia and Maryland as the best states for African American businesses.

Worldwide Technology Inc., Maryland Heights, MD, is America’s largest Black industrial company at $1.16 billion in 2003 revenues. Prestige Automotive, Detroit, MI, is the largest Black auto dealer with revenues of $766 million. Global Hue, Southfield, MI leads the Black Advertising Agencies with $325 million in revenues, followed by Carol H. Williams Advertising, Oakland, CA at $300 million. The largest Black bank in the U.S. is Carver Federal Savings Bank, New York, NY.

Family Digest has 2.6 million African American readers. The Digest lists the seven best companies for African Americans to work for as Cigna, Cingular Wireless, Denny’s Restaurants, Morgan Stanley, New Y

ork Life Insurance, Proctor & Gamble and Washington Mutual. Although African Americans occupy just 388 of 11,500 Fortune 1000 board seats, Blacks have made a few inroads as company executives of major companies. Time Warner, the world’s largest media company, along with the world’s largest stock broker, Merrill Lynch and the world’s largest housing financial company, Fanny Mae, are all headed by Blacks. In the Bay Area, the Presidents of SBC Pacific Bell, Symantec, Oracle and Genetech are also African American.

No “Who’s Who” list would be complete without the inclusion of television host, Oprah Winfrey, and former BET executive, Robert Johnson, as two of the three African American billionaires. The top money making athletes in 2003 were golfer, Tiger Woods, and basketball player, Shaquille O’Neal, at $76.7 million and $40.5 million, respectively.

Ironically, this impressive list of “Who’s Who in Black America” represents, still yet, the lowest ethnic group on America’s economic ladder. We must never abandon the struggle to make economic success a goal for the least of us.

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