Louis Armstrong Jazz musician (1901 - 1971) Zora Neale Hurston Author and novelist, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1901-1960) Duke Ellington Composer and bandleader (1899-1974) Langston Hughes Hattie McDaniel Actress, Gone With the Wind (1895-1952) Billie Holiday Jazz singer (1915-1959) Ella Fitzgerald Jazz singer (1917-1996) Nat King Cole Jazz singer and pianist (1919-1965) Richard Wright Writer and novelist, Native Son (1908-1960) Miles Davis Jazz trumpeter (1926-1991) Thelonious Monk Jazz pianist (1917-1982) Ralph Ellison Novelist, Invisible Man (1914-1994) BB King Blues guitarist (1925 - ) Chuck Berry Rock singer and guitarist (1926 - ) James Baldwin Author, Go Tell It on the Mountain, The Fire This Time (1924-1987) Muddy Waters Blues singer and guitarist (1915-1983) Ray Charles Singer and pianist (1930-2004) Jimi Hendrix Rock singer and guitarist (1942-1970) Al Green Soul and gospel singer (1946 - ) Stevie Wonder Singer, songwriter, instrumentalist (1950 - ) Marvin Gaye James Brown Funk singer-songwriter (1933-2006) Sidney Poitier Actor, In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1927 - ) Diana Ross Singer and actress (1944 - ) Maya Angelou Author and poet, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1928 - ) George Clinton Funk musician (1941 - ) Bill Cosby Comedian and actor (1937 - ) Richard Pryor Comedian and actor (1940-2005) Basquiat Alex Haley Author, Roots, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1921-1992) Michael Jackson Russell Simmons Founder of Def Jam (1957 - ) Alice Walker Novelist, The Color Purple (1944 - ) Eddie Murphy Comedian and actor (1961 - ) Toni Morrison Novelist, Song of Solomon, Beloved (1931 - ) Whitney Houston Singer and actress (1963 - 2012) Spike Lee Director and writer, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, 25th Hour (1957 - ) August Wilson Playwright, The Pittsburgh Cycle (1945-2005) Denzel Washington Actor, Glory, Malcolm X, Philadelphia, Training Day (1954 - ) Mary J. Blige Singer (1971 - ) Puff Daddy Rapper, producer, magnate (1969 - ) Will Smith Actor, Men in Black, Independence Day, Ali (1968 - ) Halle Berry Actress, Monster's Ball (1966 - ) Chris Rock Comedian (1965 - ) Oprah Winfrey Talk show host (1954 - ) Dave Chappelle Comedian (1973 - ) Tyler Perry Director, writer and actor, Diary of a Mad Black Woman (1969 - ) Kanye West Rapper (1977 - )