Black men in the arts, humanities & politics born between 1948 - 1969

A while back, I produced a list "Accomplished black men in the arts born between 1965 - 1975 as part of a project that I was working on and also as part of my ongoing observations about birth years and age matters. Reading Mark Anthony Neal's book Looking for Leroy has inclined me to turn the clock back a little. I decided to start the following list with 1948, the year Avery Brooks, one focal point in Neal's book and 1969, the birth year of Jay-Z, who is also a key figure in the study.    

Avery Brooks b. 1948 -- actor
Clarence Thomas b. 1948 -- Supreme Court Justice
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. b. 1950 -- scholar
Luther Ronzoni Vandross (1951 – 2005) -- singer
Manning Marable (1950 - 2011) -- scholar
Cornel West b. 1953 -- scholar
Denzel Washington b. 1954 --  actor
Stephen L. Carter b. 1954 -- legal scholar, novelist
Randall Kennedy b. 1954 -- legal scholar
Deval Patrick b. 1956 -- politician, governor of Massachusetts 
Steve Harvey b. 1957 -- actor, television host
Russell Simmons b. 1957 -- producer, co-founder of record label Def Jam
Michael Eric Dyson b. 1958 -- scholar 
Prince b. 1958 -- singer, musician 
Ice T b. 1958 -- rapper, actor
Chuck D b. 1960 -- rapper
Barack Obama b. 1961 -- politician, President of the United States
Eddie Murphy b. 1961 -- comedian, actor
Gene Anthony Ray (1962 – 2003) -- actor
Chris Rock b. 1965 -- comedian, actor 
KRS-ONE b. 1965 -- rapper
Dr. Dre b. 1965 -- rapper, record producer, entrepreneur
Kyle Baker b. 1965 -- cartoonist, illustrator
Stuart Scott b. 1965 -- sports commentator 
Kenny Smith b. 1965 -- former basketball player, basketball commentator
Keith Knight b. 1966 -- comic book artist, writer 
Stephen A. Smith b. 1967 -- sports commentator 
Jamie Foxx b. 1967 -- actor, comedian 
R. Kelly b. 1967 -- singer, musician 
Rakim b. 1968 -- rapper
Will Smith b. 1968-- rapper, actor
Ice Cube b. 1969-- rapper, actor, producer
Diddy b. 1969 -- rapper, producer
Tyler Perry b. 1969 -- actor, producer
Cory Booker b. 1969 -- politician, mayor of Newark, New Jersey
Colson Whitehead b. 1969 -- novelist
Jay-Z b. 1969 -- rapper, producer

Related:
• A Notebook on Mark Anthony Neal's Looking for Leroy