ESPN’s race-focused news and commentary website The Undefeated honors 44 Black change agents across eras and disciplines—sports, politics, music and literature among them—in a new essay series.
An ESPN press release announcing "The Undefeated 44" yesterday (February 9) says that the list "was compiled by a panel of editors, senior writers, contributors and other stakeholders at The Undefeated as part of its month-long Black History Month content initiative." So far, that initiative includes daily "On this day in Black history" compilations and retrospective articles on Black athletic and cultural figures like all-Black punk rock band Bad Brains and National Hockey League veteran Grant Fuhr.
The Undefeated’s editor-in-chief Kevin Merida explains in his introductory essay that the staff limited the list to 44 personalities in honor of Barack Obama, "whose own stunning accomplishment was something our mothers and grandfathers and great-grandmothers never thought they’d see in their lifetimes." Obama is featured in the series of essays, which were written by a mix of The Undefeated staffers and contributors.
Here is the full list, with links to the respective essays:
The Undefeated invites readers to share feedback on its "You Got 99 Words" page.