The 50 most intriguing blacks of 2004

Justin GATLIN

He was fast. How fast? Fastest-person-in-the-world fast. On a historic night on the world's biggest stage, Justin Gatlin wan the Olympic Games' fastest-ever 100-meter dash and placed his name among the pantheon of champion runners such as Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis and Maurice Greene as the fastest man in the shortest Olympic race. 9.85 seconds. That's how long it took to go from underdog to Olympic champion. And these were not "one-Mississippi" seconds. These were electronically timed, a-bad-start-can-ruin-you, tale-of-the-tape seconds in a race where five men broke the 10-second barrier and a photo finish saw Gatlin's torso lean into the finish ahead of Portugal's Francis Obikwelu and 2000 Olympic champion Maurice Greene. This was supposed to be Greene's race (Greene had said so.) If not Greene, then flamboyant U.S. sprinter Shaun Crawford--Gatlin's training partner in North Carolina--or one of the Jamaican runners. No one was talking about the quiet 22-year-old who grew up jumping fire hydrants in Brooklyn, N.Y. No one was talking about the NCAA champion from the University of Tennessee, who almost chose art school over a track scholarship. Now, they're talking about him--calling him a welcome relief from the self-proclamation of some athletes.

Bishop SARAH FRANCES DAVIS

IT WAS THE CULMINATION OF A DREAM FOR THE RIGHT REV. SARAH FRANCES DAVIS. She'd been a trailblazer throughout her professional life and ministry, most recently serving as the first female pastor of the 115-year-old Bethel A.M.E. Church in San Antonio, Texas--a post she held for seven years. And now Rev. Davis--who earned a doctor of ministry from Southern Methodist University--was out in front again, as the third woman in the history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church to be elected bishop--the highest leadership rank. Rev. Carolyn Tyler Guidry of Los Angeles, elected during the same meeting was the second woman AME bishop. Bishops Davis and Guidry appear to have shattered the glen ceiling that was cracked four years ego with the election of Vashti McKenzie as the first woman bishop. In her new post, Rev. Davis will serve as the presiding prelate over the 18th Episcopal District, situated in Southern Africa and comprising Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland and Mozambique. Rev. Davis is married to Claytie Davis Jr., a retired manager of Southwestern Bell.

Bishop CAROLYN E. TYLER GUIDRY

Four years ago, the Rev. Carolyn Tyler Guidry celebrated as the Rev. Vashti McKenzie was elected the first female bishop in the history of the AME church. This past July, it was her turn. A Los Angeles resident, Rev. Tyler Guidry became the second woman elected to serve as a bishop in the denomination's history. Her task is to oversee 94 churches with about 10,000 members in a Caribbean and European region that includes Jamaica, Haiti and England. Tyler Guidry has had a long and successful ministry within the AME church. In 1994, she became the first female presiding elder in the Fifth Episcopal District. She and her husband, Don Guidry, will live in Jamaica to preside over a district where several countries face poverty and some churches face low membership and poor finances. "I'm not sure yet how God is going to use me over these next eight years [of her term]," Rev. Tyler Guidry told an interviewer. "But I'm excited about it, and I'm available."