The 10 Most Powerful Black Women

Ebony, March, 2001

She was the first Black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar when she began her career in the mid 1960s, directing the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund office in Jackson, Miss. She has been an advocate for children and for the poor and disadvantaged throughout her professional career. Under her leadership, the Washington-based CDF has become a strong national voice for children and families. Its mission is to "Leave No Child Behind" and to ensure every child "a Health Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe, Start and a Moral Start in life," with the support of caring families and communities. Edelman is a graduate of Spelman College and Yale Law School. In 1968 she moved to Washington, D.C., as counsel for the Poor People's March that Martin Luther King Jr. began organizing before his death. She founded the Washington Research Project, which was the parent body of the Children's Defense Fund. For two years she served as the Director of the Center for Law and Education at Harvard University and in 1973 began CDF. She has received many honorary degrees and awards, and has written several books, including the best-selling The Measure of Our Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours.

SHARON SAYLES BELTON MAYOR OF MINNEAPOLIS

Sharon Sayles Belton was elected for a second four-year term as mayor of Minneapolis in 1997. As mayor of this city of 362,090, she has promoted public safety, creating jobs, expanding the economy and strengthening families. In 2000, unemployment was at 2.6 percent in the city, where people of color are less than 25 percent of the population. She began her public service as a teenager, volunteering at Mt. Sinai Hospital in the city. While in college she worked for civil rights, traveling to Jackson, Miss., to register voters. As the first African-American president of the Minneapolis City Council, and the first Black and first female mayor of Minneapolis, she is a strong role model. Under her leadership, 10,000 jobs were created during her first term. The city is only one of two cities in the nation to hold a triple-A bond rating from three rating houses--Moody's, Standard and Poor's and Fitch. Thriving with over $2 billion in new construction underway, the downtown area has the lowest rental vacancy rate in 10 years. She led the redevelopment of the Mississippi riverfront with a number of new developments, parks, and nearly 500 new housing units on the river.

CATHY HUGHES RADIO ONE FOUNDER AND CHAIR

From her Baltimore, Md., base, the "Queen of Radio" rules a $3 billion empire that includes 51 radio stations in the top markets geared to African-American listeners. The pioneering broadcast entrepreneur became the first Black woman to head a publicly traded company in 1999. Catherine Liggins Hughes' passion for radio is legendary. At the beginning of her career she not only owned the station, she lived in the station, literally. She also sold advertising, hired talent, answered telephones and hosted her own popular talk show. The Omaha, Neb., native who came from humble beginnings now has a personal wealth valued at close to $300 million. Her son, Alfred C. Liggins III, is now the president/CEO of Radio One. The mother-and-son team holds the majority of Radio One stock. Although her son is responsible for handling the day-to-day duties, the busy entrepreneur is still intricately involved in the radio business, including acquiring new stations. In a 20-month period in 1998 and 1999, Radio One purchased 18 stations. Since last spring, the company has purchased 22 additional stations. She says retirement is not on her radar screen.