Eight Black Leaders We Lost in 2021

The legacy each has left behind, and the lives they have touched, will never be forgotten

Screenshot: Getty Images DNCC

When former Secretary of State Colin Powell passed away, we were once again reminded of the vast number of important, influential Black leaders we have lost in 2021. Their contributions are many, and their impact is without question. Swipe along to pay tribute to those who’ve had a lasting impact on the Black community that’s not only far-reaching but forever meaningful.

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W. Sterling Cary

Rev. W. Sterling Cary, past President of the National Council of Churches, addressing a rally to stop U.S. intervention in Angola on the U.S. Capitol steps. Photo: Edgar Lockwood

Carl Bean

Archbishop Carl Bean in an undated photo. A singer before becoming a preacher, he said he saw his 1977 recording of the song “I Was Born This Way” as “a sort of ministry to gay people.”Credit… Screenshot: Unity Fellowship Church Movement

Gloria Richardson

Screenshot: Bettmann Archive

Bob Moses

Screenshot: AP Rogelio V. Solis

Alcee Hastings

Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) speaks during a debate at a committee meeting July 29, 2014 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. Photo: Getty Images Win McNamee

Alvin Sykes

Alvin Sykes, who left high school in eighth grade, completed his education by reading legal textbooks at the public library and later used his vast knowledge of the law to pry open long-dormant murder cases from the civil rights era — including the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till — died on March 19 at a hospice facility in Shawnee, Kan. He was 64. Screenshot: Kansas City Star

Meredith C. Anding Jr.

Meredith C. Anding Jr., a member of the “Tougaloo Nine,” who famously participated in a library “read-in” in segregated Mississippi 60 years ago. Screenshot: Jay Johnson

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