19. Barack Obama
Barack Obama was the first African-American president of the United States, and he withstood tremendous opposition both in his ascent to the presidency and during his tenure in office. His single mother raised him until she remarried. His grandparents also had a hand in raising this future president. Obama graduated from Harvard Law School. Then, he served as a senator for the state of Illinois before being elected to two terms as United States president. He has used his political career to advance the causes of minority and marginalized populations and faced a lot of criticism, particularly from gun-rights activists and white supremacists.