January 2001

The sale of BET Holdings to Viacom for $3 billion was completed, making founder Robert L. Johnson the first Black billionaire in American history. The deal was the largest acquisition of a Black-owned business ever at the time.

The sale of BET Holdings to Viacom for $3 billion was completed, making founder Robert L. Johnson the first Black billionaire in American history in the largest acquisition of a Black-owned business ever at that time.

Industry data confirmed that hip-hop and R&B had surpassed country music to become the best-selling music genre in the United States, a cultural and economic landmark reflecting the mainstream dominance of Black American music.

Robert L. Johnson completed the sale of Black Entertainment Television (BET) to Viacom on January 23, 2001 for approximately $3 billion, making him the first Black American billionaire. The landmark transaction validated the commercial value of Black-targeted media and demonstrated that a Black entrepreneur could build and exit a media company at the very highest levels of American capitalism.

Kehinde Wiley began exhibiting his large-scale portrait paintings of Black men in poses drawn from European Old Masters in major New York galleries in the early 2000s, quickly establishing himself as one of the most talked-about artists of his generation. His work reclaimed the visual language of Western art to center and celebrate Black masculinity.

Powell becomes the highest-ranking Black official in US history to that point.