My African American is Ray Charles, Ray Charles is one of the greatest R&B singers in the world, even though being blind, he still made some of the best and most listened to tunes of today, I think he made a huge impact on the US cause of his will to succeed and not give up, even after getting all the discrimination for being a black male in America, he pulled through.
             Ray Charles Robinson was born in September 23, 1930, He grew up in Albany, Georgia and was raised in Greenville, Florida. At age Six, Ray Charles suffered from Glaucoma after traumatically watching his brother drown in a washtub his mom used for laundry, because of this he started to lose his site. At the age of Seven he attended St. Augustine School for the Deaf and the Blind from 1937 to 1945 where he learned Piano, Clarinet, and Alto Sax, He also learned how to read and write music in braile
             In 1948 he was Seventeen and took 600 dollars of savings and moved to Seattle, where he formed the Maxim Trio who had a major hit called "Confession Blues". During this time in Seattle he began using Heroin. Later Ray Charles made Ray Charles Enterprises, he recorded many songs of his there, like "I cant stop loving you" Born to Lose" and many more. Later in 1986 he was inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
             Ray Charles overcame many obstacles like when he started using heroin in 1948, and especially him losing his site at the age of six, learning to play piano clarinet and alto sax, and learning to read Braile and write music in Braile is just amazing, I cant realate to any of these but to overcome a lot of these things is just amazing.
             Ray charles didn't really do anything controversial but he did use heroin in 1948, he did appear in many movies and later dropped his contract. My opinion on Ray Charles is that he is a great and influential African American, he has influenced many people in his life and
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