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Visit cnn.com/blackinamerica each day this week to see another person who is challenging the conventional notions of blackness. CNN Presents: Black in America airs July 23 and 24, 9 p.m. ET.
(CNN) -- "I AM" is a new CNN.com feature built on the belief that the labels we use for one another don't really reveal who we are.
We present a collection of people who may surprise you. They not only defy their labels, but they've done it in very public and dramatic ways.
This week, I AM presents four African-Americans who challenge conventional notions of blackness. But then defining what it means to be black has long been a matter of debate within the African-American community. The R&B singer, Billy Paul, once had a song called, "Am I Black Enough?"
Well are they? You be the judge.
Barbara Hillary 
-- At the age of 75, she became the first African American woman to reach the North Pole.
Maurice Ashley -- Is the first and only African American to attain the coveted title of International Grand Master of Chess.
Bliss Broyard -- Author of "One Drop: My Father's Hidden Life -- A Story of Race & Family Secrets," learned her father was black just before his death.
Marvin Perkins -- As an African American elder in the Mormon church, Perkins says he is one of the world's best kept secrets in the world.
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