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Posts published by “goodblacknews”

Oprah Winfrey Tops Forbes List of "Most Influential Celebrities"

By goodblacknews on March 18, 2013

Oprah Winfrey’s list of career accomplishments keeps growing. For the second year in a row, the iconic television host and philanthropist is number one on the Forbes’ list of most influential celebrities.
Snagging the 2013 No 1. Spot with 48 percent of people rating her as “influential,” Winfrey tops the list which includes several of Hollywood’s elite like Steven Spielberg (No. 2), Barbara Walters (No. 8) and Clint Eastwood (No. 10).
Winfrey’s reign over the media world has lasted for decades. After she ended her 25-year-run on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2011, the mogul started her TV empire O.W.N., the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Halle Berry’s ‘The Call’ Surprise Hit at the Box Office

By goodblacknews on March 17, 2013

Halle Berry arrives at the premiere of Tri Star Pictures’ ‘The Call’ at the Arclight Theatre on March 5, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

After a string of box-office disappointments like last year’s “Cloud Atlas” and this year’s “Movie 43,” Oscar winner Halle Berry entered this weekend in need of a hit. It appears her new thriller “The Call” brought just what the doctor ordered.
According to box office estimates, the movie opened with $17.1 million, making it her third largest non-X-Men debut. Entertainment Weekly reports that, “Sony/TriStar, which acquired the $15 million R-rated film from Troika Pictures, effectively marketed “The Call” to women, and according to the studio, the opening-weekend audience was 61 percent female and 47 percent below the age of 30 — and it also played very well with African-American moviegoers. “The Call” earned a ‘B+’ CinemaScore grade.”

Black History Collection Makes Its Disney Debut

By goodblacknews on March 17, 2013

Bernard and Shirley Kinsey have entrusted their collection of African-American treasures to Walt Disney World Resort for the “Rediscovering America: Family Treasures from the Kinsey Collection” exhibit at Epcot. Take a look at a few of the pieces that have truly made their mark in Black history. (Photo: David Roark)
via The Kinsey Collection at Epcot | Black History Collection Makes Its Disney Debut | News | BET.

Born On This Day in 1919: Legendary Jazz Musician and Singer Nat King Cole

By goodblacknews on March 17, 2013

Nat Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer and musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. He owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft, baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres.
Cole was one of the first African Americans to host a television variety show, The Nat King Cole Show, and has maintained worldwide popularity since his death from lung cancer in February 1965, based on his classic renditions of “Unforgettable,” “Mona Lisa,” “Laura,” and “The Christmas Song.” Learn more about his life and music here, and watch his uncomparable version of “Nature Boy” below:

article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson

Children's Radio Foundation Gives Voices to South African Youth

By goodblacknews on March 17, 2013

Lesedi Mogoatlhe — Lesedi Mogoatlhe, a youth trainer with Children’s Radio Foundation, emphasises the need for young people to participate in journalism. Credit: Mimi Ng’ok

UNITED NATIONS – Lesedi Mogoatlhe has dedicated her life to empowering African youth by helping them to find their voices through radio journalism.
In a time of economic, cultural and political challenges, young South Africans face extraordinarily difficult issues. As teens, they worry about their friends, families, education and social standing, but must as South Africans also deal with the harsh realities of poverty, disease and violence.
A trainer with Children’s Radio Foundation(CRF) in South Africa, Mogoatlhe focuses on building interest in social issues, provoking critical thinking and nurturing communication.
“It’s tempting to list the number of challenges and inequalities faced by the people on the continent, to talk about how the natural resources are being misused, or how corruption has become synonymous with African leadership,” Mogoatlhe told IPS, “but this seems like a futile exercise if I can’t contribute solutions to these problems.”
Having a voice is essential to having a livelihood, and through organizations like the Children’s Radio Foundation and trainers like Mogoatlhe, more and more youth are becoming equipped with basic communication skills that do more than simply allowing them to say how they feel.
Joan Erakit spoke with Mogoatlhe about her work in radio journalism for youth in South Africa and its impact on young people’s lives. Excerpts of the interview follow.
Q: You train youth to empower not only themselves but also their communities through radio journalism. What sort of trends have you begun to see?
A: Youth that come from rural environments are hungrier for knowledge than youth in urban environments. They seem to be more focused and curious about opportunities that come to them, and they tend to be better at organising themselves and using everything that the platform of radio brings their way.
I’ve also realised that the first moment of empowerment that occurs for the youth happens when they have a microphone to speak through. Something about having their voices amplified seems to also amplify everything else about them.

Women’s History Month: Four Unsung Black Women You Should Know

By goodblacknews on March 17, 2013

Johnnie Tillmon

Callie House

Elizabeth “Mum Bett” Freeman

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

As with Black History Month, the focus on already well-known figures has been an ongoing criticism of Woman’s History Month. When it comes to black women, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells and Rosa Parks are on repeat. What makes these much-needed theme months thrive, however, is the spirit of discovery. It’s doubtful that the names Elizabeth “Mum Bett” Freeman, Callie House, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin or Johnnie Tillmon even draw a glint of recognition but they should. In their own ways, each of these women made important contributions to the ongoing struggle for freedom and justice.
Even as a slave, Elizabeth Freeman, known as Mum Bett most of her life, had the audacity to sue for her freedom. Born into slavery in Claverack, New York around 1742, Freeman, at a reported six months old, was sold, along with her sister, to John Ashley of Sheffield, Massachusetts, a judge in the Massachusetts Court of Common Pleas. Enslaved to Ashley until she was almost 40, Freeman was spurred to action when the mistress of the house Hannah Ashley tried to hit her sister with a heated kitchen shovel. Freeman intervened and was hit instead, leaving the house, vowing to never come back.

Eleven Year-Old Prodigy Malik Kofi Set to Take Classical Music World by Storm

By goodblacknews on March 16, 2013

Malik Kofi playing the cello: photo courtesy Mario Page

Malik Kofi playing the cello: photo courtesy Mario Page

Malik Kofi is extraordinarily talented; a child prodigy, musical genius, awe-inspiring orator, with intellectual gifts well beyond his years. Not only is the 11-year-old academically brilliant but his superior musical abilities leaves audiences spellbound. An impressive multi-instrumentalist, Kofi plays the piano, drums and guitar. However, his passion is for the cello.
“Malik is a musical prodigy,” says Craig Hulgren, a cellist in the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, who has been Kofi’s teacher for the past five years. “He has advanced technological and interpretative abilities as a child. Beyond that he also puts in the hard work to develop those talents.”
Born into a working-class family in Birmingham, Alabama, Kofi’s unique story is a testimony to excellence against all odds. The product of a teenage mom, Kofi’s maternal grandmother, Ruby Cox, has raised him as her own since he was an infant. She says Kofi came out of the womb curious and eager to learn.

Dying Cancer Patient Gets Married Weeks Before She Is Expected To Die

By goodblacknews on March 16, 2013

Evonne Lee, a dying cancer patient, got her wish Tuesday when she married her longtime boyfriend at the hospital where she is expected to die, WAVE 3 reports. Hospital staff at University Hospital in Louisville, Ky., consider Lee an inspiration for the way she is living the final days of her life; doctors have given her weeks to live. Lee and her new husband, Don Tyler, knew they would wed when they first first met some eight years ago. But when Lee was diagnosed with cancer last year, jumping the broom became a priority.
Tyler popped the question on Christmas Day. It was around that time that Lee’s health began to deteriorate. Here is some background on how Evonne has decided to make the best of the time she has left:

Donald Pope-Davis Named Provost at DePaul University in Chicago

By goodblacknews on March 15, 2013

Donald B. Pope-Davis was named as the next provost at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. He will take office in July. DePaul University enrolls about 16,000 undergraduate students and 9,000 graduate students. About 9 percent of the undergraduate students are African Americans.
Currently, Pope-Davis is professor of psychology and vice president and associate provost at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. He has served on the Notre Dame faculty for 13 years and has been associate provost since 2007.
Professor Pope-Davis is the co-author of three books: Multicultural Counseling Competencies: Assessment, Education and Training, and Supervision (Sage, 1996), The Intersection of Race, Class, and Gender: Implications for Multicultural Counseling (Sage, 2001) and Handbook of Multicultural Competencies in Counseling and Psychology (Sage, 2003).
Dr. Pope-Davis is a graduate of Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois. He earned a doctorate in counseling psychology at Stanford University.

article via jbhe.com

T. Geronimo Johnson Named a Finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award in Fiction

By goodblacknews on March 15, 2013

T. Geronimo Johnson, a lecturer in creative writing at the University of California at Berkeley, has been selected as one of five finalists for the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. He also serves as director of the university’s Summer Creative Writing Program.
Johnson is being honored for his debut novel, Hold It, ‘Til It Hurts(Coffee House Press, 2012), a story of two brothers who have returned to the United States after serving in the war in Afghanistan.
Johnson is a native of New Orleans. He holds a master’s degree in language, literacy, and culture from the University of California at Berkeley and a master of fine arts degree from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa.
The winner will be announced on March 19 and the award will be presented at the 33rd annual PEN/Faulkner Award ceremony at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington on May 4.
article via jbhe.com