Posts published by “goodblacknews”
Mother and daughter fitness duo Ellen and Lana Ector. (Image: YouTube screen capture)
From Clutch Magazine: Two spunky women are seeking to break the myth about how black women interact with fitness.
Ellen and Lana Ector have transformed their popular group exercise classes into a workout tape that women can use at home. The Atlanta-based mother-and-daughter fitness duo have put together “Black Girls Workout Too”, an exercise program that pushes females to rigorously increase their heart rate while toning their entire body.
The Ectors are mission-driven with their new fitness project:
“Curves are good..in the right places! Statistics show that 4 out of 5. African-American women are overweight or obese and we have to change that!” a message on their fitness video’s website reads.
Read the rest of this story on Clutch Magazine.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PerORsDLIJg&w=560&h=315]
State Education Commissioner John King says Parks’ work helped drive the Civil Rights movement by exposing the stark realities of life faced by many African Americans.
The State Museum display is organized by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The exhibit includes images from the Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information collections at the Library of Congress.
article by Associated Press via huffingtonpost.com
Civil Rights Activist Rosa Parks (Photo: CBS/Landov)
The late Rosa Parks continues to make history. Her likeness will be depicted in a statue later this year at Capitol Hill’s Statuary Hall, making her the first African-American woman to achieve the mark.
Congress passed an order to place the statue in the hall in 2005. In 2008, the National Endowment for the Arts announced a design competition calling artists to submit designs for the statue. The U.S. Postal Service is also commemorating the life of Rosa Parks. On Feb. 4, the postal service is issuing a special “Historic Forever” stamp in honor of Parks’ 100th birthday.
Detroit will be the first city to sell the Rosa Parks stamp.
article by Natelege Whaley via bet.com
Studio Museum in Harlem is awarding its Wein Prize, one of the most lucrative in contemporary art, to Jennie C. Jones, a 44-year-old Brooklyn-based painter and sculptor whose work – which she describes as “listening as a conceptual practice” – centers on music.
The prize, whose announcement was delayed by Hurricane Sandy, will be given at a museum gala on Feb. 4. Thelma Golden, the museum’s director and chief curator, said in an interview that Ms. Jones was chosen “not only to celebrate the rigor and strength of her practice, but also because of the thinking about what this amazingly generous prize could do for her at this point in her career.”
Ms. Jones, who will have a solo exhibition in May at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, has been featured in several shows over the last decade at the Studio Museum and in Chelsea. Her work often uses the language of Minimalism to explore, and sometimes appropriate, avant-garde jazz and other modern music.
“I kept seeing these amazing parallels in ideologies for both disciplines, especially in jazz and abstraction,” Ms. Jones has said. “Conceptualism allows these different media to occupy the same space.”
article by Randy Kennedy via nytimes.com
Essence is honoring some powerful black women who have done some extraordinary work in the film and television industry at the 6th annual Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon. The prestigious event will take place at the Beverly Hills Hotel on February 21. This year’s honorees include Oprah Winfrey, Alfre Woodard, Gabrielle Union, Mara Brock-Akil, Naomie Harris, and breakthrough performer, Quvenzhané Wallis.
“The ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon recognizes the ‘Power of our Presence’, by spotlighting the stellar accomplishments of African-American female performers and creators in film and television,” says Essence editor-in-chief, Constance C.R. White. ”More importantly, the annual luncheon serves as a source of support and inspiration for the incredibly talented community of Black women who are often overlooked in Hollywood.”
Over the years, others like Viola Davis, Zoe Saldana, Angela Bassett and Pam Grier have been honored for their phenomenal contributions.
article by Brittney M. Walker via eurweb.com
Russell Wilson #3 of the Seattle Seahawks is interviewed after their 24 to 14 win over the Washington Redskins during the NFC Wild Card Playoff Game at FedExField on January 6, 2013 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
RENTON, Wash. (AP) — Seattle Seahawks rookie quarterback Russell Wilson has been added to the NFC roster for the Pro Bowl after Atlanta’s Matt Ryan withdrew due to an injury. Wilson was added to the team on Monday. He will be the sixth Seahawks player in the game, joining offensive linemen Max Unger and Russell Okung, running back Marshawn Lynch, safety Earl Thomas and kick returner Leon Washington.
Wilson threw for 3,118 yards and tied the NFL rookie record with 26 passing touchdowns in the regular season. His finest performance of the year came in Seattle’s NFC playoff loss at Atlanta where Wilson threw for 385 yards and two touchdowns in the 30-28 loss. Wilson was originally voted a third alternate for the NFC. Ryan was injured in Sunday’s NFC championship game loss to San Francisco.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press via thegrio.com
At this time of year there are many different posts about Martin Luther King Jr. Here are eight facts that are not commonly discussed:
Fact 1: He was born Michael Luther King, Jr. January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Fact 2: His father, Michael King, Sr., changed their names to Martin Luther King Sr. and Jr. when Martin Jr. was about five.
Fact 3: King was the youngest person, at the time, to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Fact 4: King authored six books published from 1958 through 1968, works on American race relations and collections of his sermons and lectures.
Fact 5: King stood behind President Lyndon B. Johnson as Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law.
Fact 6: Senate investigations revealed that the FBI illegally bugged King’s hotel rooms and home phone from 1962-1968.
Fact 7: An ongoing controversy over the inscription on the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial which says “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.”, is taken from a 1968 King sermon, “If you want to say I was a drum major, say I was a drum major for justice, say I was a drum major for peace, I was a drum major for righteousness and all the other shallow things will not matter.”, at issue is also the cost to repair, change or delete the inscription.
Fact 8: King met with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, along with Roy Wilkins, A. Philip Randolph, and Lester Grange on problems affecting black Americans. Making it an interesting fact that he actually met with two presidents about Civil Rights at different times.
article by Oretha Winston via theurbandaily.com
Search engine giant Google honors MLK Day with Martin Luther King Jr.’s image on its default page. To remember his life, contributions and the future he envisions, Google has a yearly Google Doodle for the day. Today, the Doodle is in shades of blue, green and yellow. With Dr. King’s face as one of the “O”s in the Google logo.
Google has had a Martin Luther King, Jr. logo since 2003, skipping some years but being consistent with the logo since 2006. To see all the past Google Doodles for Martin Luther King Day, see The Google Doodle directory.
article written by Barry Schwartz via searchengineland.com
(article contributed by Lesa Lakin)