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GBN Daily Drop Podcast: Drs. Joanna and Elmer Martin and the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum (LISTEN)

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: Drs. Joanna and Elmer Martin and the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 3, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Here is GBN’s Daily Drop for Thursday, February 3rd, 2022, about the creation of The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore, MD, the first all African-American wax museum in the U.S.

(Also available for streaming and download at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed.)

Transcript below:

SHOW TRANSCRIPT:

Hey, this Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of GoodBlackNews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News for Thursday, February 3rd, 2022, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar” published by Workman Publishing. It’s in the category for Black Museums and Landmarks we call “Get the Knowledge”:

Sociologist Dr. Elmer Martin and his wife, Dr. Joanna Martin, wanted to teach Black history in a way that would grab kids’ attention—so they did it with wax. The Martins had wax heads made in the likenesses of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Mary McLeod Bethune, and Nat Turner, then used department store mannequins for the bodies.

They originally presented the figures at schools and community centers in Baltimore, Maryland but after garnering donations and grants, the figures were upgraded, expanded in number, and permanently installed at the Great Blacks in Wax Museum in 1983.

Just over two decades later, in 2004, the Great Blacks in Wax Museum was recognized by the United States Congress and designated The National Great Blacks in Wax Museum. If you want to learn more about the Martins and the Great Blacks in Wax Museum, check out the links provided in today’s show notes.

This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing, and available at workman.com, Amazon,Bookshop and other online retailers. Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot. For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: Carter G. Woodson – “The Father of Black History” (LISTEN)

GBN Daily Drop Podcast: Carter G. Woodson – “The Father of Black History” (LISTEN)

By goodblacknews on February 2, 2022

by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)

Here is GBN’s Daily Drop for Wednesday, February 2nd on Carter G. Woodson, “The Father of Black History” (transcript below):

SHOW TRANSCRIPT:

Hey, this Lori Lakin Hutcherson, founder and editor in chief of GoodBlackNews.org, here to share with you a daily drop of Good Black News based on the “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day Calendar published by Workman Publishing. This is Wednesday, February 2nd, 2022.

Known as “The Father of Black History,” author and historian Carter G. Woodson was born in 1875 to formerly enslaved parents who were never taught to read and write. To make ends meet, Woodson often had to forgo school for farm or mining work, but he was encouraged to learn independently and eventually earned advanced degrees from the University of Chicago and Harvard.

In 1915 he helped found the Journal of Negro History, then in 1926, he began promoting the second week of February as Negro History Week. This holiday led to the month of February officially becoming Black History Month in 1976.

Additionally, Woodson wrote and published The Mis-Education of the Negro in 1933, which is now available for free download in the public domain. This collection of articles and speeches became a classic touchstone for educators, as Woodson advocated for excellence in the education of Black students and demanded that school systems across America eliminate curricula designed deliberately to “mis-educate” Black children and promote the fallacy of white supremacy.

To learn more about Carter G. Woodson, check out articles on him at history.com and biography.com, or pick up the full-length biography published in 2014 called, Carter G. Woodson in Washington, D.C.: The Father of Black History. Links to all of these sources are provided in today’s show notes.

This has been a daily drop of Good Black News, based on the “A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022,” published by Workman Publishing, and available at workman.com, Amazon,Bookshop and other online retailers. Beats provided by freebeats.io and produced by White Hot. For more Good Black News, check out goodblacknews.org or search and follow @goodblacknews anywhere on social.

________________________________________________________

Follow or subscribe to the Good Black News Daily Drop Podcast through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, rss.com or create your own RSS Feed. Or just check it out every day here on the main website.

Lillian E. Benson, ACE, to Receive Career Achievement Award for Her Outstanding Contributions to Film Editing from American Cinema Editors (ACE)

Lillian E. Benson, ACE, to Receive Career Achievement Award for Her Outstanding Contributions to Film Editing from American Cinema Editors (ACE)

By goodblacknews on January 25, 2022

American Cinema Editors (ACE) announced today that film editor Lillian E. Benson, ACE the first woman of color invited to join ACE, will receive the institution’s Career Achievement Award for her outstanding contributions to film editing at the 72nd Annual ACE Eddie Awards on March 5.

Benson has been an integral part of the organization and its growth. She has served on its Board of Directors for over two decades and has been instrumental in helping ACE expand and diversify its reach.

An Emmy® nominee for the Peabody, Dupont and Emmy® Award-winning PBS documentary series “Eyes on the Prize,” which chronicled the civil rights movement from 1952-1985, Benson is currently editing the highly successful procedural “Chicago Med,” which she has been working on for six seasons.

Other notable documentary projects Benson has edited include “Beyond the Steps: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater,” “Motown 40: The Music is Forever,” “A Century of Living,” “Conscience and the Constitution,” “Smothered: The Censorship Struggles of the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour,” “Craft in America” and “All Our Sons: Fallen Heroes of 9/11.”

In 2016 Benson edited “Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise” about the American poet’s resiliency in life and her impact on America.

Other credits include “Greenleaf” for OWN, Debbie Allen’s “Old Settler,” and “Life is Not a Fairytale: The Fantasia Barrino Story,” the Showtime series “Soul Food” and the feature film “All About You.”

Benson’s personal favorite in her rich career was editing “John Lewis: Get in the Way.” Benson said, “This documentary is the thing I love the most of anything I’ve ever done. I feel I was born to cut it. It was released a couple of years before he died and was the first documentary done about his life. I love Lewis because he was a warrior his entire life. He never wavered. He did what he could. He forgave people; people I couldn’t forgive. He always had the bigger picture in mind.”

Richard Chew, ACE (photo courtesy ACE)

Richard Chew, ACE will also be receiving the Career Achievement Award at the 2022 ceremony. Chew’s body of work includes“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Star Wars” (for which he won the Oscar® for Best Film Editing with his co-editors Marcia Lucas and Paul Hirsch, ACE), “Risky Business, “Mi Vida Loca, “Waiting to Exhale,” “Hope Floats,” “That Thing You Do!” and “Shanghai Noon.”

“Lillian and Richard are rock star editors and represent the very best of our craft and profession,” stated ACE president Kevin Tent, ACE. “Just look at those credits! Not only have they had incredibly prolific careers, but they’ve given back to our community in many ways, not the least of which by mentoring the next generation of editors. We are thrilled to honor these two special editors and look back at their amazing careers.”

About American Cinema Editors
American Cinema Editors (ACE) is an honorary society of motion picture editors founded in 1950.  Film editors are voted into membership on the basis of their professional achievements, their dedication to the education of others and their commitment to the craft of editing.

The objectives and purposes of the AMERICAN CINEMA EDITORS are to advance the art and science of the editing profession; to increase the entertainment value of motion pictures by attaining artistic preeminence and scientific achievement in the creative art of editing; to bring into close alliance those editors who desire to advance the prestige and dignity of the editing profession.

Senate Confirms Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson as National Endowment for the Arts Chair, 1st African American and Mexican American to Lead the NEA

Senate Confirms Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson as National Endowment for the Arts Chair, 1st African American and Mexican American to Lead the NEA

By goodblacknews on December 21, 2021

Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson was confirmed by the U.S Senate on Saturday as Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts.  Jackson is the first African American and Mexican American to lead the organization.

To quote The Washington Post:

Jackson, 56, earned a doctorate in urban planning from the University of California at Los Angeles, and she’s a professor at Arizona State University and a sought-after speaker on how to embed arts, culture and design into community life. Jackson previously worked at the Urban Institute, a think tank in Washington.

In 2013, President Barack Obama appointed her to the National Council on the Arts, the panel that advises the endowment. She has served on many boards of arts organizations, including the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the Music Center in Los Angeles, where she lives.

President Biden made the historic nomination in October, during National Arts and Humanities Month. At the same time, he nominated Shelly Lowe to be the first Native American to lead the National Endowment for the Humanities. Lowe’s nomination has not been confirmed.

In a statement released by the NEA, Jackson thanked President Biden for the opportunity and said she plans to lead the institution with “dedication to inclusivity, collaboration, and with the recognition that art, culture, and creativity are core to us reaching our full potential as a nation.”

“The NEA plays a crucial role in helping to provide funds and other resources needed for the sector to recover, retool, and reopen,” Jackson also stated. “The agency also has the opportunity and responsibility to deepen and expand its already purposeful efforts to reach communities who have been traditionally underserved.”

GBN Giveaway: Congratulations to December Winners of “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar 2022!

GBN Giveaway: Congratulations to December Winners of “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar 2022!

By goodblacknews on December 3, 2021

In celebration of our “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day® Calendar for 2022, as promised, GBN has selected not one but two winners for December!

Congratulations to Ora Chamberlin and Diedra Lipscomb! We will be contacting you each shortly via email to arrange delivery of your free calendars.

Thank you to all who have entered so far – and you are still in the running as we will announce one more winner in January 2022. To those who have yet to enter – it’s not too late!

For a chance to win, send your first name, last name and email address with the subject heading “A Year of Good Black News Giveaway” to goodblacknewsgiveaways@yahoo.com from now until December 31. One entry per email, and we will continue to choose at random one winner per month and announce their names here.

Already a Top 5 release in Multicultural Calendars on Amazon, A Year of Good Black News is filled with facts, history, bios, quotes, jokes and trivia in easy-to-read entries delivered on the daily.

If you want to buy copies as gifts for family, friends, teachers or loved ones,  use the code: GOODBLACKNEWS at Workman.com to receive 20% OFF site-wide, plus Free Shipping on orders over $45.

Or, if you prefer, you can also order from the retailers below:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1523514299?tag=goodblacknews-20

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781523514298

Books-A-Million: http://www.booksamillion.com/p/9781523514298

Bookshop: https://www.bookshop.org/a/368/9781523514298

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781523514298?aff=workmanpub

Onward and upward… and good luck!

(paid links)

GBN’s “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022 Now Available for Pre-Order

GBN’s “A Year of Good Black News” Page-A-Day Calendar for 2022 Now Available for Pre-Order

By goodblacknews on September 10, 2021
by Lori Lakin Hutcherson, Good Black News Editor-in-Chief

This March in our Good Black News anniversary post, I mentioned GBN would be coming out with its first physical product this fall: a Page-A-Day® Calendar from Workman Publishing entitled A Year of Good Black News for 2022. Well, guess what – it’s fall!

A Year of Good Black News, written by yours truly, is filled with facts, history, bios, quotes, jokes and trivia in easy-to-read entries delivered on the daily.

The calendar’s official drop date is Tuesday, October 12, and if you pre-order at Workman.com using the code: GOODBLACKNEWS from now until December 31, you will receive 20% off.

A Year of Good Black News offers fun Black facts about inventors, entrepreneurs, musicians, comedians, historians, educators, athletes and entertainers, as well as info shared in fun fact categories like “Lemme Break It Down: Black Lexicon,” “We Got Game: Black Trivia,” “Get The Knowledge: Black Museums and Landmarks” and “You Know We Did That, Right?: Black Inventors.”

Here’s a sneak peek inside:

Although I’m biased because I wrote it, the A Year of Good Black News Page-A-Day 2022 calendar is an awesome way to get inspired every day by the good things Black people do (and have done) for centuries, but haven’t always been widely known or shared.

Well, no more! If this site is for you, this calendar is, too!

It’s also a great gift for family members, friends, teachers, kids and loved ones. Did I mention if you use the code: GOODBLACKNEWS at Workman.com, you get 20% off?

Or, if you prefer, you can also order from the retailers below:

Bookshop: https://www.bookshop.org/a/368/9781523514298

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781523514298?aff=workmanpub

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781523514298

Books-A-Million: http://www.booksamillion.com/p/9781523514298

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1523514299?tag=workmanweb-20

Workman.com: https://www.workman.com/products/a-year-of-good-black-news-page-a-day-calendar-for-2022

Onward and upward –  hope you enjoy – and share!

After 114 Years, Buffalo Soldiers Honored with Statue at U.S. Military Academy at West Point

After 114 Years, Buffalo Soldiers Honored with Statue at U.S. Military Academy at West Point

By goodblacknews on September 1, 2021

Yesterday, 114 years after coming to then-segregated West Point to teach horsemanship to White cadets, the U.S. Military Academy honored the contributions of the Buffalo Soldiers by raising its first statue of a Black man.

Created by sculptor Eddie Dixon, the statue is of Staff Sgt. Sanders H. Matthews Sr., who is believed to be the last known Buffalo Soldier to serve at West Point.

The words etched into the granite say: “In Memory of the Buffalo Soldiers who served with the 9th and 10th Cavalry Regiments as part of the United States Military Academy Cavalry Detachment at West Point.”

“Everybody has a right to have their story told,” said Dr. Aundrea Matthews, West Point’s cultural arts director and Matthew’s granddaughter. “Because it’s a powerful story. Just what [the Buffalo Soldiers] endured, their determination and their commitment to prove to the world that African American men can contribute and are viable citizens of this country.”

To quote washingtonpost.com:

Dixon pored over old photographs of Sanders Matthews to get the facial image right.

A model was built on an inner structure of carved foam, over which Dixon spread a layer of light-brown clay. Molds were made from the model, and the statue was cast with molten bronze at Schaefer Art Bronze Casting, in Arlington, Tex.

It was transported by truck and arrived Monday morning, escorted by eight motorcycles from the National Association of Buffalo Soldiers and Troopers Motorcycle Club.

The sculpture, which features an image of Matthews carrying a swallow-tailed cavalry flag that reads “USMA Detachment,” is the culmination of a project that was started by him before he died at age 95 in 2016.

Matthews hoped for the day when a monument honoring the Buffalo Soldiers of West Point would come to fruition, not knowing he would be the image for the tribute, his granddaughter said.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/08/31/west-point-buffalo-soldiers-statue/

[Photo: Jackie Molloy for The Washington Post]

Willie O’Ree, the National Hockey League’s 1st Black Player, Receives Unanimous Support from U.S. Senate for Congressional Gold Medal

Willie O’Ree, the National Hockey League’s 1st Black Player, Receives Unanimous Support from U.S. Senate for Congressional Gold Medal

By goodblacknews on August 2, 2021

While the U.S. Senate hasn’t agreed on much of anything for several years, this week it unanimously passed legislation granting the Congressional Gold Medal to Willie O’Ree, the first Black player to compete in the National Hockey League.

The legislation now moves to the U.S. House of Representatives for approval so O’Ree, 85, and known as the “Jackie Robinson of hockey,” can receive this much deserved honor.

O’Ree broke the NHL’s color barrier in 1958 by playing as a winger for the Boston Bruins, one of six teams at the time. O’Ree, who is Canadian, played professional hockey in his home country before joining the NHL and retiring from the sport in 1979. He has spent the past two decades as the NHL’s diversity ambassador with his Hockey is for Everyone youth program.

To quote cnn.com:

In every game he played in, O’Ree… heard name calling from opposing players and from fans in the stands. “Besides being Black and being blind in my right eye, I was faced with four other things: racism, prejudice, bigotry and ignorance,” he said.

The legislation would award O’Ree the nation’s highest civilian award that Congress can bestow “in recognition of his extraordinary contributions and commitment to hockey, inclusion, and recreational opportunity.”

O’Ree was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2018 for his off-ice contributions to the sport. The Bruins retired O’Ree’s No. 22 jersey in February of this year.

In addition to his 2020 memoir Willie: The Game-Changing Story of the NHL’s First Black Player, O’Ree has also been the subject of children’s books like Willie O’Ree: The story of the first black player in the NHL by Nicole Mortillaro and Scholastic Canada Biography: Meet Willie O’Ree by Elizabeth MacLeod.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/31/politics/willie-oree-congressional-gold-medal-nhl-senate/index.html

https://www.theroot.com/willie-oree-nhls-1st-black-hockey-player-set-to-recei-1847384678

(paid amazon links)

Zaila Avant-garde Wins Scripps National Spelling Bee, Becomes 1st African American Champion

Zaila Avant-garde Wins Scripps National Spelling Bee, Becomes 1st African American Champion

By goodblacknews on July 8, 2021

Zaila Avant-garde, 14, won the Scripps National Spelling Bee championship held in Lake Buena Vista, Florida today, becoming the first African American winner and only the second Black champion in the bee’s 96-year history.

Avant-garde, who hails from Harvey, Louisiana, describes spelling as her side hobby. Basketball is her main extra-curricular focus — she holds three Guinness world records for dribbling multiple balls simultaneously.

https://twitter.com/BillyHeyen/status/1413316049655762944

Jody-Anne Maxwell of Jamaica, who won the bee in 1998, was the competition’s first Black champion.

This was the first Bee held since the COVID-19 pandemic forced its cancellation in 2020.

Read more: https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/31786472/louisiana-teen-zaila-avant-garde-correctly-spells-m-u-r-r-y-win-scripps-national-spelling-bee

Annette Nance-Holt Becomes 1st Woman to Head the Chicago Fire Department

Annette Nance-Holt Becomes 1st Woman to Head the Chicago Fire Department

By goodblacknews on July 2, 2021

After working for over 30 years in several different positions within the Chicago Fire Department, Annette Nance-Holt recently became the first woman to lead the CFD.

Her appointment to the top position of Fire Commissioner was confirmed last week by Chicago’s City Council, wgntv.com reports.

“Commissioner Holt has more than three decades of proven leadership and a passion for public service that makes her the perfect fit for this role,” said Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

“Furthermore, in a time where more work remains in order to eliminate discrimination, racism and sexism from the firefighter profession, Commissioner Holt’s history-making appointment as the first woman and Black woman to lead as Fire Commissioner couldn’t have come at a better moment.”

Holt was appointed first deputy commissioner in 2018 and has been serving as acting commissioner since Richard C. Ford retired earlier this year.

In 2007, tragedy put Nance-Holt into the news when her 16-year-old son Blair Holt was shot and killed on a CTA bus while shielding a classmate from gunfire.

Nance-Holt since then has helped start Purpose Over Pain, a non-profit which aids parents who have lost children to gun violence.

Commissioner Nance-Holt was mainly raised in the Maple Park community on the south side of Chicago and attended both parochial and public schools. She learned responsibility at an early age, having worked at the family-owned grocery store on the south and west sides of Chicago.

While studying and working full time, she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Chicago State University, and later obtained a Master’s in Public Administration in Fire and Emergency Services  from Anna Maria College.

Prior to joining the CFD, Commissioner Nance-Holt worked in the private sector for eight  years.

Read more: https://wgntv.com/news/chicago-news/annette-nance-holt-confirmed-as-first-black-woman-to-lead-the-chicago-fire-department/