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R.I.P. Henry “Hank” Aaron, 86, Baseball Legend and All-Time Home Run Record Holder for 33 Years (VIDEO)

R.I.P. Henry “Hank” Aaron, 86, Baseball Legend and All-Time Home Run Record Holder for 33 Years (VIDEO)

By goodblacknews on January 22, 2021

There is no dearth of tributes, short or long, circulating about Henry Louis Aaron (aka “Hank”, “The Hammer” or “Hammerin’ Hank”) in honor of his life and legacy, which is as it should be.  Below are some links to some of them, as well as some information on his career highlights.

If you only have time to watch one thing today, GBN encourages you take four minutes and check out the moment when Aaron, while playing for the Atlanta Braves, broke Babe Ruth‘s all-time home run record on April 8, 1974. As Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully says:

What a marvelous moment for baseball. What a marvelous moment for Atlanta and the state of Georgia. What a marvelous moment for the country and the world. A Black man is getting a standing ovation in the deep south for breaking the record of an all-time baseball idol and it is a great moment for all of us and particularly for Henry Aaron.

Regarded as one of the greatest baseball players of all time, Aaron’s 755 career home runs stood as the Major League Baseball record for 33 years, and he still holds many MLB offensive records to this day.

Over the course of his 23 seasons in the MLB, Aaron hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973, andis one of only two players to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times.  In 1982, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

To read more about Aaron:

It’s Official! Kamala Harris and Joe Biden are the Vice President and President of the United States of America (WATCH)

It’s Official! Kamala Harris and Joe Biden are the Vice President and President of the United States of America (WATCH)

By goodblacknews on January 20, 2021

It’s official! Former U.S. Senator Kamala Devi Harris and former Vice President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. now occupy the offices of Vice President and President of the United States of America.

This peaceful transfer of power occurred on the same steps of the U.S. Capitol that were only two weeks ago swarming with a mob of domestic insurgents seeking to overthrow the process that led to today.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor swore in Vice President Harris and Chief Justice John Roberts swore in Biden.

Lady Gaga sang the National Anthem with a dramatic gold dove pin affixed to her breast, Jennifer Lopez put forth a medley of “This Land is Your Land” and “America the Beautiful” with a small nod to her own “Let’s Get Loud” mixed in with some words in Spanish, and Garth Brooks offered an a cappella take on “Amazing Grace.”

The most unexpected performance highlight came from inaugural poet Amanda Gorman, 22, who stirred the audience with her spirited recitation of “The Hill We Climb.”

President Biden’s first official speech is below:

Bianca Smith Earns Coaching Spot with Red Sox Minor League Team, Becomes 1st Black Woman Pro Baseball Coach

Bianca Smith Earns Coaching Spot with Red Sox Minor League Team, Becomes 1st Black Woman Pro Baseball Coach

By goodblacknews on January 2, 2021

[photo: Bianca Smith via Twitter]

Bianca Smith is set to score some baseball history.

The Boston Red Sox organization is hiring Smith as a minor league coach, according to the Boston Globe. MLB confirmed Smith will be the first Black woman on record to coach baseball at the professional level.

Smith, who most recently was an assistant baseball coach and hitting coordinator at Carroll University in Wisconsin, will mainly work with infielders at the Red Sox’s minor league facility in Fort Meyers, Florida.

Smith’s pro baseball experience includes interning in the operations departments for the Texas Rangers and Cincinnati Reds, in addition to working in amateur administration for MLB.

Smith played softball for her Ivy League alma mater Dartmouth from 2010-12 before working as director of baseball operations at Case Western Reserve University from 2013-17 and as an assistant coach with University of Dallas in 2018, according to the Globe.

To read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/12/31/sports/red-sox-hire-bianca-smith-minor-league-coach-making-her-first-black-woman-coach-mlb-history/

R.I.P. Rafer Johnson, 86, Gold Medalist in the 1960 Olympic Decathlon

R.I.P. Rafer Johnson, 86, Gold Medalist in the 1960 Olympic Decathlon

By goodblacknews on December 2, 2020

According to nytimes.com, American athlete Rafer Johnson, who carried the United States flag into Rome’s Olympic Stadium in August 1960 as the first Black captain of a U.S. Olympic team and went on to win gold in the decathlon bringing him acclaim as the world’s greatest all-around athlete, died today at his home in Los Angeles, CA. He was 86.

To quote from The New York Times:

Johnson never competed after that decathlon triumph. He became a good-will ambassador for the United States and a close associate of the Kennedy family, taking a leadership role in the Special Olympics, which were championed by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and joining Robert F. Kennedy’s entourage during Kennedy’s presidential campaign in 1968. He was remembered especially for helping to wrestle the senator’s assassin to the ground in Los Angeles in 1968.

Johnson’s national profile was largely molded at the 1960 Olympics, one of the most celebrated in the history of the Games, a moment when a host of African-American athletes burst triumphantly onto the world stage.

Muhammad Ali, known then as Cassius Clay, captured boxing gold in the light-heavyweight division. Wilma Rudolph swept to victory in the women’s 100- and 200-meter dashes and combined with her Tennessee State teammates for gold in the 4 x 100 relay. Oscar Robertson helped take the United States basketball team to a gold medal.

Johnson is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Thorsen, brother Jimmy Johnson, a former San Francisco 49er and Pro Football Hall of Famer; two children, Jennifer Johnson Jordan, who was a member of the U.S. women’s beach volleyball team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and is now a volleyball coach at U.C.L.A., and Josh Johnson; and four grandchildren.

To read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/02/sports/olympics/rafer-johnson-dead.html

Noah Harris, 20, Makes History by Being Elected 1st Black Student Body President at Harvard College

Noah Harris, 20, Makes History by Being Elected 1st Black Student Body President at Harvard College

By goodblacknews on November 28, 2020

Noah Harris was elected president of Harvard’s Undergraduate Council on Nov. 12, becoming the first Black undergraduate elected as student body president at Harvard University.

Harris, 20, a junior from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, is majoring in government and co-chairs the Undergraduate Council’s Black caucus.

Two other Black students have previously headed Harvard’s Undergraduate Council, but Harris is the first Black man to be elected by the student body.

Harris told his hometown paper, the Hattiesburg American, that does not take the honor lightly.

To quote from The Hattiesburg American:

“Especially with everything that went on this summer with the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, all the protests that went on in this moment of racial reckoning in this country,” he said. “This is a major statement by the Harvard student body to entrust a Black man with such an unprecedented moment in its history.”

Harris ran on a platform of diversity of inclusion with future Undergraduate Council Vice President Jenny Gan, a junior from Cleveland. Gan is studying neuroscience. The two said they want to focus on improving students’ mental and physical health.

Read More: https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story/news/local/hattiesburg/2020/11/19/harvard-first-black-man-elected-by-student-body-president-mississippi/6325295002/

Photo: Noah Harris via Twitter

Commander Victor Glover Makes History as 1st African American Astronaut to Live on International Space Station

Commander Victor Glover Makes History as 1st African American Astronaut to Live on International Space Station

By goodblacknews on November 17, 2020

[Official NASA/Commercial Crew Portrait – Victor Glover. Photo Date: July 31, 2018. Photographer: Robert Markowitz]

Victor Glover is making history as first African American NASA astronaut to live on the International Space Station. Commander Glover and three other astronauts left Earth on Sunday in a capsule called Resilience and will spend about six months aboard the space station.

Glover is not the first African American astronaut to visit the space station, but previous members were parts of space shuttle crews that only stayed briefly on ISS.

Southern California native Glover is a graduate of California Polytechnic State University and holds three master’s degrees — in systems engineering, in-flight test engineering,  and military operational art and science.

Guion S. Bluford Jr. became the first Black American in space in 1983 when he flew as part of the crew of the space shuttle Challenger. The second, Ron McNair, died three years later when the shuttle exploded alongside six other astronauts. Mae Jemison became the first Black American woman in space in 1992.

Iraq War Soldier Alwyn Cashe to Receive Nation’s Top Award for Valor in Combat

By goodblacknews on November 11, 2020
Army Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe (photo via Facebook U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs)

According to the Washington Post, the U.S. Senate passed legislation on Tuesday that clears the way for to be awarded the nation’s highest award for valor in combat, the Medal of Honor.

Cashe repeatedly entered a burning vehicle in Iraq to save six fellow soldiers and an interpreter from harm. He died a few weeks later.

To quote the article:

The legislation, passed by unanimous consent, waives the legal requirement that the Medal of Honor be awarded within five years of a service member’s acts of valor. Cashe has long been considered one of the war’s great American heroes and would be the first African American to receive the award for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan. Former defense secretary Mark T. Esper supported the move in a letter to Congress in August after years of deliberations within the Army.

“I am so grateful the Senate passed our bill to pave the way for the President to award Alwyn Cashe the Medal of Honor,” Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D.-Fla.) who co-sponsored the bill in the House, said in a statement. “We are now very close to recognizing this unbelievably heroic soldier, who died saving his men, with our nation’s highest award for combat valor — which he earned beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

Cashe, 35, hailed from Oviedo, Florida and served the U.S. Army as an infantryman with the 15th Infantry Regiment from 1989-2005. Cashe has already been awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his selfless actions in the face of grave danger and is credited with saving the lives of his Soldiers.

To read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/11/10/iraq-war-soldier-alwyn-cashe-set-receive-medal-honor-after-senate-passage-legislation/

Archbishop Wilton Gregory to become 1st African American Cardinal in Roman Catholic Church

Archbishop Wilton Gregory to become 1st African American Cardinal in Roman Catholic Church

By goodblacknews on October 25, 2020

According to nytimes.com, Pope Francis announced that Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, would be elevated to cardinal, one of 13 new cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church.

This promotion will make Gregory the first African-American man to hold such a position.

Gregory was part of a select group of Catholic leaders that criticized Donald Trump for staging a photo op in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church near the White House earlier this year, amid protests about the death of George Floyd.

To quote the New York Times:

Archbishop Gregory, who served for years in the diocese of Atlanta, is also a former president of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference and considered in line with Francis’ most pastoral and welcoming approach in the church.

The ceremony to install the new cardinals is set for Nov. 28. Nine of the 13 men named, including Archbishop Gregory, are under age 80 and therefore eligible to participate in the next conclave to elect Francis’ successor. The new cardinals chosen by Francis reflect his priorities, making it more likely that the college will elect someone like him.

To read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/25/us/pope-francis-cardinal-gregory.html

Harvard Medical Society Renamed in Honor of Harvard Alumnus and Professor Dr. William Augustus Hinton

Harvard Medical Society Renamed in Honor of Harvard Alumnus and Professor Dr. William Augustus Hinton

By goodblacknews on October 19, 2020

[Dr. William Augustus Hinton. Photo via images.harvard.edu]

Harvard Medical School has approved renaming the Oliver Wendell Holmes Academic Society in honor of the late Dr. William Augustus Hinton, a former HMS clinical professor of bacteriology and immunology and 1912 HMS graduate.

The recommendation from a Faculty Council Subcommittee on Artwork and Cultural Representations task force is part of an ongoing effort to ensure that HMS buildings, symbols, academic societies and public spaces fully reflect the institution’s mission and values.

To quote from The Harvard Crimson:

Holmes was one of the first American intellectuals to promote the racist doctrine of eugenics. In 1850, he revoked the acceptances of the Medical School’s first three Black students, writing that the “intermixing of the white and black races in their lecture rooms is distasteful to a large portion of the class and injurious to the interests of the school.”

Hinton — a 1905 graduate of the College and later HMS — specialized in the fields of bacteriology and immunology. He created a new diagnostic blood test for syphilis, one the U.S. Public Health Service later adopted.

Earlier this year, two medical students launched a petition to rename the former Holmes Society due to Holmes’s support of eugenics and racism towards Black and Indigenous people. The petition garnered over 1000 signatures from HMS and HSDM faculty, administrators, students, and alumni.

Justice Martin Jenkins to Become 1st Openly Gay Man to Serve on CA Supreme Court

Justice Martin Jenkins to Become 1st Openly Gay Man to Serve on CA Supreme Court

By goodblacknews on October 5, 2020

[Justice Martin Jenkins. Photo Credit: Jason Doiy / ALM]

According to latimes.com, California Governor Gavin Newsom has appointed Martin Jenkins to the State Supreme Court.

Currently serving as Newsom’s Judicial Appointments secretary, Jenkins, 66 would become the first openly gay man on the California Supreme Court, and only the third Black man ever to serve on the state’s highest court.

To quote the Los Angeles Times:

“Justice Jenkins is widely respected among lawyers and jurists, active in his Oakland community and his faith, and is a decent man to his core,” Newsom said in a statement. “As a critical member of my senior leadership team, I’ve seen firsthand that Justice Jenkins possesses brilliance and humility in equal measure. The people of California could not ask for a better jurist or kinder person to take on this important responsibility.”

Jenkins was leading the search to fill a vacancy on the court left by the Aug. 31 retirement of Justice Ming W. Chin, a Republican appointee who was the court’s most conservative member.

Jenkins is viewed as generally less liberal than the four justices Brown appointed to the court. From Alameda County prosecutor, to federal judge to the San Francisco-based Court of Appeals, Jenkins did not publicly discuss his sexual orientation.

After his confirmation, the court will have two Black justices, two Asian Americans, one Latino, one white woman and one white man.

“I am truly humbled and honored to be asked by the governor to continue serving the people of California on the Supreme Court,” Jenkins said in a statement. “If confirmed, I will serve with the highest ethical standards that have guided me throughout my career, informed by the law and what I understand to be fair and just.”

A San Francisco native, Jenkins earned his undergraduate degree from Santa Clara University and at one point had a contract to play NFL football for the Seattle Seahawks, but chose instead to become an attorney and got his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law.

To read more, click here.